"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.
Vsevolod Kniaziev (L), dismissed from the position of the head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, in the courtroom of the High Anti-Corruption Court on May 18, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Vsevolod Kniaziev, former chairman of Ukraine's top judicial body and a suspect in a bribery case, was dismissed on Aug. 6 from his post as a judge of the Supreme Court's Cassation Administrative Court.
The High Council of Justice justified the decision by "a serious disciplinary offense" on Kniaziev's part.
Kniaziev was found guilty in December 2023 of illegally accepting a gift after it was revealed he was renting an apartment in an elite neighborhood in the capital for a mere Hr 1,000 ($25) a month.
The High Council of Justice launched a disciplinary case into Kniaziev's conduct over the aforementioned case in April.
Kniaziev is also a central figure in another ongoing case. He was detained and dismissed from his position as the head of the Supreme Court in May 2023 after being charged with accepting a $2.7 million bribe to rule in favor of Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago.
The Supreme Court's ex-head was released from detention after paying Hr 18 million bail (around $450,000) in January but remained suspended from administering justice until a final verdict.
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.
Oleg Sukhov
