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.
"Kherson returns to Ukraine, as the Armed Forces enter the city," its statement reads. "The retreat routes are under the fire control of the Ukrainian army. Every Russian soldier who resists will be destroyed."
For those Russian soldiers who were left behind, "the only chance to avoid death is to immediately surrender," writes the Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate.
At about 12 p.m., Russia's Defense Ministry announced the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from the west bank of the Dnipro River, including from Kherson.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the withdrawal of troops from Kherson on Nov. 9. After Shoigu's order, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, said Ukraine continued the offensive operation in the region in accordance with its initial plan — without any rush.
Zaluzhnyi added that, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 9, Ukraine had recaptured 1,381 square kilometers and liberated over 41 settlements.
About a month ago, on Sept. 30, dictator Vladimir Putin said Russia was annexing Ukraine's Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts. This happened after Russia's proxies held sham referendums in the occupied parts of these regions.
Back in September, Putin said Russia would "defend" the territories of the four oblasts it laid claim to against the Ukrainian forces "with all means available."
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