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.
The 28th episode of "This Week in Ukraine" features Kyiv Independent TikTok producer Masha Lavrova, who discusses Elon Musk's stained reputation in Ukraine. "This Week in Ukraine" is a weekly podcast hosted by the Kyiv Independent' reporter Anastasiia Lapatina, and is released on YouTube and audio platforms every Friday. (Cover image by Nizar Al-Rifai)
Elon Musk’s social media platform X may face fines exceeding $1 billion for allegedly violating the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the New York Times (NYT) reported on April 4, citing four people familiar with the matter.
The DSA, enacted in 2022, aims to reduce illegal and harmful content on major online platforms. The European Commission began formal proceedings against X in 2023 and has since warned that selling verified check marks could be misleading to users and in breach of the DSA.
According to the NYT, this would be the EU’s first enforcement action under the DSA, with possible penalties expected this summer. In addition to fines, X may be required to change key platform features to comply with the law.
The EU is also investigating whether X’s limited content moderation has allowed hate speech and disinformation to flourish. Penalties under the DSA can reach up to 6% of a company’s global revenue, and officials are reportedly considering calculating X’s fine based on the combined revenue of all Elon Musk-owned companies, including SpaceX.
X could avoid the fines by implementing the changes demanded by the European Commission, the NYT noted.
The Global Government Affairs team at X responded and said that if the EU’s plans are true, it would represent an “unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.”
“X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,” the team said.
Following billionaire Elon Musk's 2022 acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, the social media company has faced criticism for increased levels of disinformation, and lack of effective moderation of the content shared there.
Musk has himself promoted Russia-backed narratives about the war in Ukraine, including mocking Zelensky with memes portraying him as begging for financial aid, and echoing Kremlin propaganda that blames Ukraine—not Russia—for obstructing peace efforts.
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.
Yuliia Taradiuk
