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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Estonian soldiers use a Javelin anti tank missile as they take part in a major drill as part of NATO's EFP (Enhanced Forward Presence) operation at the Tapa Estonian army camp near Rakvere, on Feb. 6, 2022. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)
Estonia's Interior Ministry has proposed new rules that would seek to limit the ability of non-citizens to buy property near military facilities, the Estonian media outlet ERR reported on June 7, citing a memo by Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets.
The proposal follows similar moves by Finland, which has also prevented the acquisition of certain types of property by Russian nationals on the grounds that it could "hinder" national defense.
"In Estonia, for example, there are apartments next to some very important sites where monitoring can be carried out," said Laanemets.
The memo cited a few specific examples, such as an apartment complex in Tallinn owned by a Russian businessman which is located a few hundred meters from the headquarters of Estonia's Defense Forces and another important military base.
Laanemets said that the ministry aims to produce a draft law by the end of the year to prevent "third-country nationals from buying real estate in Estonia around defense sites."
The measures will be less strict when it comes to Belarusians or Russians who have a permanent residence permit, Laanemets said.
"In general, we trust everyone who lives permanently in Estonia. We know who they are, we know their behavior," he added.
"But there could always be a situation where somebody from this country is cooperating with Russia or another country."
The specifics of what would be considered an area sensitive to Estonia's defense have not been ironed out yet.
"The simplest version here is to apply the authorization procedure," Laanemets said.
"That is, every time a person from a third country wants to carry out a (real estate) transaction (near a sensitive defense site), he or she has to obtain authorization."
Estonia's already strained relations with Russia have further deteriorated since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Estonia is also ranked first in terms of financial contributions to Ukraine as a percentage of its GDP.
At the same time, Russia has engaged in a number of aggressive actions toward Estonia since February 2022, such as an incident in May in which Russian border guards unilaterally removed border markings from a river that separates Russian and Estonian territory.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Tetiana Khutor
