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.
A view of Gazprom Neft's oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on April 28, 2022. (Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP via Getty Images)
The European Commission will present by May 6 a long-awaited roadmap detailing how the EU will phase out Russian fossil fuel imports, Reuters reported on April 14.
The strategy, originally scheduled for release last month, was postponed amid growing uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariff policies, which could affect energy trade and strain transatlantic negotiations.
The European Union committed in 2022 to ending Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027 in response to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Despite cutting pipeline gas deliveries from Russia, the bloc continues to rely on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), which made up 19% of total EU gas and LNG supplies in 2024.
Unlike crude oil and coal, Russian gas remains unsanctioned due to internal EU divisions and energy supply concerns.
Hungary has vowed to veto any additional sanctions on Russian energy, which require unanimous approval by all 27 EU member states. Other governments have expressed reservations about banning Russian LNG before securing stable alternatives.
The full halt of Russian pipeline gas deliveries to the EU followed Ukraine's decision not to renew its transit agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom past Dec. 31, 2024 — effectively cutting off a major route into Europe.
The U.S. initially stepped in to supply LNG to Europe after the war began, but the Trump administration's trade policies and rising transatlantic tensions have prompted EU member states to seek broader diversification, wary of over-reliance on Washington.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
