"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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Saudi foreign minister in Kyiv on Feb. 26, 2023. (Office of the President of Ukraine)
Saudi Arabia has announced $400 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine as the country's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saudmet President Volodymyr Zelensky and top Ukrainian officials on Feb. 26 in Kyiv.
The visit was the first by an official Saudi delegation to Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1993.
According to Ukrainian presidential office head Andriy Yermak, Saudi Arabia will provide Ukraine with $100 million in humanitarian aid and $300 million in oil products.
During the press briefing, Al Saud also added that Saudi Arabia could play more of a role as a third party mediator for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.
In September 2022, top Ukrainian commanders and foreign volunteers captured by Russia during the battle of Mariupol were released in Saudi Arabia in a top-secret operation.
“We will continue to cooperate with our Ukrainian friends in order to solve the problem of war, as it affects not only Ukraine, it affects the whole world,” said Al Saud.
On Feb. 23, Saudi Arabia voted in favor of a UN resolution that calls Russia to stop “hostilities in Ukraine and calls for the withdrawal of its forces.”
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