"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 image of a tanker transiting through the Great Belt of Denmark off the coast of Agerso, Denmark, on Aug. 15. 2024. (Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The United Kingdom on May 9 announced its "largest ever" sanctions package against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet," imposing restrictions on 100 oil tankers and an additional vessel said to be supporting the Russian government.
Moscow's shadow fleet consists of aging tankers used to circumvent sanctions, including those imposed by the U.K., EU, and U.S. These vessels often operate under obscure ownership structures, use flags of convenience, and evade Western oversight.
London's latest round of sanctions name 100 shadow fleet tankers that have shipped over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to a press release. The penalties also target another ship "involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting" the Kremlin, as well as several individuals and entities in the Russian energy and financial services sectors.
The sanctions are intended to disrupt Russia's ability to finance the full-scale war against Ukraine and protect undersea infrastructure from the risks posed by potentially unsafe vessels.
"The threat from Russia to our national security cannot be underestimated, that is why we will do everything in our power to destroy his shadow fleet operation, starve his war machine of oil revenues, and protect the subsea infrastructure that we rely on for our everyday lives," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
The latest sanctions package means that the U.K. has imposed penalties on more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Starmer announced the sanctions at a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a U.K.-led coalition of 10 northern European NATO countries which met today in Oslo. The JEF in January 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.
The system was developed after several telecommunication and energy cables underneath the Baltic Sea were damaged over the previous months.
The JEF coalition wants to establish "an enhanced partnership with Ukraine," providing training and disinformation support to Kyiv while learning from the battlefield experience of Ukrainian troops, according to London.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Yuliia Taradiuk
