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.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico talks to the media in the Slovak Permanent Representation on January 9, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has justified the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying that Russia had "serious security reasons" for it.
"No one is disputing that Russia's use of military force in Ukraine was a violation of international law. However, Russia had serious security reasons for doing so because it has long been misled on the issue of NATO enlargement," Fico said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the U.S. on Feb. 21.
"The conflict could have been brought to an end shortly after it began," he said.
In his 15-minute-long speech, Fico also backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that Zelensky "actually needs this war" to remain in power.
Earlier on Feb. 21, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Zelensky is not essential to negotiations to end Russia's war in Ukraine. He previously also accused Zelensky of being a "dictator" and espoused false claims about Ukraine.
"When there is a war, there cannot be democratic elections... When there is a war, it is difficult to investigate where a huge part of the funding given to Ukraine ended up," said Fico.
The speech comes amid intensified tensions between Fico and Zelensky. Fico, who maintains friendly ties with Russia, has escalated threats against Kyiv following the termination of Russian gas transit via Ukrainian territory on Jan. 1. In his remarks on Jan. 28, Fico called Zelensky "the enemy" of Slovakia.
Ukraine expressed "deep disappointment" over Fico's statements, accusing him of acting as "the Kremlin's mouthpiece" while ignoring Slovakia's EU membership.
The Foreign Ministry warned that this undermines relations between the two countries and damages EU unity.
On Jan. 29, the Slovak Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Myroslav Kastran, delivering a "strong protest" against what it called Ukrainian interference in Slovakia's internal affairs. In response, Ukraine summoned Slovak Ambassador Pavel Vizdal on Jan. 30.
In his speech on Feb. 21, Fico also claimed the "absolute majority" of the EU member states, except Slovakia and Hungary, have "endorsed the idea that the war in Ukraine should be used to weaken Russia politically and economically."
"Ukraine has been a victim of a bad strategy," Fico claimed.
He also accused the EU of "pushing themselves to the US-Russian peace negotiating table, even though for three years now, they have and still do openly support the war in Ukraine" and said that "peace talks" may not lead to a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine and its territorial integrity.
"However, Europe should, in any case, help the US president to end the senseless killings in Ukraine as quickly as possible and not hinder him from achieving this goal," Fico said.
Oleg Sukhov
