"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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech on Aug. 4, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout / Anadolu via Getty Images)
A major priority for Kyiv in recent ceasefire negotiations with the United States in Saudi Arabia involved the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Eurovision News on March 26.
U.S. representatives held separate meetings with Ukrainian and Russian delegates in Riyadh March 23-25, after which Russia and Ukraine agreed to implement a partial ceasefire in the Black Sea and temporarily halt strikes against energy infrastructure.
"There was also one very important point," Zelensky said in the interview.
"It somehow disappeared from the media field. Although I think that this is the number one thing we were going for. This is an exchange for the return of our children, whom the Russians stole."
In a statement issued following talks with Ukraine, the U.S. said it remains "committed" to returning forcibly kidnapped Ukrainian children, as well as exchanging prisoners of war and releasing civilian detainees.
"And we agreed that the U.S. would help us. And an exchange of military and civilian prisoners. That was the agenda," Zelensky said.
Zelensky acknowledged the limitiations of the partial ceasefire and reiterated Kyiv's willingness to accept a complete cessation of hostilities, if Russia also agrees.
"Everything that brings us closer to any ceasefire brings us closer to peace, fewer losses," he said.
"We wanted unconditional ceasefire at first, but the Russians did not want an unconditional ceasefire and are setting conditions again."
Ukraine already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv was ready to take such a step if Russia also agreed to the terms. Russia has thus far refused.
According to White House statements issued after the latest Riyadh talks, all parties on March 25 agreed "to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea."
All parties also agreed to "develop measures for implementing" an agreed-upon ban on striking energy facilities in Russia and Ukraine.
Ahead of the U.S.-Russia negotiations in Riyadh, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Walz said that returning kidnapped Ukrainian children will be one of several "confidence building measures" implemented in ongoing peace talks.
At least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and about 1,200 have been brought home, according to the Ukrainian government's Children of War database.
Ukrainian officials have reportedly named the return of these children among their key conditions for any future peace agreement with Russia.
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.
Andrea Januta
