"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.
A Talgo SA logo on a high-speed passenger train at Sants station in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Spain prevented Hungary from buying Talgo, a Madrid-based train manufacturer, due to its potential usefulness for Ukraine's reconstruction, the Financial Times reported on Sept. 12, citing undisclosed officials.
Madrid vetoed the 619 million euro bid ($680 million) due to concerns about Budapest's warm ties to Moscow amid Russia's ongoing full-scale war against Ukraine, the FT wrote.
The Spanish government publicly rejected the offer by Hungary's Ganz-Mavag over national security concerns, but the exact grounds for this decision remained classified.
Budapest-based Ganz-Mavag is owned by a private equity firm managed by Mol, Hungary's leading oil and gas company, whose leadership is close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Mol Group also processes Russian crude oil that Hungary continues to buy despite the war in Ukraine.
The Hungarian company called the move an "arbitrary decision regarding a non-strategic company." The failed bid underscores growing tensions between Hungary and other European countries over the former's proximity to Russia.
Orban's Hungary has repeatedly delayed sanctions against Moscow and aid to Kyiv, drawing ire among its EU partners. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez denounced Orban as "pro-Putin."
A Spanish official told the FT that Talgo operates an advanced engineering that allows the seamless transition between Ukrainian rails and narrower European tracks. Different gauges used in Ukraine mean that passengers and cargo often have to change trains when traveling to and from the EU.
Ukrainian Railways are currently developing a European-gauge railway from the Zakarpattia Oblast city of Uzhhorod to Chop, a town at the Hungarian border, as part of EU integration of Ukraine's transport infrastructure.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Elsa Court
