"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.
Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico at a bilateral meeting at the Itamaty Palace in Brazil, on December 10, 2024 (Ton Molina/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Slovak National Party has demanded that Prime Minister Robert Fico immediately apologize for supporting a UN resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Czech news outlet Denik N reported on Feb. 25.
The UN General Assembly approved a Ukrainian resolution on Feb. 24 condemning Russia's full-scale invasion, with 93 countries voting in favor and 18 against.
The resolution, drafted by Kyiv and supported by all EU states except Hungary, reaffirms Ukraine's territorial integrity. It explicitly names Russia as the aggressor.
The Slovak National Party stated that an investigation should determine who authorized the Slovak representative at the UN to vote in this manner.
The party also emphasized that Slovakia must uphold a consistent stance, and insisted that its representatives in international institutions should not vote against the policies set by Fico’s government and backed by the Slovak National Party.
"It is important that the Slovak Republic maintains its position and a clear stance, as Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, does,” the statement said.
“If the government declares something, it is unthinkable that our representatives in international institutions would vote contrary to the policy advocated by the government led by Robert Fico with the support of the Slovak National Party.”
Fico won Slovakia's parliamentary elections in September 2023. It is his fourth time at the helm of the Slovak government.
Before Fico's return to power, Slovakia had been a staunch supporter of Ukraine. It was the first country to send Kyiv fighter jets after the full-scale invasion and a reliable supplier of military aid.
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
