"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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. A Gazprom Neft filling station is seen in Moscow. (Vlad Karkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Russia’s natural gas production saw a significant decline in February, dropping 11.3% year-on-year to 57.2 billion cubic meters (bcm), according to Russian media outlet Kommersant, which cited sources familiar with Energy Ministry data.
The sharp decline is primarily attributed to Ukraine halting Russian gas transit through its territory on Jan. 1 after the expiration of a 2019 transit agreement. The move has severely impacted Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant, whose production fell 13.2% year-on-year to 38.2 bcm in February.
With the loss of Ukrainian transit routes, Kommersant reports that Gazprom now relies almost entirely on the TurkStream pipeline, which has an annual capacity of just under 16 bcm—significantly restricting Russia’s ability to export gas to Europe.
Beyond Gazprom, other major Russian energy companies also reported declines in production. Novatek reduced its output by 1.5%, producing 6.4 bcm in February. Lukoil’s gas production fell by 13.3% to 1.3 bcm, while Rosneft recorded a 14% drop, bringing its total production to 5.5 bcm. Gazprom Neft also reported a decline of 8.3%, producing 2.2 bcm during the month.
The downturn extended beyond Russia’s borders. Kommersant reported that Gazprom Neft’s gas production in the NIS (Serbian oil and gas company), Badra (Badra oil field located in eastern Iraq), and Kurdistan (Iraq) fell by 20.5%, while Rosneft’s output at Egypt’s Zohr field declined by 21.3% compared to the previous year.
The only projects that maintained their 2024 levels were Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2, which produced 0.7 bcm and 1.4 bcm in February, respectively.
Despite the slump, Russian price agencies told Kommersant that gas production in 2025 is expected to remain at 2024 levels as Moscow shifts its focus toward expanding pipeline exports to China and increasing LNG shipments.
Kateryna Denisova
