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.
The sanctions list includes 58 individuals and 74 companies, with 67 Russian enterprises related to military technology.
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.
Despite the Kremlin's announcement of a May 8–11 truce, heavy fighting continued in multiple regions throughout the front line.
Putin has done in Russia everything that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been against in Brazil.
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.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
Evacuations ongoing as Russian strikes increase in Kharkiv Oblast
Civilians continue to be evacuated from northern Kharkiv Oblast as massive artillery and air strikes increase in the region, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 12.
Around 500 people remain in the city of Vovchansk, close to the Russian border. Earlier in the day, two casualties were reported in Vovchansk and the nearby village Liptsy.
“Vovchansk, Liptsy and all points of the northern border are under enemy fire almost around the clock. The situation is difficult,” Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
He noted that the hostilities are spreading to other settlements but that the Ukrainian troops continue to defend the region.
Vovchansk was under Russian occupation at the start of the full-scale invasion before being liberated on Sept. 11, 2022, during Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed earlier reports on May 10 that Russia was carrying out new offensive operations in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting reported on the Ukraine-Russia border, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv.
Russian troops continue their attacks in several sectors, but attempts to break through Ukraine's defenses have been halted, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on May 12.
The situation "is changing rapidly" in the Kupiansk, Siversk, Lyman, and Pokrovsk directions amid ongoing fighting, according to Syrskyi."The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraine's) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position," the general said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, told Politico on April 5 that Russia could launch a new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast in May or early June.
Over the past two days, over 4,000 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes, Syniehubov said.
Serhii Korovayny
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