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.
Road signs say "Border control zone" at the reconstructed checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border, "Krakovets - Korchova," near the village of Krakovets in the Lviv region. (Pavlo Palamarchuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct. 17 signed a bill reforming the State Customs Service and introduced to tackle corruption and save funds otherwise lost to smuggling.
After the presidential signature, the law will enter into force on Nov. 1.
The legislation, approved by the parliament last month, was pushed through after prolonged pressure from Western partners and Ukrainian business associations. The reform is also a necessary step toward Kyiv's accession to the EU.
Ukraine's Customs Service has been described as the "biggest cash cow" and the "largest tax-evasion scheme in the country" as smugglers avoid an estimated $2.4 to $3 billion in customs payments each year, the Kyiv Independent reported on Oct. 14.
Ukrainians view the State Customs Service as the most corrupt institution in the country, with previous attempts at reforms falling flat.
As one of the key changes under the bill, the new head of the service will be selected by an independent committee, half of which will consist of independent experts. The new chief will be able to choose his deputies.
The legislation also includes audits by external experts, a one-time vetting of all the current employees, and greater independence from the Foreign Ministry.
The law aims not only to reform the institution but also to bring more funds into state budget as Ukraine faces a deficit of $35 billion next year.
The country has already taken a number of painful steps, such as a recently approved tax hike, to shore up the part of the deficit that won't be covered through external aid.
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.
Andrea Januta
