"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.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova attends a meeting with the Senate Ukraine Caucus and members of the Ukrainian and Polish Parliaments in the Capitol Visitor Center to discuss the Russian invasion on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The minerals deal signed between Ukraine and the U.S. is "an important part of... future security guarantees," Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said on May 4 in an interview with CBS News.
"So this economic partnership deal in itself is a very important part of the broader security... architecture... frankly, that fund will be successful if Ukraine is stable and peaceful. So in a way, it's an important part of... future security guarantees," Markarova said.
"(T)his is an economic partnership agreement to create an investment fund... for both of our nations to benefit from amazing investment opportunities that Ukraine has," Markarova added.
Ukraine and the U.S. on April 30 signed a minerals agreement that establishes a joint investment fund in Ukraine. The deal was negotiated over several months and led to a low point in bilateral relations following the infamous White House argument between President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 28.
Markarova noted the minerals agreement is an "economic partnership agreement" beyond just rare earths.
"(I)t's a true partnership where we would be able to put resources together in order to invest into a wide range of projects, including infrastructure, including rare earths, including critical minerals, and both of our nations will benefit from it," Markarova said.
"Ukraine has agricultural land and black soil... even during the war, we feed more than 400 million people. We have energy, we have... critical mineral deposits. We have so much, including... human talent, and we can develop it together," she said.
Markarova noted the minerals deal builds on U.S. support for Ukraine throughout Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
"(W)e might have some disagreements... in some areas, but Ukraine is committed to peace. Ukraine wants peace more than anyone. We are defending freedom in Ukraine. We are not the ones who started this war," Markarova said.
Markarova described the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S. as a "strategic partnership."
"Look, our partnership with the U.S. is very important... We are really grateful to (the) American people for all the support that we are getting from the U.S. It would not be possible for us to defend ourselves without those Javelins, without those weapons that (the) U.S. has provided us," Markarova said
First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signed the minerals deal in Washington on April 30.
The joint investment fund could begin operating within months of its ratification by the Verkhovna Rada, Svyrydenko said on May 1.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn is a news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He is pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, majoring in political science with a minor in anthropology and human geography. Volodymyr holds a Certificate in Business Fundamentals from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. He previously completed an internship with The Kyiv Independent.
Kateryna Denisova
