"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 woman walks past the US Embassy in Kyiv on November 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tanya Dzafarowa / AFP via Getty Images)
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days and urged U.S. citizens to prepare to take shelter immediately in the event of an aerial alert.
The warning comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's self-declared "Victory Day truce," a ceasefire the Kremlin claimed would last from midnight on May 8 to midnight on May 11 in honor of Russia's May 9 celebrations.
"The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days," the embassy announced on its website.
"The Embassy, as always, recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."
The embassy has previously issued similar warnings as part of its standard security protocols.
While the temporary ceasefire has ostensibly already begun, Russia has continued to launch deadly attacks against civilians in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has also reported that combat operations on the front lines have not stopped.
Similarly, Moscow's unilateral "Easter truce" was a ceasefire in name only, as Russia violated its own terms thousands of times.
President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Putin's latest ceasefire declaration as a "theatrical performance"and reiterated calls for a full, unconditional truce.
U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 called for a "30-day unconditional ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia— a proposal Kyiv first assented to back in March. Moscow has repeatedly refused these terms, insisting Ukraine halt all military aid before agreeing to a full ceasefire.
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.
Yuliia Taradiuk
