"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
Thousands of Georgian protesters gathered outside the parliament building to oppose the government's decision to delay European Union (EU) accession negotiations until 2028 in Tbilisi, Georgia on Nov. 29, 2024. (Mirian Meladze/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Georgian government is planning to deport 25 foreigners for participating in mass protests in November and December 2024, News Georgia reported on Jan. 4, citing a Georgian Interior Ministry statement.
The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party claimed a sweeping victory in the Oct. 26 elections amid widespread allegations of fraud and intimidation. The disputed results triggered mass demonstrations in Tbilisi.
The Migration Department of the Georgian Interior Ministry has initiated expulsion proceedings against 25 foreign nationals who participated in the protests in Tbilisi in November and December. The court also imposed various administrative penalties on them.
The ministry added that 10 out of 25 citizens have already left Georgia's territory, without specifying which countries they are citizens of.
There are no official statistics on foreigners detained during the protests. Over 20 of the nearly 450 arrested were foreign nationals, most of them Russians, News Georgia reported, citing reports by NGOs and other media.
In December, foreigners who attended the protests began to be summoned en masse to the Migration Department.
Human rights activists noted that this practice did not comply with international standards and warned that the deportation of foreign nationals for participating in peaceful demonstrations was contrary to national law.
Some 91 foreigners were ordered to leave the country between November and December 2024. According to News Georgia, more than a quarter of them participated in anti-government protests.
The ruling party, founded by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has led Georgia closer to the Kremlin while hindering its accession to the European Union. The controversial foreign agents law adopted earlier this year led the EU to effectively freeze Georgia's accession process.
The parliamentary elections and ensuing political crisis sparked a wave of large-scale demonstrations in Tbilisi. A second round of protests kicked off when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia's integration into the EU could be postponed until 2028.
Elsa Court
