"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 soldiers repair drones in a laboratory at an undetermined location in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Nov. 24, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced on Feb. 9 the launch of the "Drone Line," a new military initiative aimed at integrating unmanned aerial systems into frontline operations.
The project seeks to enhance combat effectiveness by expanding the use of drones within elite units of the Ground Forces and the State Border Guard Service.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov described the initiative as a transformative step in modern warfare, emphasizing that unmanned systems will play a central role in combat. "This is the new standard of war, where unmanned systems become a key element of combat, helping our defenders carry out the most complex missions," Umerov said.
The first phase of the project will focus on five elite regiments and brigades: the 20th Separate Regiment "K-2," the 429th Regiment "Achilles," the 427th Regiment "RAROH," the 414th Brigade "Magyar's Birds," and the "Phoenix" Regiment, which is part of the "Pomsta" Brigade. These units have already demonstrated effectiveness in drone warfare and will now see their capabilities significantly scaled up, according to the minister.
By integrating infantry and UAVs into a unified strike system, the Drone Line aims to create a 10-15 kilometer deep kill zone, ensuring that enemy forces cannot move without sustaining heavy losses. "This will fundamentally change battlefield tactics, giving our warriors a decisive advantage," Umerov said in his post on Facebook.
The initiative will also provide constant aerial support for infantry and enhance target detection and destruction before adversaries reach Ukrainian positions.
The Defense Ministry credited President Volodymyr Zelensky for spearheading the initiative and highlighted the ongoing work of Ukraine’s defense industry in advancing drone technology.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
