"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.
Maxar satellite imagery of the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power facility after it was blown up by Russian forces on June 7, 2023. (Photo: Maxar Technologies)
Russian Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, the former commander of the Dnieper group of forces, is suspected of ordering the destruction of the occupied Kakhovka dam last year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on June 6.
Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the adjacent dam in Kherson Oblast on June 6, 2023, causing a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
The floods caused by the breach killed over 30 people in Ukrainian-held territories and between dozens and hundreds more in the Russian-occupied areas.
At least tens of thousands of people were affected by the floods, while hundreds of thousands were left without access to clean drinking water. The breach also resulted in extensive damage to the environment and agriculture.
Critical infrastructure facilities were destroyed, and the draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir upstream from the dam threatened the operation of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Makarevich was charged with violating the laws and customs of war and premeditated murder by a group of persons based on evidence collected by the SBU and the Prosecutor General's Office.
If captured and convicted, the general faces life in prison.
"The SBU is making every effort to identify and bring to justice all those involved in crimes against Ukraine," the SBU's statement read.
Irynka Hromotska
