"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 leader of the far-right party AUR, George Simion (right) shakes hands with former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu (left) during an anti-government rally on March 1, 2025 in Bucharest, Romania. (Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images)
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Far-right Eurosceptic candidate George Simion is projected to win the first round of Romania’s presidential election on May 4, gaining nearly 40% of the votes with a majority of polling stations reporting.
The election will go to a run-off on May 18, although it was not immediately clear as to which second-place challenger will face off against Simion. The results show a close race between Crin Antonescu, the former acting president backed by Romania's governing coalition, and Nicusor Dan, 55, Bucharest's mayor running as an independent with a strong anti-corruption platform.
Antonescu is currently leading with 20.96% of the vote to Dan's 20.04%. Simion is positioned well ahead with 39.97% of the vote.
The vote follows the annulment of the previous first round held in November 2024, when Romania's Constitutional Court invalidated the outcome due to evidence of social media manipulation and foreign interference.
That round had been won by populist Calin Georgescu, who openly promoted conspiracy theories and voiced strong support for Russia, calling Ukraine a "fictional state" and predicting its partition as "inevitable."
Simion, who was banned from entering Ukraine in November 2024 over systematic anti-Ukrainian activities, leads a party opposed to sending weapons to Ukraine and against transferring Romanian Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv.
Both Antonescu and Dan support continued membership in the EU and NATO, as well as aid to Ukraine.
Despite Georgescu's controversies plaguing the first round of election held in 2024, Simion has sought to capitalize support over Georgescu's popularity. Simion has said he will find Georgescu a position within his government, possibly as prime minister.
Romania, a NATO member bordering Ukraine, has signed a bilateral security agreement with Kyiv, backed sanctions against Russia, sent a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, and facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain amid Russian threats in the Black Sea.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
