"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
An evacuation vehicle struck by a Russian drone in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, on Jan. 30, 2025. (Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office / Telegram)
A Russian drone attack in Pokrovsk struck an evacuation vehicle on Jan. 30, injuring the driver and two passengers, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported.
The Kyiv Independent has confirmed that the driver of the evacuation vehicle is a British volunteer working in Ukraine.
The victims sustained mine-blast trauma and shrapnel wounds, the regional prosecutor's office said. The passengers have been identified as a 42-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man.
Efforts to evacuate civilians from front-line towns in Donetsk Oblast have intensified as Russian forces continue to advance in eastern Ukraine. Pokrovsk, one of the region's most embattled cities, came under mandatory evacuation orders in summer 2024.
Civilian evacuations near Pokrovsk are high-risk endeavors due to constant shelling and the proximity of Russian troops.
According to a recent analysis by the monitoring group DeepState, Russian forces are concentrating 44% of their attacks in the Pokrovsk sector. The city is a vital logistics hub for Ukrainian troops in the region.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
