"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.
Illustrative purposes only: The Swedish warship, the frigate Karlstad, leaves Copenhagen harbor to join the JEF forces (The Joint Expeditionary Force) in the Baltic Sea on March 4, 2022, in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Ole Jensen/Getty Images)
The U.K-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has set up a tracking system to alert allies if a ship poses a threat to undersea cable infrastructure and to monitor Russia's shadow fleet of tankers, London said on Jan. 7.
The JEF is a coalition of 10 northern European NATO countries.
The decision comes after several telecommunication and energy cables underneath the Baltic Sea were damaged over the past six months, with four telecom cables and one power cable severed on Dec. 25.
Only two of those cables of the Christmas incident were repaired by Jan. 7. Authorities suspect the Russian shadow vessel Eagle S of the sabotage.
The new Nordic Warden system monitors ships in real-time and alerts JEF and NATO allies if a vessel behaves suspiciously. Its database also contains tankers that are part of Russia’s shadow fleet.
The shadow fleet refers to a group of aging, poorly insured tankers Russia uses to avoid international sanctions on its oil trade. Moscow also uses these vessels for espionage, Sweden said.
"Nordic Warden will help protect against both deliberate acts of sabotage as well as cases of extreme negligence which we have seen cause damage to underwater cables," U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said in a statement.
Parallel to the Nordic Warden operation, NATO is increasing its military presence in the Baltic Sea to bolster situational awareness and deter potential threats.
Allies are also exploring measures to protect critical undersea infrastructure, supported by NATO's Maritime Centre for Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure, established in May.
Allied officials have raised alarm over a growing number of Russian sabotage operations in Europe since the West threw its support behind Kyiv after the outbreak of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Boldizsar is a former Reuters correspondent for Hungary, currently based in Kharkiv, reporting for the Kyiv Independent and various other outlets. He holds degrees in political science, philosophy, and development policy.
Martin Fornusek
