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.
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.
Southern Command: 'Atypical' activity of Russian naval grouping recorded in Black Sea
Russia has withdrawn 20 ships and many of its auxiliary fleet's units into the Black Sea on the morning of March 16, said Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk, calling it "atypical activity and a number of ships."
Russian naval units currently stationed in the Black Sea include four missile carriers, one of which is underwater, Humeniuk said on national television.
A maximum of 28 rockets could be equipped for launch, according to the spokeswoman.
However, all the ships are scattered, Humeniuk added, which can mean that Russian forces are trying to find the wreckage of the American drone recently downed by a Russian jet.
Russia's Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said on March 15 that Russia was looking to retrieve the wreckage of the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone that was downed by a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Black Sea on March 14.
According to an unnamed U.S. official quoted by CNN, the Russian jet deliberately flew ahead of the drone and released fuel in its path "several times" before damaging the drone's rear propeller and forcing it down into the sea.
Russia denies the downing of the drone was deliberate and claims that the incident occurred as a result of a loss of altitude.
U.S. National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said this was not the first time a U.S. aircraft had been intercepted by Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea.
Kirby said the downing of the drone was "unsafe, unprofessional, and reckless."
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