"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.
Polish President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv during a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Valentyna Polishchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Polish President Andrzej Duda denounced Russia for its "imperial greed" in a wide-ranging interview with the BBC published on March 15.
Duda called on the U.S. to deploy its nuclear weapons to Poland in an interview published on March 13. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he would be "shocked" if the U.S. fulfilled Poland's request in response to Duda later that day.
"Ukraine must be sovereign and independent because otherwise there will be no peace, it will only be the end of the war due to the occupation of Ukraine by Russia," Duda said.
The Polish president expressed his trust in U.S. President Donald Trump in resolving Russia's war against Ukraine, saying accusations that Trump does not want to see Ukraine at the negotiating table are "false."
"(A)s I understand it, President Trump does not want to be a participant, but rather a mediator," Duda said.
The Polish leader noted that Ukraine's meeting with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia on March 11 ended on a positive note.
At the bilateral meeting, the White House agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. Ukraine agreed to a U.S. proposal for a temporary 30-day ceasefire, Russia did not.
"The meeting with Ukraine was successful, and the Russian side, as you can see, is behaving the way it is behaving," Duda said.
Russia is an "aggressor" that invaded Ukraine and is "killing civilians," Duda said, adding that Russia transferred nuclear weapons to Belarus as an "obvious offensive tactic" and not for defense purposes.
"As long as Russia uses offensive tactics, Russia is an aggressor. Russia attacked Ukraine without reason, it was not provoked in any way. It is an attack that was justified only by Russia's imperial greed, which wants to subjugate a state and its people," Duda said.
The Polish president reiterated his calls for U.S. nuclear weapons to be stationed in Poland and welcomed calls for a French nuclear umbrella to protect Europe, including Poland.
"(I)t is a security issue because these weapons are not offensive, these weapons are defensive. I emphasize again, they are intended to protect primarily from a nuclear attack," Duda said.
"Secondly, it was Russia, without asking anyone, that deployed its nuclear weapons in Belarus. This is no secret to anyone, Putin openly spoke about it in an interview," Duda added.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko previously said that the transfer of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was completed in early October 2023.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn is a news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He is pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, majoring in political science with a minor in anthropology and human geography. Volodymyr holds a Certificate in Business Fundamentals from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. He previously completed an internship with The Kyiv Independent.
Yana Prots
