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: Putin's Christmas ceasefire announcement likely campaign to damage Ukraine's reputation
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Dec. 5 that Russian forces will conduct a 36-hour ceasefire along the entire front line in Ukraine is likely an information operation intended to damage Ukraine's reputation, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report.
Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to implement a temporary ceasefire along the entire front line in Ukraine from midday on Jan. 6 to midnight on Jan. 7, according to Russian state media agency RIA Novosti, citing an official Kremlin press release.
Considering that Putin "cannot reasonably expect Ukraine to meet the terms of this suddenly declared ceasefire, (he) may have called for the ceasefire to frame Ukraine as unaccommodating and unwilling to take the necessary steps towards negotiations," the ISW wrote.
Ceasefires also take time to organize and implement, and if Putin were serious about the Jan. 6-7 ceasefire, it would not have been announced 24 hours in advance, according to the ISW.
Earlier on Jan. 5, Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a fervent supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, had called for a "Christmas Truce" inspired by the famous ceasefire on the Western Front on Dec. 24, 1914, so that Orthodox Christian soldiers on both sides "could visit church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."
Putin’s announcement was ostensibly a response to Patriarch Kirill's statement, the ISW wrote in its assessment.
Both Ukrainian and Western officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, immediately called out the hypocrisy of the ceasefire announcement, stressing that Russia had conducted attacks across Ukraine at military and civilian infrastructure on Dec. 25--when many Ukrainians celebrate Christmas--and New Year's, the ISW said.
On New Year's Eve, Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles, followed by an attack with 45 drones minutes after New Year's, killing one and injuring 28 civilians around the country, including three children.
Most Popular
After 3 years of full-scale war in Ukraine, Europe announces plan to ban all Russian gas imports
Ukraine, Europe's ceasefire proposal includes US security guarantees, no recognition of Crimea, Reuters reports
Journalist Roshchyna's body missing organs after Russian captivity, investigation says
After Russia's deadly attack on Kyiv, Vance reposts denunciation of Zelensky
Ukrainian sea drone downs Russian fighter jet in 'world-first' strike, intelligence says
Editors' Picks
How medics of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade deal with horrors of drone warfare
As Russia trains abducted children for war, Ukraine fights uphill battle to bring them home
'I just hate the Russians' — Kyiv district recovers from drone strike as ceasefire remains elusive
