"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.
Ukrainian hryvnia, seen Aug. 12, 2023. (Adrien Fillon/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian government said on April 24 that it has failed to reach an agreement with its debtholders to restructure some $2.6 billion of debt.
This means Kyiv might have to default on paying some $600 million ahead of the deadline in late May.
"Ukraine indicated that it could not accept the Restricted Holders’ Proposal and declined to make any further proposal to the Restricted Holders before the end of the Restricted Period," the Ukrainian government said in a statement after April 15-23 talks in Washington.
Kyiv nevertheless pledged to continue to engage with its debtholders and seek other options for restructuring the debt.
The $2.6 billion sum concerns the so-called GDP warrants, a financial instrument that gives the debtholder the right to additional payments based on the country's economic performance.
"The GDP warrants were designed for a world that no longer exists. Ukraine's modest economic growth in 2023 was not a sign of surging prosperity but a fragile rebound from a nearly 30% downturn caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion," Ukraine's Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said in a statement.
"These financial instruments must not become an obstacle to our recovery. Our objective is to reach a fair and comprehensive solution to this issue."
The warrants were not part of last year's deal to restructure some $20 billion in national debt. That agreement, concluded with some creditors in July 2024, allowed Ukraine to avoid default and continue financing its defense against Russia's full-scale war.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that failure to resolve the warrant issue could threaten further debt restructuring, as well as its ongoing $15.6 billion bailout program, the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
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.
Dominic Culverwell
