"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.
A building damaged in a Russian strike on Odesa, Ukraine, overnight on Feb. 19, 2025. (Governor Oleh Kiper/Telegram)
Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian oblasts over the past day killed at least one civilian and injured at least 14, including two children, regional authorities reported on Feb. 19.
Russia launched 167 Shahed-type drones and decoy drones against Ukraine overnight and fired two Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles against Sumy Oblast, the Air Force reported.
As of 9 a.m. local time, 106 Russian drones have been shot down over 14 oblasts, while 56 drones were lost without causing damage, according to the statement.
A massive drone strike against the energy infrastructure of Odesa and the region injured four people, including a child, and left 160,000 Odesa residents without heating and electricity, according to the authorities. A kindergarten, children's clinic, and residential buildings were damaged in the attack.
The missile strike against Sumy damaged the windows of a non-residential building but inflicted no casualties, the regional military administration reported.
In Donetsk Oblast, a Russian attack killed one person and injured two in Kostiantynivka, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported. Another civilian was reported injured in Pokrovsk.
Seven people, including a child, were injured during Russian attacks against Kherson Oblast, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Three apartment buildings and eight houses were reportedly damaged in the strikes.
Russia regularly attacks Ukrainian regions with missiles, drones, and other weaponry, inflicting civilian casualties on a daily basis.
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.
Abbey Fenbert
