"I have great hope that an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine will be reached this weekend," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 9, shortly before traveling to Kyiv alongside the leaders of France, Poland, and the U.K.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in Kyiv early on May 10.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days, despite Putin's self-declared Victory Day "truce."
The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
People are seen by the sea in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine on Aug. 5, 2022 (Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) and the Ukrainian resistance sabotaged a railway bridge in the occupied city of Berdiansk, a HUR source told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 28.
The bridge between the Vodokanal utility company building and a car wash at Skhidnyi Avenue was blown up after several explosions overnight, according to the source.
The port city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been occupied by Russia since early 2022.
The city lies at the Azov Sea and serves as a key transport hub for occupying authorities, namely to ship out looted grain and other resources from occupied Ukraine.
A military intelligence source told Ukrinform that the bridge's destruction paralyzed Russia's railway connection with Berdiansk. This allegedly prevents Moscow from supplying fuel, arms, and ammunition to its forces in the occupied city via railway.
Older satellite imagery of the railway bridge allegedly targeted by HUR and the Ukrainian resistance in Russian-occupied Berdiansk, Ukraine, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Google Maps)
Explosions at the bridge were also reported by the exiled local authorities on Telegram.
"According to preliminary information, the railway bridge between the Vodokanal building and the car wash on Skhidnyi Avenue was blown up," the exiled Berdiansk city military administration said.
The Russian state media dismissed the reports as a "blatant disinformation campaign," connecting the blasts to exercises of Russian forces in the city and claiming that all bridges in Berdiansk stand intact.
Ukrinform's source refuted claims by the Russian media, citing a lack of visual evidence.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims, as neither Ukraine nor Russia provided footage of the bridge after the supposed explosions.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
