"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.
Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gives an interview on March 24, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
The Russian military summarily executed at least 109 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in 2024, Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on national television on Dec. 10.
The ombudsman added that 177 cases of POW executions were confirmed "during the previous years of the full-scale war."
It is not immediately clear whether he was referring to the overall figure of 177 captives who died in Russian captivity throughout the all-out war, as revealed by Victoria Tsymbaliuk, a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of POWs, in October.
Nevertheless, the number of POWs killed in 2024 alone underscores an increased frequency of summary executions by the Russian military. This trend coincides with an accelerated pace of the Russian advance in Ukraine.
The figures refer only to officially confirmed cases, meaning the overall numbers may be higher.
"There are Russian representatives who are now cynically and publicly showing the whole world that they do not comply with international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, they abduct children, they commit torture against the civilian population of Ukraine, they kill Ukrainian prisoners of war," Lubinets said.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
The Hague court also issued arrest warrants for ex-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian army. Shoigu and Gerasimov are charged with "directing attacks at civilian objects," "causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects," and the "crime against humanity of inhumane acts."
"Unfortunately, we do not see an effective reaction from the international community. We are very grateful for the deep concern, but as the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than 10 years, three years of full-scale war, shows, words do not stop Russia," Lubinets said.
Boldizsar is a former Reuters correspondent for Hungary, currently based in Kharkiv, reporting for the Kyiv Independent and various other outlets. He holds degrees in political science, philosophy, and development policy.
Kateryna Denisova
