"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.
Zakarpattia Oblast Governor Viktor Mykyta attends the 'Second International Summit of Cities and Regions' in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 9, 2024. (Eugen Kotenko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian government agreed to dismiss Zakarpattia Oblast Governor Viktor Mykyta from his post, Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in the parliament, announced on Sept. 6. The decision must now be approved by the president.
The news comes against the backgrop of a broad government reshuffle that saw a number of ministers and other high-ranking officials resign.
Melnychuk did not specify the reason for the decision or whether Mykyta would be offered a new position in state administration if his dismissal was approved.
Opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak suggested back in June that after Presidential Office deputy head Oleksii Kuleba is moved to a ministerial post, he would likely be replaced in the Presidential Office by a governor of some "western oblast."
Oleksii Kuleba was recently appointed as deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine and minister for the development of communities and territories.
Kuleba's unified office will take over the duties of the reintegration ministry, whose head, Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, was also dismissed. For now, the reintegration ministry will be temporarily led by Vereshchuk's former deputy, Anatolii Stelmakh, according to Melnychuk.
Mykyta served in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) before being appointed the head of the southwestern Zakarpattia Oblast in 2021.
The decision on the dismissal was announced the same day as law enforcement officers reportedly searched the premises of the city council in Uzhhorod, the regional center of Zakarpattia Oblast.
The investigation concerns city administration officials allegedly demanding $15,000 from an entrepreneur for construction permits, Hromadske reported, citing its sources. City and regional administrations are separate institutions, and there is currently no indication that the two events are connected.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Chris York
