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.
Anti-government protests broke out in Kazakhstan on Jan. 2, 2022. Large outbreaks of violence followed, with hundreds of people reportedly killed and injured. (Courtesy)
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry put out a statement on Jan. 10 condemning the violence in Kazakhstan over the past week, surprising many with the communiqué’s cautiousness and lateness.
The statement came three days after that made by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and two days after that made by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.
Kazakhstan’s anti-government protests grew out of a demonstration about LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) prices on Jan. 2. On Jan. 5, the protests hit international headlines following large outbreaks of violence, particularly in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty.
Ukraine’s statement used tentative wording, condemning the acts of violence without making any accusations towards the Kazakh government or President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who ordered his army to “shoot to kill (protestors) without warning” in a Jan. 7 televised address.
Non-state actors have also committed acts of violence throughout the protest period, including setting government buildings on fire. Whether these acts are committed by genuine protestors or provocateurs has not yet been established.
The communiqué by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did, however, note the presence of the Russian-led CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) military force in Kazakhstan, after Tokayev requested their intervention on Jan. 5.
“Foreign troops should respect the independence, sovereignty and national legislation of Kazakhstan and international law, and their stay should not extend beyond the declared limited period of time,” the Ukrainian statement reads.
Yurii Poita, head of the Asia-Pacific section at the Kyiv-based New Geopolitics Research Network think-tank, told the Kyiv Independent that only those in the ministry know the true reasons for the delay, but one could speculate that officials needed time to work out what was happening, and which position Ukraine should take.
“Time was likely needed to work out what happened, and which particular threats Ukraine should highlight (in its statement),” he said, pointing out that Ukraine drew attention to the entry of Russian troops into the country.
Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and parts of the coal-rich Donbas region have been occupied by tens of thousands of Russian troops since 2014. Russia's war against Ukraine has killed more than 13,000 people since then.
Poita also highlighted some potential pragmatic reasons why Ukraine’s statement may have been watered down.
“Kazakhstan does not recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, it tries to maintain constructive economic relations with Ukraine in a variety of fields, including agriculture, recycling, transit, energy, aircraft manufacturing, and others,” he said.
“The U.S., for example, does not depend as much on good relations with Kazakhstan as Ukraine does.”
Poita also expressed concern that Tokayev’s new dependence on Russia will hurt Ukraine’s interests.
“Firstly, Kazakhstan could change its position on Crimea,” he said. “Secondly, in my opinion, Russia will spread its narratives more actively in Kazakh media, including those of an anti-Ukrainian nature.”
Max Hunder is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He previously worked as a business reporter at the Kyiv Post focusing on infrastructure and energy. He is a graduate of Eton College and University College London, and has reported for international publications from London, Kyiv and Yerevan.
