"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
Departing from Ukrainian ports a day before Russia announced that it was temporarily suspending the Grain Corridor Agreement, a ship carrying Ukrainian grain crossed the Bosphorus on Nov. 2, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Cem Tekkesinoglu/ dia images via Getty Images)
Ukraine's grain exports will fail to reach 3 million tons in November as Russia is intentionally limiting ship inspections, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Nov. 27.
In October, Ukraine exported 4.2 million tons of grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Kubrakov said in a Facebook post.
The UN-backed deal allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain following Russia's full-scale invasion in February and was extended for four months on Nov. 17. Earlier on Oct. 29, Russia said it was suspending its participation in the deal, but later reversed the decision on Nov. 2.
"We used to conduct 40 inspections a day, and now, due to the position of the Russian Federation, there are five times fewer inspections," he said. In regular times, Ukraine can export 6 million tons of grain each month, Kubrakov also said.
As part of the deal originally signed in August, the signing parties, the UN, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, agreed to have teams inspect ships to ensure that no weapons, stowaways, or other barred goods were being exported.
According to Kubrakov, 77 ships are waiting to be inspected at Turkish ports, and three of Ukraine's Black Sea ports only use 50% of their capacity.
U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink and the U.S. Special Sanctions Policy Commissioner James O'Brien also visited Odesa's seaports on Nov. 27 and "discussed ways to strengthen and empower the Grain Initiative," Kubrakov wrote on Twitter.
Earlier on Nov. 19, the U.S. announced up to $20 million for the ‘Grain from Ukraine’ initiative to facilitate additional shipments of Ukrainian grain moving through the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
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