"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.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, speaks at a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 12, 2025. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine and its allies are working on security guarantees that offer "the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 25.
U.S., U.K., German, French, and Ukrainian officials met in London on April 23. A copy of a peace proposal given to the U.S. by Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week calls for a NATO "Article 5-like agreement" backed by the U.S.
Zelensky said Ukraine and its allies worked on security guarantees at the London meeting on April 23.
"There were American proposals or visions, a group in London worked on this, consisting of our colleagues from Europe and the United States," Zelensky told journalists.
Zelensky clarified that Ukraine and Europe did not propose Article 5 protection from NATO itself, but that the security guarantees mirror the protection it offers.
"Not Article 5 itself, but specifically those forces and the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," he said.
If Ukraine does not receive backing to join NATO, "then at this time we need security guarantees," Zelensky said.
The president noted, "these are proposals, and our responses to these proposals," and not finalized security guarantees.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Ukraine could be barred from joining NATO as part of a potential peace deal to end Russia's war.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on March 19, "Extending NATO's Article 5 to Ukraine seems to be the simplest and most effective proposal of all, also because it would help call a possible bluff."
"If Russia does not plan to invade its neighbors again, it is not clear why it should not accept security guarantees that are only defensive," she said.
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.
Natalia Yermak
