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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Illustrative photo of the city of Belgorod on April 11, 2019. (Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are present in Belgorod Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening address on April 7.
Ukraine first launched a surprise offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August 2024. Ukrainian officials have said the move forced Russia to move resources away from its offensives in Eastern Ukraine, and captured land could be used as a bargaining chip.
"(T)hanks to the entire Kursk operation – we have managed to ease the pressure on other parts of the front, particularly in the Donetsk (Oblast). It is absolutely crucial to keep destroying Russian equipment and all logistics used by the occupiers along the front," Zelensky said.
Syrskyi reported on "the front, our presence in Kursk, and our presence in the Belgorod (Oblast). We continue to conduct active operations in border areas on enemy territory, and this is absolutely just — the war must return to where it came from," Zelensky said.
Russia continues to press on in its war against Ukraine. On April 4, a Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih killed 20 people and injured 75 people.
The U.S. has been in talks with Ukraine and Russia to negotiate an end to Russia's war against Ukraine.
Moscow has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreedto a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to theterms. So far, Moscow has refused.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn is a news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He is pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, majoring in political science with a minor in anthropology and human geography. Volodymyr holds a Certificate in Business Fundamentals from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. He previously completed an internship with The Kyiv Independent.
Asami Terajima
