"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.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto speaks during a session held as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 6, 2024. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto is set to speak at the Minsk Conference on Eurasian Security in Belarus on October 31, Politico reported.
Other participants will include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Bassam al-Sabbagh. Representatives from 45 countries are expected.
According to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the event should be viewed as a competitor to the Munich Security Conference.
The CSTO was established in 2002 and includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Russia is by far the most powerful member of the alliance, which is similar to NATO in its structure.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has indicated that the event will focus on discussing and shaping future Eurasian security.
Szijjarto frequently visits Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Minsk, emphasizing Hungary's reliance on Russian energy during a recent seminar organized by Gazprom.
He was the first high-ranking EU official to visit Belarus in 2023, following the government's crackdown on opposition and support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, he has been the only EU foreign minister to visit the country.
Hungary has remained the most Kremlin-friendly country within the EU and has repeatedly opposed Ukraine's accession to NATO and the European bloc, obstructed sanctions on Russia, and undermined Western aid efforts for Ukraine.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Dmytro Basmat
