"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.
Reactor four at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. (Photo: Energoatom/ Telegram.)
A new team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on March 1, marking the first time the agency's monitors reached the site through the occupied territory.
The Moscow-appointed head of the plant said the rotation of inspectors was facilitated by Russian forces and followed extensive talks between the heads of Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, and the IAEA.
The Kyiv Independent can't immediately verify these claims.
The latest rotation faced delays due to ongoing military activity around the site, with Kyiv and Moscow each accusing the other of violating safety agreements meant to ensure the IAEA’s secure passage.
The IAEA did not provide immediate comment and Ukrainian officials did not issue a statement on the matter.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, during the early weeks of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. While the facility remains under Russian control, it is not currently generating electricity.
Since September 2022, the IAEA has maintained a presence at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine’s other nuclear facilities, aiming to monitor risks and ensure nuclear safety. The agency has consistently warned that ongoing hostilities in the area pose serious dangers. Despite its efforts, security concerns around the plant remain unresolved as fighting continues in the region.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has urged both Ukrainian and Russian forces to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could jeopardize the plant’s safety.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Kollen Post
