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.
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.
The Russian company Tatneft at work in an oil field in Tatarstan on June 4, 2023. (Alexander Manzyuk / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporters, confirmed that their voluntary crude oil supply cuts would continue until the end of 2023, Reuters reported on Nov. 5.
The cuts will drive up oil prices worldwide.
A source in the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed in a statement that the country would continue to cut production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd).
"This additional voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets," the source said.
Russia then announced it would maintain its voluntary cut of 300,000 bpd through the end of the year.
OPEC+, an umbrella which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, primarily Russia, has imposed restrictions on crude oil supplies since last year and called for additional cuts in April 2023.
The stated aim of the restrictions is the stability of the global oil market.
United States President Joe Biden warned of "consequences" for Saudi Arabia after OPEC imposed supply cuts in Oct. 2022, criticizing the Riyadh government for coordinating with Moscow.
Higher oil prices could help Moscow fund its war against Ukraine and combat the impact of Western sanctions.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Simon Johnson
