"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.
The United Kingdom's Prince Harry poses with patients at the Superhumans Center in Lviv during a surprise visit to Ukraine on April 10, 2025. (Duke of Sussex Press Office)
Prince Harry made a surprise visit to Ukraine on April 10, meeting with soldiers and civilians injured in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, according to a statement from his office.
Harry visited the Superhumans Center, a facility in Lviv that provides prosthetics and rehabilitation to Ukrainians wounded by war. The tour of the center came as part of Harry's broader work with injured veterans, a press statement said.
The trip was only announced after Harry had already departed Ukraine.
Harry, a British Army veteran, founded the Invictus Games in 2014, offering wounded military personnel the chance to compete in athletic events similar to the Paralympics. He was accompanied to Ukraine with delegates from the Invictus Games Foundation.
The visit involved a meeting with members of Ukraine's Invictus Games community, a tour of the Superhumans Center, and connecting with patients and medical staff. As part of the tour, Harry observed a live surgery in the center's operating theater.
Harry also met with Natalia Kalmykova, Ukraine's veterans affairs minister.
The visit comes just over a month after President Volodymyr Zelensky visited King Charles III, Harry's father, during a trip to the U.K. in March. Harry's older brother, Prince William, recently met with Ukrainian refugees during a visit to Estonia.
The British royal family has been vocal in its support for Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, became the first member of the royal family to visit wartime Ukraine in August 2024. The duchess met with Zelensky during a surprise trip to Kyiv.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
