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.
This photograph shows a view of Chisinau with a fluttering flag of Moldova, taken from the Moldovan Government building in Chisinau on Jan. 17, 2025. (Daniel Mihailescu / AFP)
Moldova expelled three Russian embassy employees on March 31, citing activities contrary to diplomatic status, the country's Foreign Ministry announced.
The move follows reports that Moldovan lawmaker Alexandr Nesterovschi, sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally financing the banned pro-Russian Shor Party, escaped to Russian-controlled Transnistria with help from Russian diplomats, according to Moldovan media Newsmaker.
Transnistria is a Russian-occupied breakaway region of Moldova that Moscow invaded in the early 1990s under the pretext of protecting the Russian population.
The Moldovan Information and Security Service confirmed that Nesterovschi, convicted on March 19 for corruption, fled to Transnistria with Moscow's assistance.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Oleg Ozerov and delivered a formal expulsion notice for three embassy employees. Russian state media TASS quoted Ozerov dismissing the accusations as "groundless and unsubstantiated."
The pro-Russian Shor Party, led by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, has been accused of spreading Kremlin-backed narratives and attempting to destabilize Moldova through protests against its pro-European government.
In a related case, Evghenia Gutul, governor of Moldova's Gagauzia region and a key Shor Party figure, was detained at Chisinau Airport on March 25 while attempting to leave the country.
Moldova's Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office alleges she funneled Russian funds into the country while serving as the party's secretary. Gutul, elected in July 2023, has maintained ties with Moscow, meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Russia in March 2024.
Chisinau has actively countered Russian influence, expelling dozens of Russian diplomats and embassy staff in July 2023 over espionage concerns.
Tensions escalated further after Chisinau said that Russian drones repeatedly violated Moldovan airspace during attacks on Ukraine, with some of the drones crashing on Moldovan territory.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
