"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.
Howitzer is in action on the Kurakhove front in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by Vincenzo Circosta/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from one front-line sector in Donetsk Oblast to preserve troops and improve defensive operations, Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, the commander of a tactical group in the region, reported on March 18.
"This allowed us not only to save our soldiers but also to improve our defense. (Russia) is suffering losses, and we can act more effectively," Naiev wrote on Facebook. It remains unclear which section of the front line the commander was referring to.
Naiev, the former commander of Ukraine's Joint Forces, noted that his leadership of the tactical group in Donetsk Oblast has now entered its second month.
The general emphasized that over the past month, coordinated efforts by scouts, drone operators, artillery, mortar units, tanks, and infantry have destroyed more than 30 Russian armored vehicles and taken out 2,000 Russian soldiers.
“This has significantly reduced the number of Russian attacks in our direction,” he said.
According to Interfax Ukraine's undisclosed source, Naiev has been appointed to command the Velyka Novosilka tactical group. The occupied village of Velyka Novosilka lies some 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the administrative border between the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts.
The withdrawal was carried out in February and concerned Ukrainian units in the area of the villages Dachne, Zelenivka, and Andriivka north of Velyka Novosilka, Ukrainska Pravda's undisclosed sources claimed. Kyiv's forces stationed there pulled back to avoid encirclement in the so-called Kurakhove pocket, according to the outlet.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. A Ukrainian military spokesperson has declined to comment.
The Ukrainian military reported that Russia has stepped up attacks in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the past few weeks but denied Russian claims of capturing the village of Stepove.
Throughout the fall of 2024, Russian forces made operational gains in DonetskOblast, including areas near Toretsk and Chasiv Yar. Fighting remains intense in the eastern region, and Russian troops continue to advance, albeit slowly, this year.
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
