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.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (L) and his Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas Anusauskas, at a press conference in Vilnius on Dec. 18 after signing an agreement on the permanent deployment of German troops in Lithuania. (Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas Anusauskas, signed an agreement on Dec. 18 to permanently deploy a brigade of German soldiers in Lithuania.
The decision, described by Pistorius as "historic," represents the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since the end of World War II.
The deployment of a brigade, consisting of close to 5,000 soldiers, will begin in 2024 and reach full strength in 2027.
The move aims to strengthen NATO's presence on its eastern flank with Russia, which is the "duty of Germany to protect," Pistorius said.
The planned deployment was first announced in June 2023.
Lithuanian lawmaker Laurynas Kasciunas said the country will allocate 0.3% of its GDP over the next several years to help fund the deployment. Pistorius added that measures would be taken to make the relocation attractive for German soldiers, including offering German language schools, housing, and other perks.
There is consensus across the political spectrum about the threat posed by Russia to Lithuania, and the subsequent need to increase defense spending, said Kasciunas.
Lithuania must be prepared for the "worst scenarios," said Anusauskas, because "Russia remains the main threat to us and NATO."
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Francis Farrell
