"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.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks on the first full day of the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 22, 2024. (Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images)
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the Kremlin shows no interest in pursuing peace in Ukraine, following a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a closed-door session of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Johannesburg on Feb. 20.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Lammy criticized Lavrov’s remarks, saying they did not indicate any willingness to negotiate a settlement, according to the Associated Press. He also noted that Lavrov left the room before Lammy had the chance to deliver his own speech.
The G20 meeting, taking place in South Africa, follows recent U.S.-Russia bilateral talks over ending the war in Ukraine—talks that excluded both Ukraine and its European allies.
Tensions have been further heightened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments blaming Ukraine for the war and his criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In his speech, released by the U.K. Foreign Office, Lammy accused Russia of engaging in "Tsarist imperialism" and failing to learn from historical colonial wars. He expressed disappointment in Lavrov’s speech, saying he had hoped for acknowledgment of civilian suffering and a commitment to a durable peace, but instead heard what he described as "the logic of imperialism." Lammy dismissed Lavrov’s remarks as "tired fabrications" and urged G20 members not to be misled by Russia’s justifications for its actions.
The G20, which includes major global economies alongside the EU and African Union, has struggled to find common ground on key geopolitical issues, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his opening address, urged member states to engage in constructive dialogue amid ongoing global crises, including war, climate change, and economic instability.
However, U.S. disengagement from the summit signals the Trump administration’s continued prioritization of its "America First" agenda over multilateral cooperation.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
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