"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.
The Stanovlyansky district in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast. (Evgeny Zykin/Wikipedia)
A drone attack caused a fire at an electrical substation in the Stanovlyansky district in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast overnight on May 13, Governor Igor Artamonov reported on Telegram.
Russia claimed to shot down a total of 31 drones, including four over Lipetsk Oblast. Another 12 drones were destroyed over Belgorod Oblast, eight over Kursk Oblast and seven over occupied Crimea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Artamonov claimed that the fire was being extinguished on the territory of the electrical substation. No casualties were reported.
Russian Defense Ministry said it also shot down Ukraine's Western-provided missiles. Ukrainian officials didn't issue any comments. The Kyiv Independent couldn't verify this claim.
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WTF is wrong with Russia?
In recent months, drone attacks targeting energy facilities within Russia's borders have increased in frequency.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) claimed on May 13 it was behind the attack on the oil refinery in Volgograd. The Kaluganefteprodukt oil depot and the Novolipetsk metallurgical plant were also reportedly struck by drones.
Two days before, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) attacked an oil refinery, GazpromNeftekhim Salavat, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, and two oil depots in Krasnodar Krai, according to the Kyiv Independent's source.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
