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.
155 mm artillery shells that are ready to be shipped are stored at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. on April 12, 2023. (Hannah Beier/Getty Images)
The European Union has pledged to supply over 1.35 million rounds in 2025 and plans to allocate nearly 1.9 billion euro ($2.1 billion) from Russian frozen assets in military support for Ukraine, Ukrainian officials announced on May 9.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha thanked the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and EU allies for the initiative to provide 2 million artillery rounds for Ukraine. According to Sybiha, by the end of 2025, European partners must send Ukraine at least 1.35 million shells, while work to increase this number is ongoing.
The minister also highlighted the new EU instruments for the long-term development of the European defense sector and the accelerated integration of the Ukrainian and European defense industries.
"This will strengthen European defense with our unique technologies and strengthen our defenders on the battlefield," Sybiha said.
Following the event in Lviv, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the EU has announced its intention to allocate almost 1.9 billion euro ($2.1 billion) for military support to Ukraine.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Shmyhal said.
One billion euros ($1.1 billion) of this sum will be used to purchase weapons according to the Danish model, that is, directly from Ukrainian manufacturers, by Italy, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands, Shmyhal added.
Another 600 million euros ($676 million) will be spent on artillery and ammunition, while more than 200 million euros ($226 million) will be spent on strengthening Ukraine's air defense, according to Shmyhal.
Speaking at the same event, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that Paris will allocate profits from frozen Russian assets to the maintenance of CEASAR 155mm howitzers, of which Ukraine has received dozens since 2022.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Europe has allocated 138 billion euros ($157 billion), 23 billion euros ($26 billion) more than the U.S., according to an April 15 report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy's Ukraine Aid Tracker.
The U.S. still holds an edge in terms of military aid — its 65 billion euros ($74 billion) total leads Europe by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) — but the gap is narrowing, as Washington has not allocated a new aid package since Jan. 9, still under the Biden administration.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
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