"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.
Air defense at work in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast in the evening of Jan. 17. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Sumy Oblast Military Administration/Telegram)
Ukraine has shot down 17 Russian "Shahed" explosive drones in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Poltava oblasts overnight, the Air Force reported on the morning of April 7.
According to the Air Force, the 17 drones departed from a base in the occupied Crimea and were all taken down.
At the same time, Kharkiv authorities reported a drone attack that caused damage in the city. It's not clear whether they referred to the same drones, and whether the damage came from the drones hitting the targets or from the falling debris of a shot-down drone.
Russian forces continue to attack civilian areas far from the front line, with the recent series of intense bombardments targeting energy infrastructure in what is likely a mission to take out Ukraine's grid. Civilians living in front-line regions in the country's east and south remain, as well as close to the Russian border in the north, remain most vulnerable.
Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv was attacked overnight again, the local authorities said, reporting three injuries. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said 10 houses, a kindergarten, three five-story buildings, and three cars suffered in the attack.
Syniehubov also reported that the "Shahed" drones targeted the areas of Kharkiv and Lozova, the region's second-largest city, about a two-hour drive south of Kharkiv. He said some of the attack drones were downed by the air defense, without disclosing further details. There were no casualties.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhii Lysak reported that Russian "Shahed" drones targeted the areas of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih, as well as Kamianske – a city just outside Dnipro.
Lysak said that Ukraine's air defense took down seven drones in Kamianske, two in the Dnipro area, and two near Kryvyi Rih. In Kamianske, falling debris damaged a few buildings and cars.
The regional governor of central Poltava Oblast, Filip Pronin, has not reported about the drone attack targeting his region as of 10 a.m.
Besides the drones, Russian troops also fired a Kh-31 air-to-surface missile from occupied eastern Luhansk Oblast and an Iskander-M ballistic missile from occupied Crimea, according to the Air Force. Their report on Telegram did not disclose which regions of Ukraine the missiles targeted, and didn't say that they were shot down.
Ukraine's military in the south reported that an undisclosed site in Odesa was hit by an Iskander-M missile overnight.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Chris York
