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.
Evidence collection efforts underway at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on December 27, 2024 (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Two passengers who survived the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan heard a loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny, Reuters reported on Dec. 27.
The plane, en route from Baku on Dec. 25, carried 67 passengers, including 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz citizens. Thirty-eight people have been confirmed dead.
Initial reports suggest it could have been downed by a Russian surface-to-air missile.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, on Dec. 27 said the aircraft had been hit by "a Russian Pantsir S1 air defense system on Russian terrain."
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) initially attributed the crash to a collision with a flock of birds, causing the pilot to attempt an emergency landing.
Speaking to Reuters, passenger Subhonkul Rakhimov said he heard a loud bang as it approached Grozny, after which he "thought the plane was going to fall apart."
The missile allegedly targeted Flight 8432 during drone activity over Grozny, Chechnya on Dec. 25. The plane had attempted to land in Grozny, but Russian airports reportedly denied it permission for an emergency landing, forcing the pilots to divert toward Aktau in Kazakhstan.
According to Euronews sources, shrapnel from the explosion reportedly struck the passengers and cabin crew as the missile detonated mid-flight near the aircraft.
Footage analyzed by independent media outlets Meduza and Mediazona shows damage consistent with surface-to-air missile impacts, including holes in the fuselage and traces of a missile strike on the tail section.
The tail section of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane that crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, pictured on December 27, 2024 (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russian officials have said the pilots decided to reroute from their original destination Grozny amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones, but said it’s important to wait for the definitive results of the investigation before speculating about the cause.
Rasim Musabekov, a member of Azerbaijan's parliament and foreign affairs committee member, told Azerbaijani news agency Turan that it was evident that the plane was "shot down over Russian territory, in the sky above Grozny. It is impossible to deny this."
"Those responsible for this must be held criminally accountable, and compensation must be paid for the deaths and injuries. If this doesn't happen, the relations will certainly shift to a different level," Musabekov added.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Chris York
