"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.
Russian ships stationed in Sevastopol, Russian-occupied Crimea, during the celebration of the Black Sea Fleet Day on May 13, 2023. (Russian Defense Ministry's press service)
Russia has dispersed its naval forces in the Black Sea between the southeastern coast of Crimea and Novorossiysk in fear of Ukrainian surface drone strikes, Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said on Aug. 18.
As of the morning of Aug. 18, there are no missile carriers on duty in the Black Sea, the spokesperson added.
Humeniuk noted growing anxiety among Russian naval forces regarding Ukraine's "Sea Baby" surface drones. Russian military vessels are reportedly trying to hide behind the areas used by civilian ships, which were intentionally delineated to create an artificial buffer zone.
CNN reported on Aug. 15 that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed responsibility for the July 17 attack on the Crimean Bridge, using a new experimental surface drone nicknamed "Sea Baby."
"Sea surface drones are a unique invention of the Security Service of Ukraine," Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, told CNN. "None of the private companies are involved. Using these drones we have recently conducted a successful hit of the Crimean Bridge."
The Russian naval base in Novorossiysk also came under attack on Aug. 4, leading to serious damage to a military landing craft Olenegorskiy Gornyak. Several media outlets reported that the strike has been carried out by the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy using surface drones.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed yesterday on Aug. 17 that Russian warships repelled an attempted attack by Ukrainian surface drones, without providing footage as evidence.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
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