"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 view of the Crimean Bridge, built following Russia's illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Drone attacks targeting Russia's Krasnodar Krai region caused fires at two oil depots overnight on July 6, while also damaging a communications tower, various Russian media outlets reported.
Throughout the night, multiple drone attacks were reported in the Eisk, Leningrad, and Pavlov communities of Krasnodar Krai.
As a result of the attack on an oil depot, the fragments of a downed drone caused a fire at one fuel storage tank in the village of Pavlov, as well as another fire at a oil depot in the Leningrad community, Russian state-controlled outlet RIA Novosti reported.
A cell tower was also reportedly damaged in the village of Eisk as a result of another downed drone.
No casualties were reported as of 4:30 a.m. local time.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims, and Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the alleged attacks.
In recent months, Ukrainian forces have launched a series of drone strikes aimed atdamaging Russia's oil industry, the profits of which fuel Moscow's war efforts.
Overnight on July 5, Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Russia's Krasnodar Krai, claimed that a drone attack on the city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk killed a six-year-old girl and injured at least five others, including a child. Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the alleged attacks.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on July 6 that it had downed eight drones overnight over Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. The Ministry's claims did not provide mention of downed drones over Krasnodar Krai.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Nate Ostiller
