"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.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on a visit to Moscow, Russia on March 26, 2025. (Facebook)
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto visited Moscow on March 26 to discuss continued economic cooperation between the two countries, Bloomberg reported.
Szijjarto has made at least 13 visits to Russia in the past three years, far more than any other EU diplomat, and even more than some of Russia’s closest allies.
Hungary is broadly seen as the most Moscow-friendly country within the EU and NATO, repeatedly obstructing aid to Kyiv and sanctions against Russia.
He praised the resilience of Hungary-Russia energy ties and announced plans for Hungary’s largest refinery, MOL, to increase its operations in Russia.
“An agreement was reached on enhancing Hungarian-Russian cooperation, which is in the clear interest of our country, since the country’s energy security depends largely on Moscow,” Szijjarto said.
He later commented on the meetings on Facebook, praising the record amount of natural gas that was imported from Russia in the past year, exceeding 20 million cubic meters. Szijjarto then said that energy attacks are unacceptable, and praised current ceasefire efforts.
“We agreed with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak to maintain energy cooperation, and we agreed that the attack on the energy infrastructure to Hungary is unacceptable,” he said on Facebook. “Both Russia and the United States sit at the negotiating table with mutual good intentions, so we remain in good hope that the negotiations can lead to a lasting, sustainable ceasefire and peace.”
Ukraine already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv was ready to take such a step if Russia also agreed to the terms.
Despite the agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin a week ago, Russia has continued its regular campaign of aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Russia has launched more than 30 mass strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the three years of its full-scale invasion, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Feb. 24.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Kateryna Denisova
