"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.
A Ukrainian soldier shooting at a Russian cruise missile with a machine gun in Zakarpattia Oblast on Aug. 26, 2024. Screenshot from video. (Zakarpattia Oblast Governor Viktor Mykyta/Telegram)
Editor's note: This item was updated to include comments from former Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, who said that the Russian cruise missile had also been targeted by an anti-air missile. Current Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash declined to comment.
Ukrainian soldiers from an air defense unit in western Zakarpattia Oblast shot at a Russian cruise missile with a truck-mounted machine gun, according to a video shared by Governor Viktor Mykyta on Aug. 26. The Russian cruise missile was downed by an anti-air missile, said former Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat.
Mykyta had claimed earlier that the machine-gun fire downed the missile.
In comments to the Kyiv Independent, Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash reiterated that Ihnat had refuted the claim and declined to comment further.
A Ukrainian air defense unit shooting down a Russian cruise missile with a machine gun in Zakarpattia Oblast on Aug. 26, 2024. (Zakarpattia Oblast Governor Viktor Mykyta/Telegram)
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Nate Ostiller
