"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.
BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 06: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a statement to the media following the win of Donald Trump in U.S. presidential elections on November 06, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Many people in Germany see the outcome with anxiety, fearing a negative impact for the German economy and its security. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) reportedly rejected the delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine in the party's program for the upcoming February elections, the Berliner Morgenpost reported on Dec. 15, citing a leaked draft program.
Scholz has long been adamant in his refusal to provide the country’s Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, even as other major backers of Ukraine, including the United States, have delivered long-range weaponry.
Fearing it could draw his country into the war, Scholz has repeatedly refused Kyiv's request for the cruise missiles, with President Volodymyr Zelensky previously suggested that Germany’s refusal to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles is linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear saber-rattling.
"We stand by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's decision not to deliver the Taurus cruise missile from the Bundeswehr's stocks," the SPD program reportedly reads, adding that weapons deliveries should come with "prudence and a sense of proportion."
Despite the weapons refusal, the program also indicates that "the SPD is clearly committed to diplomatic, military, financial and humanitarian support for the Ukrainians in their fight against Russian aggression, which is contrary to international law - for as long as necessary."
The SPD's program comes in direct contrast with that of German Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who previously voiced support for providing Ukraine with the Taurus missiles.
Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance is leading in the polls ahead of the Feb. 23 election, previously visited Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, promising a more decisive strategy on long-range strikes against Russia.
"We want your army to be capable of hitting military bases in Russia. Not the civilian population, not infrastructure, but the military targets from which your country is being attacked," Merz said.
Talking to Bild, Merz nevertheless said that the Swedish-German cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) would not be a "miraculous" game-changer in the war.
The politician also stressed he agrees with Scholz that Germany must not become a party at war, but he pointed out that neither the U.K. nor the U.S. became belligerents when lifting restrictions on the weapons they provided.
In the CDU's section of the election platform on foreign and security policy, the CDU has reportedly pledged to continue supporting Ukraine "with all necessary diplomatic, financial, humanitarian, and military assistance."
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Martina Sapio
