"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.
Ukraine's Iryna Koliadenko (red) wrestles Japan's Sakura Motoki (blue) in their women's freestyle 62kg wrestling final match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on Aug. 10, 2024. (Punit Paranjpe / AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian wrestler Iryna Koliadenko won the silver medal in women's wrestling in the 62 kg weight division at the Olympic Games in Paris on Aug. 10.
Koliadenko lost the final match 12-1 against Japan's Sakura Motoki, who won gold.
The result marks Koliadenko's second Olympic medal after winning bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2020, and Team Ukraine's highest achievement in Olympic wrestling since 2024.
Motoki entered the Paris Games as the world's reigning vice-champion. The world's top-ranked wrestler, Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, lost to Koliadenko in the semifinals on Aug. 9.
Tynybekova tied with Norway's Grace Jacob Bullen for the bronze medal in the finals.
Ukraine is currently 21st in the Games' overall rankings, with three gold medals, five silver medals, and four bronze.
Ukraine's national team also won two medals in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Paris Games. Parviz Nasibov became a silver medalist in the 67 kg weight category, and Zhan Beleniuk won bronze in the 87 kg weight division.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Kateryna Hodunova
