"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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with US President Joe Biden during an event with world leaders launching a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukrainian Recovery and Reconstruction on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 25, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky complained on Oct. 30 that Ukraine's request for Tomahawk missiles was "confidential information" between partners, after a leak in the U.S. media.
The New York Times reported on Oct. 29 that, according to undisclosed U.S. officials, the request for Tomahawk missiles with a range of 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) was part of the secretive "non-nuclear deterrence package" included in Ukraine's victory plan.
The sources told the outlet that Washington was unconvinced that Ukraine needed the weaponry and was reluctant to supply them due to their limited numbers.
"It was confidential information between Ukraine and the White House. How to understand these messages?" Zelensky said during a press briefing with journalists from Nordic countries.
"So this means (that) between partners, there is no (confidentiality)."
According to Zelensky, Ukraine requested the missiles on the condition that it would deploy them only if Russia refused to end its war and de-escalate.
"I said that this is a preventive method. I was told that it is an escalation," Zelensky said.
Kyiv has been trying to secure additional assistance from U.S. President Joe Biden before he leaves office in January. There are fears that Washington might scale down its support if Republican nominee Donald Trump wins the election on Nov. 5.
Facing Russian military advances and increasingly uncertain Western support, Zelensky pitched the five-step victory plan, containing steps that should supposedly end the war by 2025.
Some points of the plan were met with a lukewarm response from partners, with the White House still refusing to permit long-range strikes on Russian territory and several countries resisting a NATO invitation for Ukraine.
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.
Kateryna Hodunova
