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.
The sanctions list includes 58 individuals and 74 companies, with 67 Russian enterprises related to military technology.
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.
Despite the Kremlin's announcement of a May 8–11 truce, heavy fighting continued in multiple regions throughout the front line.
Putin has done in Russia everything that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been against in Brazil.
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.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
ISW: Russia conducting information operation to distort NATO’s 'Steadfast Defender 2024' exercises

As NATO gears up for the Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises, Russia has been engaged in an information campaign seeking to cast NATO's actions as provocative, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest update on Jan. 19.
NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises are commencing next week and are scheduled to run until May 2024. General Chris Cavoli, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, revealed that the exercises involve a substantial force, with 90,000 personnel from all 31 NATO member states and Sweden participating.
The exercises will reportedly include over 50 ships; over 80 fighter jets, helicopters, and drones; and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles.
The Russian Foreign Ministry contends that NATO's exercises are increasingly aggressive and provocatively conducted near Russia's borders, characterizing them as a "demonstration of force" on Russia's doorstep. The Kremlin's rhetoric and behavior have recently escalated, with President Vladimir Putin identifying the West as Russia's "enemy" and implying that Russia's actions in Ukraine are aimed at defeating the West.
"The Russian information operation aimed at painting defensive NATO actions in response to real Russian aggression on NATO’s eastern flank as provocative seeks to deflect from recent aggressive Russian rhetoric and behavior towards NATO," the ISW said.
ISW assesses that Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 not to defend Russia against a nonexistent threat from NATO but rather "to weaken and ultimately destroy NATO – a goal he still pursues."

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