"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.
A Russian soldier rides a motorbike past destroyed buildings in the village of Kazachya Loknya in the Sudzha district of Kursk Oblast on March 18, 2025. (Tatyana Makeyeva / AFP via Getty Images)
Russia continues deploying small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian territory in Sumy Oblast to broaden the front line area, the State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Ukrinform on April 27.
According to Demchenko, the situation in the Sumy Oblast remains "challenging," with Russian troops focusing their assaults on specific areas such as the border villages of Basivka and Zhuravka.
"Recently, we have observed attempts to expand these activities, both within this zone and to other areas, where we periodically detect attempts by these groups to infiltrate," Demchenko said.
Sumy Oblast, in northeastern Ukraine, borders Russia's Kursk Oblast — a small part of which Kyiv has occupied since August 2024 — as well as Bryansk and Belgorod oblasts, making it a critical front line in Russia's full-scale war.
Earlier in March, Russia claimed that its forces had seized the village of Basivka in Sumy Oblast, but Ukraine's State Border Guard Service denied the report, describing it as part of a "disinformation campaign."
Basivka remains marked as a "gray zone" on the DeepState monitoring map, indicating contested or unclear control.
While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms. It has reportedly intensified its offensive operations across the front line.
Demchenko also said Russian troops are attempting to break through the Ukrainian border using quad bikes to enter deeper into Ukrainian territory quickly, establish a foothold there, and await reinforcements, therefore expanding the battle zones.
"Sometimes these are groups of just a few people, sometimes around five individuals. In addition, there are, of course, the shelling attacks, which the enemy continues, using various types of weaponry, and also covering the actions of such small assault groups in specific areas," Demchenko said.
Earlier on April 26, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily report, citing footage from the Russian Defense Ministry, that Russian military is likely preparing to systemically integrate motorcycles into offensive operations in Ukraine during summer and fall 2025.
The Russian Defense Ministry on April 26 published footage showing troops at a training ground practicing offensive and defensive tactics on motorcycles, indicating plans to develop "a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage," ISW analysts said.
The footage showed groups of two to three people practicing tactics on motorcycles. According to the ISW, Russia may be planning to issue an increased number of motorcycles to front-line units fighting in Ukraine.
On April 21, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Russian forces are intensifying efforts to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk Oblast and capture border areas of Sumy Oblast.
"Intense fighting continues in Sumy Oblast in areas near the state border, as well as on the territory of the Russian Federation," Syrskyi said.
Asami Terajima
