"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.
Tank battalion of 59th Motorized Brigade fires artillery towards the Russian positions in Donetsk, Ukraine on December 31, 2023 (Ozge Elif Kizil / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russian forces in the Lyman sector of Donetsk Oblast violated the one-day Easter ceasefire, used it to regroup, and launched a large-scale infantry assault shortly after its end, Anastasiia Blyshchyk, spokesperson for Ukraine's 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade, told Suspilne media on April 22.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a symbolic one-day ceasefire on April 19, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said was violated around 3,000 times.
"This so-called truce did more damage to us," Blyshchyk said. "A few hours after Putin announced the ceasefire, our positions came under massive artillery fire."
According to the spokesperson, Russian forces exploited the lull to reposition units and prepare for renewed assaults.
"We saw them pulling up their infantry to the front line along with weapons, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns," she said.
"Our aerial reconnaissance recorded more than 120 Russian occupiers dispersing in plantations, forest belts, destroyed buildings, and dugouts during the so-called Easter truce."
Blyshchyk added that once the truce ended, Russian forces launched a large-scale infantry offensive.
The Lyman sector in northern Donetsk Oblast remains one of the most fiercely contested areas along the front line. Its strategic importance lies in its proximity to key transport routes and logistics corridors.
The assault follows statements from Ukrainian military leadership that Russia's anticipated spring offensive is already underway.
On April 9, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed that Moscow had begun its spring campaign, with intensified attacks across multiple sectors of the front line.
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.
Asami Terajima
