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.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
A drone was reportedly shot down over the Yelabuga district in Russia's Tatarstan Republic. (Video screenshot from Vesti Tatarstana Telegram channel)
Editor's note: This article was updated to include a confirmation from Ukraine's military intelligence agency.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that it was behind a drone attack targeting Russian military facilities in Russia's Tatarstan Republic on May 23.
A source from the agency said the drones had reached the cities of Nizhnekamsk and Kazan, but did not specify the extent of the damage caused.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed earlier in the day that air defenses had shot down a Ukrainian drone in the area.
Russian Telegram channels shared videos showing a drone-like aerial vehicle above Nizhnekamsk and rising smoke.
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said that restrictions had been imposed on the departure and arrival of planes at Nizhnekamsk and Kazan airports around that time.
Rustem Nuriev, the mayor of the town of Yelabuga, claimed that a drone was downed in the Yelabuga disctrict. Yelabuga lies some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) away from the Russia-Ukraine border. No casualties or damages were reported.
Ukrainian forces struck production facilities in Tatarstan's Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk for the first time on April 2, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) reported. The targets were an oil refinery and a manufacturing facility for the Shahed-type attack drones, which Russia regularly uses in attacks against Ukraine.
Soon after, on April 17, a factory in Tatarstan producing bomber aircraft for the Russian military was also attacked by Ukrainian drones, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) source told the Kyiv Independent.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Kateryna Denisova
