"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.
The German flag flies in front of the Reichstag building on the anniversary of the reunification of the two German states on Oct. 3, 1990. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via Getty Images)
A 58-year-old Russian national has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Munich court for murdering two Ukrainian soldiers in Germany last year, German television news channel N-Tv reported on March 7.
The court ruled that the severity of the crime makes the man unlikely to qualify for early release.
The victims, aged 36 and 23, were being treated for war injuries in Murnau, Bavaria.
The Russian man admitted to the killings, which happened after an argument about the war broke out at a bar between him and the two soldiers.
Due to the argument, the Russian citizen felt "violated in his national pride," Deutsche Welle reported, citing the Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism of the Munich Public Prosecutor.
"Now, in a sober state, I deeply regret what happened," the 58-year-old suspect said at the start of his trial.
There have been multiple instances of crimes against Ukrainian citizens abroad since the start of the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Two Ukrainian basketball players, aged 17 and 18, were killed in Germany on Feb. 2024 after being attacked with knives.
In another incident also in early 2024, a 15-year-old Ukrainian boy received severe head injuries and was taken to the hospital after his attacker allegedly made xenophobic remarks before the attack. The boy survived the attack.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn
