"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.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on Sept. 11, 2023. (Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images)
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit Kyiv on Feb. 4 to hold high-level meetings on preventing nuclear accidents during wartime.
The IAEA serves as the nuclear safety watchdog for the United Nations. The agency has had a rotating mission at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since September 2022.
The visit marks Grossi's 11th mission to Ukraine since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion, the IAEA said in a statement on Jan. 30.
"As long as this horrific war continues, the IAEA will remain present and stay active, focused on doing everything we can to support nuclear safety and security in extremely challenging circumstances," Grossi said.
"As the overall situation is still precarious and fragile, our work there remains essential."
The IAEA sent teams of experts to monitor other nuclear facilities in Ukraine in mid-December 2024, amid Russia's large-scale attacks on the country's power grid. In addition to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, monitors are currently based at the Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl nuclear plants.
The agency has warned that military activity near the sites, particularly in Zaporizhzhia, increases the risk of nuclear disaster.
According to the IAEA's report on Jan. 30, a power line at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected on Jan. 29 due to "unspecified military activity." Other facilities in Ukrainian-controlled territory were affected by air raid alerts and nearby drones.
At the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the IAEA teams reported daily explosions but no damage to the plant itself.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Martin Fornusek
