"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
Illustrative purposes: The destroyed Chasivoyarsk Refractory Plant on June 18, 2023 in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine. (Viktor Fridshon/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces launched an aerial attack against a Russian-occupied refractory plant in the embattled city of Chasiv Yar, Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zaporozhets, spokesperson for the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, said on Jan. 18.
The attack confirms earlier reports that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the plant.
"On the territory of the refractory plant, the enemy tried to gain a foothold, attacking in small and medium groups," Zaporozhets said during a television broadcast.
"Thanks to coordinated actions ... (occupying Russian troops) were discovered in one of the premises on the territory of the refractory plant and an air strike was carried out. The enemy suffered losses."
The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda posted a video, obtained from the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, depicting the strike against the plant.
In the past week, Russian military bloggers alleged that Russian forces had pushed Ukrainian troops out of the refractory plant in Chasiv Yar. The crowd-sourced monitoring website Deep State also reported on Jan. 12 that Russia had occupied the site.
The plant served as reliable fortification for Ukrainian forces, who must now shelter in residential buildings weakened by constant shelling.
The front-line city ofChasiv Yar has become one of the hottest spots in Donetsk Oblast in recent months as Russian troops continue advancing in eastern Ukraine. The city has been partially under Russian control since Ukrainian forces withdrew from the eastern Kanal neighborhood in July.
Fighting has recently intensified near the city, with Russian forces reportedly using armored combat vehicles in their assault for the first time in late December.
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 Denisova
