"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.
The flag of Ukraine flies in front of the building of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on Aug. 24, 2023, in Kyiv. (Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukraine's parliament voted on May 8 to approve a 90-day extension of martial law, said lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak.
President Volodymyr Zelensky first declared martial law and general mobilization on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The measure has been repeatedly extended since then.
The latest extension, which still must be signed by Zelensky, will run from May 14 to Aug. 11.
It was supported by 339 lawmakers, with none voting against it, Zhelezniak said.
Ukraine's parliament previously extended martial law and mobilization from Feb. 14 until May 14.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60, with some exceptions, are not allowed to leave the country as they may be called up for military service.
In April, the parliament passed a bill updating the rules pertaining to mobilization as the country seeks to replenish the ranks of its Armed Forces.
Anastasiia Lapatina
