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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer outside 10 Downing Street in London, UK, on July 5, 2024. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Feb. 26 that a U.S. "backstop" for a potential Europeacekeeper contingent in Ukraine would be necessary to ensure a just and lasting peace, Reuters reported.
Starmer is heading to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump and convince him to continue playing a role in Ukraine's security amid Russian aggression.
Recent weeks saw major geopolitical shifts as the Trump administration has adopted more antagonistic rhetoric toward Ukraine and other partners while intensifying diplomatic outreach to Russia in an effort to broker a swift agreement.
The U.S. president has avoided making any security commitments to Kyiv and made clear he expects Europe to take up responsibility for Ukraine's defense.
"I'm absolutely convinced that we need a lasting peace, not a ceasefire, and for that to happen, we need security guarantees," Starmer told journalists during his trip to Washington.
The Telegraph previously reported that Starmer aims to present Trump with a plan to deploy up to 30,000 European peacekeepers in Ukraine to monitor a ceasefire. While Trump has backed the idea of a European peacekeeping force, there is no consensus among European partners, and Moscow has rejected it outright.
The British prime minister reiterated that the U.K. is ready to take part in the mission but added that a U.S. "backstop" would be essential for such a plan, without elaborating on what concrete measures he expects from Washington.
Starmer's visit follows that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who also sought to convince Trump to remain engaged in Ukraine. Macron has reportedly failed to receive any clear commitments about a U.S. backstop, with an undisclosed EU official describing the trip as a "waste of time" in comments for Politico.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
