"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
"Armanchyk," a Crimean Tatar children's magazine edit by Ediye Muslimova. (Zarema Bariieva / Facebook)
Ediye Muslimova, the editor-in-chief of a Crimean Tatar children's magazine, disappeared in Russian-occupied Crimea on Nov. 21, according to the NGO Crimean Solidarity.
Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a journalist and human rights activist, said Muslimova was seen being put into a white GAZelle vehicle by three unknown men near her home the morning of Nov. 21.
Crimea has been under Russian occupation since 2014. Following Moscow's illegal annexation, Russia began targeting the peninsula's indigenous Tatar population, which has been particularly vocal in resisting the occupation.
Muslimova's family became concerned after Muslimova, 61, would not answer or return calls, according to her niece, Elzara.
"I started calling — she has two phones (a work phone and her regular phone), both phones are turned off," Elzara Muslimova said.
"There is no connection: no Telegram, no WhatsApp, no Viber."
Zudiyeva's account of an apparent abduction was supported by Zarema Bariieva, manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC).
"Recently, it became known that a 61-year-old woman is being held in the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service) building," she said in a Facebook post.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these reports at the time of publication.
Muslimova is the daughter of Crimean Tatar activitst Refat Muslimov and editor of the children's magazine "Armanchyk," which has been published monthly since 2011. It is reportedly the only glossy children's magazine in the Crimean Tatar language.
According to the CTRC, 70% of all political prisoners in occupied Crimea are Crimean Tatars.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Anastasiia Lapatina
