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.
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.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Oct. 2, 2023. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden has reportedly considered alternative methods of funding that do not require congressional approval, Politico reported on Oct. 6.
The State Department program allows for the provision of grants or loans for allied countries to purchase military equipment, and could be a stopgap solution as the U.S. Congress continues to debate the inclusion of aid for Ukraine in forthcoming spending bills.
The use of State Department grants is among a number of options the Biden administration is considering to circumvent, at least temporarily, the impasse in Congress, unnamed sources in the U.S. government told Politico.
In order to prevent a government shutdown, Congress passed a short-term bill on Sept. 30 to keep the government running for another 45 days, but the bill did not include provisions for aid for Ukraine.
On Oct. 2, a Pentagon spokesman warned that money remaining from previously allocated funding packages was running out, which could cause disruptions to the flow of aid.
Most options to authorize new funding for Ukraine require approval from Congress, which is currently embroiled in the complicated process of selecting a replacement for outgoing Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Although there is relative unity within the U.S. Senate about the continuation of aid for Ukraine, including among Senate Republicans led by Sen. Mitch McConnell, the picture is less clear in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Daria Shulzhenko
