"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.
The footage purporting to show fire at an oil depot in the village of Osentsy in Perm Krai, Russia, overnight on Oct. 4, 2024. (Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry)
Editor's note: The story was updated with new information from Ukraine's General Staff.
Fires broke out at two oil depots in Russia's Voronezh Oblast and Perm Krai overnight on Oct. 4, local authorities reported.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its air defense downed six Ukrainian drones over Voronezh Oblast, six over Belgorod Oblast, one over Rostov Oblast and one over the Azov Sea.
Ukrainians soldiers attacked the Annanefteprodukt fuel and lubricants storage base near the village of Anna in Voronezh Oblast, Ukraine's General Staff said. It was not specified what kind of weapon was used in the attack.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent later that the oil depot was struck with drones operated by the SBU.
According to the source, the oil storage facility housed 20 tanks with fuel and lubricants.
"It was confirmed that at least one of the vertical tanks was hit," the General Staff said.
Aleksandr Gusev, Voronezh Oblast governor, claimed that an empty tank at an oil storage facility was hit during the drone attack and put out later.
A large-scale fire also broke out at an oil depot in the village of Osentsy in Perm Krai. Russia's Perm Krai lies around 1,800 kilometers northeast of Ukraine.
The fire engulfed fuel tanks and spread over 10,000 square meters, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported.
No casualties were reported in both regions.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify Russia's claims.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Kateryna Denisova
