"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 during a press conference on June 6, 2023, in Kyiv. (Presidential Office)
Ukrainian troops operating in Russia’s Kursk Oblast continue in their tasks despite intense Russian pressure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing on March 12.
“The military command is doing what it should do, preserving the maximum of lives of our soldiers," Zelensky said, urging a "sober" assessment of the battlefield situation rather than reacting to Russian information warfare.
His remarks come as multiple Ukrainian and Russian sources claimed that Russian troops had entered Sudzha, a key Ukrainian-held stronghold in the Russian border region of Kursk.
Russian news agency TASS published purported drone footage showing that Russian troops had entered the town center and raised a Russian flag. The Ukrainian military has not publicly commented on the claims.
Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary defense committee, acknowledged that the situation in Kursk Oblast is "complicated" but said Ukrainian forces are working to stabilize the front line.
"I talked to the soldiers in the morning; they do not confirm our complete withdrawal from Sudzha... I have no information that our troops have completely left Sudzha as of two hours ago," Kostenko said at a press briefing.
Sudzha is located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukrainian border and 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the regional capital, Kursk.
Russia launched a renewed offensive in Kursk Oblast last week and reportedly made rapid advances. The developments coincided with the U.S. instituting a temporary pause on all military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on March 10 that there is no immediate threat of encirclement as Ukrainian forces are repositioning to "favorable defense lines."
Ukraine launched the cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024, initially seizing around 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory. Since then, Russian forces, reinforced by North Korean troops, have steadily pushed back against Ukrainian forces.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Martin Fornusek
