"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.
Russian strike on Kramatorsk's city center on Sept. 25, 2024, in Donetsk Oblast resulted in numerous civilian casualties and damaged infrastructure. (Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin / Telegram)
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated. Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin clarified later in the day that the city was attacked by two guided aerial bombs, not three, as he had previously claimed.
Russian forces attacked the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 25, killing at least two and injuring 19 people, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported. Three children are among the injured, he added.
Russia targeted the city center with two guided aerial bombs, damaging two high-rise buildings, shops, and cars.
People may be trapped under the rubble. Emergency services were still working at the scene as of 6 p.m. local time, according to Filashkin.
The aftermath of the Russian strike against the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 25, 2024. (Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin / Telegram)
"This is another war crime by the Russians and another sad reminder that there are no safe places left in Donetsk Oblast," Filashkin wrote on his Telegram, encouraging remaining local residents to evacuate.
Kramatorsk comes under regular Russian attacks. A strike on a restaurant in the city center, popular with volunteers, journalists, and soldiers, in June 2023 killed 13 people and injured dozens of others.
The well-known Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina was seriously injured in the June 2023 strike and later died in hospital.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Kateryna Hodunova
