"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.
Zelensky holds a phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Jan. 29, 2024. (Volodymyr Zelensky / X)
President Volodymyr Zelensky approved a National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decision on Feb. 13 to impose indefinite sanctions on several high-profile politicians, oligarchs, and businessmen.
Sanctions were imposed against oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, billionaire Konstantin Zhevago, former PrivatBank co-owner Hennadiy Boholyubov, Ukraine's 5th President Petro Poroshenko, and Viktor Medvedchuk, a former pro-Russian lawmaker accused of state treason.
The sanctions freeze all assets held by the targeted individuals in Ukraine and block them from conducting financial transactions, among other restrictions. The decree states the measures are indefinite.
Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's most infamous business tycoons, faces fraud and money laundering allegations, including accusations of withdrawing Hr 15 billion ($360 million) from Ukraine's largest bank,PrivatBank, before its nationalization in 2016.
Boholyubov, a former co-owner of PrivatBank, is under investigation for allegedly fleeing Ukraine with forged documents in June 2024.
Zhevago, a billionaire and former lawmaker, is suspected of embezzlement related to the collapse of Finance and Credit Bank in 2015.
He was detained in France in December 2022 at Kyiv's request.
Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian politician and close ally of Vladimir Putin, was charged with treason in 2021. He escaped house arrest days after Russia's full-scale invasion but was later captured and exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war in September 2022. He is now in Russia.
Poroshenko, Ukraine's fifth president (2014-2019) and current lawmaker from the European Solidarity party, has faced multiple criminal investigations. While cases against him were suspended after the full-scale invasion, his shares in 19 companies were seized, and affiliated businesses faced multimillion-dollar fines.
"The National Security and Defense Council has just made an unconstitutional, politically motivated decision to impose sanctions against me, Petro Poroshenko, the leader of the opposition and the fifth president (of Ukraine)," Poroshenko said in a statement.
"Today, Zelensky has dealt a huge blow to the internal unity that our team has been strictly adhering to since February 2022 and which is our main weapon in the fight against the aggressor," he said.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Daniel Tannebaum
