"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.
Photo for illustrative purposes: A Russian FSB officer in assault gear in an undated photo. (Grigorenko / Getty Images)
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in Krasnodar Krai said on April 18 that it detained a Belarusian citizen accused of gathering intelligence and planning a terrorist act on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to an official statement.
In a video released by Russian state-run RIA Novosti, the detainee, whose identity was not disclosed and whose face was blurred in the footage, said he was born in 2000 and is a citizen of Belarus.
The detainee claimed to have been recruited online in December 2024 to collect information about Russia's Black Sea Fleet and Armed Forces' deployment in Krasnodar Krai and carry out attacks.
The FSB alleges that he retrieved a 2.5-kilogram improvised explosive device from a hiding place under orders from a handler, and was planning to bomb an administrative building in Novorossiysk.
In the video, the man recites a script in which he says the attack was orchestrated by Ukrainian security services "to disrupt negotiations between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine" and escalate the conflict.
Russian authorities opened a criminal case against him on charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act. Ukraine has not commented on the claims.
This is not the first such case reported by Russia. In December 2023, a Belarusian national was detained in Omsk and accused of blowing up two trains on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia.
Russia's security services, particularly the FSB, have a long-documented history of extracting confessions through coercion, intimidation, and even torture.
Human rights groups and former detainees have consistently raised concerns about fabricated charges and forced statements.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
