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.
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.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
The mortality rate for unvaccinated patients is nine times higher than those with a full course of vaccination, according to the Health Ministry's Dec. 14 statement. (vmr.gov.ua)
According to the Ministry of Health, unvaccinated patients are five times more likely to be hospitalized and nine times more likely to die of Covid-19 complications than fully vaccinated people.
These statistics are based on data the ministry collected from August to October 2021, Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin said at a press briefing on Dec. 14. He urged unvaccinated people to take heed and get the jab for the sake of themselves and others.
"It is now everyone's responsibility to protect themselves and their families by getting vaccinated against Covid-19," Kuzin said.
Other countries have also recorded markedly higher mortality rates for unvaccinated people. In the U.S., for example, unvaccinated people died from Covid-19 complications at six times the rate of vaccinated people between August and October. In the U.K., the mortality rate for the unvaccinated was five times higher in the same period.
According to the health ministry, a total of 32.6% of Ukrainians have now received both doses required for immunization as of Dec. 13.
The low rate stem in part from the high levels of vaccine skepticism in the country. According to a UNICEF study published on Nov. 5, around 54.6% of unvaccinated Ukrainians said they would refuse the jab. Misinformation about the disease and vaccines is widespread on social media, as are schemes selling fake vaccination certificates.
Sergiy Slipchenko is a staff writer at the Kyiv Independent. He studied at York University in Toronto, Canada and worked as a reporter at the Kyiv Post.
