"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.
Law enforcement officers detained two Ukrainians who were preparing a terror attack in the city of Kyiv and were coordinated by Russian intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine claimed on Oct. 23, 2024. (SBU/Telegram)
Law enforcement officers detained two Ukrainians who were preparing a terror attack in the city of Kyiv and were coordinated by Russian intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed on Oct. 23.
According to the statement, the suspects planned to detonate improvised explosives in a crowded place in Ukraine's capital to cause "the maximum number of civilian deaths" and sow panic.
Throughout the full-scale war, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have accused numerous citizens of spying or otherwise cooperating with Russian security services.
Law enforcement officers detained two Ukrainians who were preparing a terror attack in the city of Kyiv and were coordinated by Russian intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine claimed on Oct. 23, 2024. (SBU/Telegram)
Russian intelligence allegedly recruited a 20-year-old resident of the city of Zaporizhzhia via Telegram and instructed her on how to make explosives. She also engaged her 26-year-old partner to cooperate, the SBU said.
The SBU claimed that the suspect was in contact with a Russian military intelligence officer from the Russian-occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. She used two cell phones to connect a detonator with plastic explosives, which she had to get from a hidden cache, according to the law enforcement agency.
Before the planned terror attack, the two were supposed to fulfill a "test task" and set on fire several vehicles of the Ukrainian military in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The SBU detained both of them when they tried to set fire to an infantry fighting vehicle.
If charged, the suspects may face life in prison with confiscation of property.
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.
Nate Ostiller
