"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.
Oleh Tatarov at the National Security Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 13, 2021. (Volodymyr Tarasov/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Presidential Office deputy head Oleh Tatarov and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief Vasyl Maliuk were "killing Chechens in Kyiv," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 27, likely referencing the early stages of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Responding to a question by a journalist on the effectiveness of Zelensky's team, the president said, "Oleh Tatarov, together with Vasyl Maliuk, were killing Chechens in Ukraine, in Kyiv, when you were not here."
"Should I drive him out to be killed by the Russians?" he asked. The president did not provide further details but claimed that Ukrainian journalists had been told about this "off the record" and that the U.S. is also aware of it.
Tatarov is the most controversial official in Zelensky's administration. He has been charged with bribery, but the corruption case against him has been obstructed and destroyed by law enforcement agencies and courts.
Despite the controversies, Zelensky has refused to suspend or fire Tatarov.
In the early phases of Russia's full-scale invasion, a group of Chechen fighters fighting for Moscow reportedly attempted to infiltrate Kyiv to assassinate Zelensky, but the plan was thwarted.
Martin Fornusek
