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.
A Russian attack on Bilopillia in Sumy Oblast on Aug. 18, 2024 killed one person and injured three others, including an 11-year-old girl. Former President Petro Poroshenko (center), who was in the community at the time of the attack is pictured observing the scene. (Petro Poroshenko/Telegram)
Editor's note: This article contains graphic images.
Russian forces attacked civilian infrastructure in the town of Bilopillia in Sumy Oblast on Aug. 18, killing one person and injuring three others, including an 11-year-old girl, the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported.
According to investigators, Russia dropped a KAB guided aerial bomb onto local residences around 4 p.m. local time. The attack on the homes left a 33-year-old male homeowner dead and seriously injured his 11-year-old daughter.
Two other people, a 55-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, were also injured in the attacks that targeted five local homes. No information was provided on the extent of their injuries.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was in the community at the time of the attack and visited the site of bomb strike, referred to the attack on social media as "Russian terrorism against peaceful residents."
A person is carried into an ambulance on a stretcher following a Russian attack on Bilopillia in Sumy Oblast on Aug. 18, 2024. (Petro Poroshenko/Telegram)
Residents in Sumy Oblast are subjected to daily attacks on the region. Throughout the day on Aug. 18, Russia targeted the region 89 times, with 222 explosions reported in the area, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration said.
Another resident in the village of Yunakivka was also injured in a separate KAB guided bomb attack, although the extend of their injuries is unclear.
The security situation in Sumy Oblast became more tense with the start of Ukraine's cross-border incursion into neighboring Kursk Oblast in Russia, which began on Aug. 6.
Sumy Oblast borders Russia's Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts. Civilians in Sumy Oblast within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the border with Kursk Oblast are now subject to restrictions on movement due to increasing Russian attacks, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
