"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.
Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, speaks during an interview in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on March 17 that it was his hope that U.S. President Donald Trump will get Russian President Vladimir Putin to abandon "some absurd demands" toward establishing a peace deal in Ukraine.
Trump is set to hold a phone call with Putin on March 18 to discuss ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
"(W)e will measure the success of Trump's talks by the quality of the negotiated peace," Sikorski saidat an EU foreign ministers summit in Brussels.
Ukraine agreed to a temporary 30-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S. on March 11 following talk in Jeddah, provided Russia also agrees to it. On March 13, Putin said Russia was also willing to accept the ceasefire but demanded guarantees that Ukraine would not mobilize troops, conduct training, or receive military assistance during the truce, making it potentially vulnerable to renewed Russian aggression.
Russia has repeatedly demanded Ukraine hand over the entirety of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts despite not fully controlling them.
Russia has also opposed the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine in a potential peace deal and insisted Ukraine be demilitarized, neutral, and barred from joining NATO.
"It is clear who wants peace and who wants war. Russia will want to take over all of Ukraine by other means, and preferably militarily neutralize half of Europe while at it. Russia won’t succeed in that... (but that) doesn’t mean Putin won’t try," Sikorski said.
"Putin could finish this war in 5 minutes by just withdrawing," he added.
The U.K. news outlet the Independent reportedon March 16, citing senior Ukrainian officials, that Ukraine is ready to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, but remains firm on several areas, including the return of children and civilians, no further ceding of territory, as well as establishing international security guarantees.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn is a news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He is pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, majoring in political science with a minor in anthropology and human geography. Volodymyr holds a Certificate in Business Fundamentals from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. He previously completed an internship with The Kyiv Independent.
Yuliia Taradiuk
