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.
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a Soviet-style 152 mm shell to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions near the frontline town of Bakhmut on March 2, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images)
Russian forces were pushed out from their positions near the village of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, lying northwest of Bakhmut, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces spokesperson Andrii Kovalov said on July 19.
"During the hostilities, the Russian occupiers were forced to retreat from their positions northeast of Orikhovo-Vasylivka," the spokesperson said.
Ukrainian troops have achieved partial success in their advance and solidified new positions, Kovalov added.
According to the General Staff, Ukraine is conducting offensive operations both north and south of the city of Bakhmnut. Russia is deploying its reserves but suffering heavy losses, Kovalov clarified.
Earlier, the military reported advances also on Bakhmut's southern flank. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on July 17 that the Ukrainian troops liberated 7 square kilometers in the Bakhmut direction over the past week.
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.
Asami Terajima
