"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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 flags of the European Union and Ukraine outside the EU Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Ksenia Kuleshova/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
EU countries are close to a deal to add 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) to a fund used to provide military assistance to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on March 12, citing four unnamed officials briefed on the discussions.
The fund known as the European Peace Facility (EPF) has been largely depleted as member states have disagreed on the best way to replenish it and unlock further cash for Ukraine.
The deal, which should be formally approved by member states on March 13, should allow EU countries to reimburse their defense supplies to Kyiv.
It will prioritize weapons produced inside the EU but will not exclude those manufactured outside the bloc, the FT wrote. This decision is reminiscent of disagreements on how to finance the pledged 1 million artillery shells for Ukraine, with some members pushing to prioritize European defense companies.
Larger states contributing to the EPF have previously complained that smaller countries with stockpiles of Soviet-era equipment sent outdated military gear to Ukraine and used the reimbursements to modernize their own arsenals.
The FT reported in February that countries like Germany and France want to phase out the reimbursement model this year and instead focus EU funds directly on arms contracts within the continent.
Foreign arms supplies are now critical for Ukraine as assistance from the U.S., a key military donor, has been stalled for months by domestic political infighting.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Francis Farrell
