"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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda after commemorating the victims of the Volyn Massacre in Lutsk, Ukraine, on July 9, 2023 (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, said on Feb. 8 that the preparations for the exhumation of remains of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy are underway.
Speaking in an interview with Polish TV channel TVN24, Bodnar said that exhumation will begin in the spring, but that the exact time will depend on the weather. Work is already underway to determine all the locations in Poland and Ukraine where exhumations will need to be carried out, he said, according to Ukrainian media.
The Volyn tragedy, also known as the Volyn massacres, took place in 1943 in Nazi-occupied territory of what is now western Ukraine during World War II. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killed tens of thousands of poles. Thousands of Ukrainians were also killed by Polish military in retaliation.
The topic of the massacres and the long-unresolved dispute over exhumation of the remains have strained relations between the two allies. Poland repeatedly raised the issue as a potential roadblock to Ukraine's desire to join the EU, before Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Holownia walked back these statements in September.
According to Bodnar, Ukrainian legislation requires a licensed Ukrainian company to carry out the exhumations. A Polish partner for the project has been identified, he said.
While Poland is providing the majority of the funding, Ukraine is also financing part of the project, he added.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Daria Svitlyk
