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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Brussels between April 2 and 4 to discuss a path toward peace in Ukraine and NATO's priorities, the State Department announced on March 31.
"In Brussels, Secretary Rubio will attend the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting to discuss security priorities for the Alliance, including increased Allied defense investment and securing lasting peace in Ukraine," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
Rubio's visit comes during an unprecedented time for the alliance, as U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly questioned the collective defense principle and threatened to annex Greenland from a fellow NATO member, Denmark.
The Trump administration has also brought a major shift to Washington's policy on Ukraine. Pledging to broker a swift peace deal, the U.S. has strong-armed Kyiv by temporarily cutting off military aid while exerting little pressure on Moscow, save for threatening tariffs on Russian oil.
Trump has not approved any new military aid packages for Ukraine, only permitting the continued flow of materiel approved under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Washington also made it clear it expects European countries to take responsibility for their own security and Ukraine, urging them to increase their defense spending targets to 5% of GDP.
"Secretary Rubio will also discuss the shared threat of China to the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Alliances at a NATO session with representatives of the Indo-Pacific Partners," Bruce said.
"Lastly, the Secretary will discuss plans for The Hague Summit this summer."
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
