"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
Syrians wave flag of Russia and a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad during a rally in support of Russia in the Syrian capital Damascus, on March 25, 2022.(Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia is luring men from Syria to use them as cannon fodder in battles in Ukraine's east, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency (HUR) said on Sept. 17.
Throughout the full-scale war, Moscow has been using various schemes to enlist migrants and foreign nationals to offset the heavy losses it had suffered during the invasion while avoiding full mobilization.
Syria, a country ravaged by civil war and largely ruled by the Kremlin's ally Bashar al-Assad, is one of the key targets of these efforts.
"Russia has established a scheme with travel companies to recruit Syrians for the war against Ukraine. First, poor people are offered jobs as security guards in Russian oil regions, and then they are lured with a higher salary" to fight the war against Ukraine, HUR said on social media. Syrian nationals are also promised Russian passports.
💀 Сирійці зникають на Луганщині ― росіяни посилають іноземних найманців у м’ясні штурми
👉 Держава-агресор росія продовжує практики «жуковщини», використовуючи іноземних найманців у війні проти України як гарматне м’ясо.
Syrian mercenaries are then reportedly used as cannon fodder in mass infantry attacks and are being rejected evacuation when wounded. As an example, HUR presented the stories of Mohammed Mansour and Wahid Mursal Al-Shibli, two Syrian mercenaries fighting for Russia.
As part of a squad of 14 other Syrians, Mansur was deployed in an attack near Svatove in Luhansk Oblast in July. After coming under Ukrainian fire, Russia rejected the mercenaries' request for evacuation and ordered them to press the attack, HUR said.
Mansur allegedly refused to obey the order and fled the battlefield, while the rest of his unit dispersed and is now considered missing.
Al-Shibli was deployed in Luhansk Oblast as a member of a seven-member squad. He was injured in battle and died as he was not evacuated, HUR caimed.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify all the claims.
Some third-party countries have taken steps to prevent their citizens from dying on Ukrainian battlefields. India has reached a deal with Moscow to dischrage its nationals from the Russian Armed Forces, while Nepal stopped issuing work permits for Russia.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
