"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 Tupolev Tu-95 flies over Moscow during the general rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2022 (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported on Dec. 18 that it had detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The ADIZ as a designated stretch of international airspace that necessitates the identification of all aircraft for national security purposes.
NORAD reported that the Russian planes remained in international airspace and did not breach U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace. Such events occur "regularly," the agency said.
Russia's state-owned TASS news agency confirmed the presence of Tu-95MS bombers near Alaska, saying that the flight was part of a planned operation.
A number of similar incidents occurred earlier this year. U.S. and Canadian fighter jets on July 25 intercepted Russian and Chinese military aircraft in the ADIZ. NORAD also reported tracking four Russian warplanes in the zone in mid-August.
The incidents underscore ongoing tensions surrounding the strategically significant Arctic region, where both Russia and NATO members continue to assert their presence.
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
