"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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the State Council's Presidium at the Kremlin's Senate Palace in Moscow, Russia, on Sep. 25, 2024. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Any peace agreement to end Russia's war with Ukraine must be in Moscow's favor, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with state media on Oct. 25.
Ahead of Ukraine's first peace summit in June, Putin had outlined conditions for negotiations, which included Kyiv's surrender of the four oblasts illegally claimed by Moscow in September 2022. Russia has since said it will not engage in talks as long as Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk Oblast.
"Any outcome must be in Russia's favor, I say directly, without any embarrassment, and must be based on the realities on the battlefield. And without any doubt, we are not going to make any concessions here; there will be no swaps," Putin said.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine and Russia held talks in Istanbul in March 2022, but the negotiations were eventually abandoned after Ukrainian retook the north of the country and mass war crimes were discovered in the liberated areas.
In comments to Ukraine's Peace Summit in June this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Istanbul talks failed because of the Russian side's "ultimatums."
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Michael Ignatieff
