"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. Russia's Mikoyan MiG-31K jets carrying Kinzhal missiles fly over Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2018. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency)
A second Russian Mig-31K jet, capable of carrying Kinzhal missiles, landed in Belarus' Machulishchy airport on Oct. 10, the Belarusian Hajun monitoring group reported.
The first Russian MiG-31K interceptor aircraft landed at the Machulishchy airfield in Belarus on Oct. 9, for the first time since April 2023, when three Russian MiG-31Ks left the country and have not been spotted there since then.
Both planes were spotted moving south at 3:10 p.m. local time, the group noted. It is unclear at the time of the publication whether they are being repositioned again or carrying out a maneuver.
While Belarus, an ally of Russia, has not directly participated in the war, it has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory as a staging ground for its operations against Ukraine.
Moscow stationed several MiG-31K aircraft in Belarus after the start of its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, launching missiles at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities from its airfields.
Russia frequently lifts MiG-31K aircraft from airfields on its territory to attack Ukraine.
The advanced air-launched Kinzhal missile is difficult to intercept and shoot down. They have an operational range of some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), which means that all of Ukraine is at risk if the missile is launched from Russian airspace.
Ukraine's Air Force said in January that air defenses had intercepted 25 out of 63 Kinzhal missiles since the start of the full-scale invasion.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Illia Ponomarenko
