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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
The World Bank Group headquarters in Washington, DC on Sept. 27, 2022. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine and the World Bank signed a loan agreement worth $4.8 billion, which Kyiv will use for priority budget expenditures, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko and the World Bank's Eastern Europe Operations Manager Kevin Tomlinson signed the agreement for the loan on Nov. 22, which falls under the Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) project.
As the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion continues to put pressure on Ukraine's economy, the World Bank plays a crucial role in supporting the country.
The agreement provides for financial assistance from the U.S. and other partners. The U.S. government provides funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in coordination with the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and State.
The funds are then transferred to Ukraine's State Budget within the PEACE project and have gone primarily to the payment of pensions for the elderly, grants to internally displaced persons, and wages for teachers, first responders and emergency services staff.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, about $35.5 billion has already been allocated through the PEACE project to support social expenditures of Ukraine's State Budget, Ukraine's Finance Ministry said.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Alexander Mertens
