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.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
The destroyed Antonivsky bridge over the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. The bridge was blown by Russian forces when they retreated from Kherson in November 2022. (Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
After Ukrainian cross-river raids in Kherson Oblast, Russia has faced the dilemma of whether to strengthen this area or deploy forces in the main sectors of Ukraine's counteroffensive operations, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Aug. 14.
Over the last week, small-scale combat has intensified along the banks of the lower reaches of the Dnipro River, the ministry wrote in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces have carried out raids and tried to gain a foothold at new locations on the Russian-occupied east bank, according to the update.
In addition, Ukrainian troops have expanded the bridgehead they have been holding next to the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge since June 2023, reads the report. "Some of these operations likely took advantage of a local Russian force rotation."
The two sides also continue to fight for control over small islands in the Dnipro estuary, the U.K. Defense Ministry added.
On Aug. 9, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukrainian forces had conducted a cross-river raid deep into Russian-held territories in Kherson Oblast, managing to breach Russian defenses and push forward by up to 800 meters.
The Kyiv Independent's source in Ukraine's Armed Forces later confirmed the information. He added that the operation's participants had taken 16 Russian soldiers as prisoners and brought them back to the government-controlled side of the river.
Ukrainian forces in the area told the Kyiv Independent that they have been conducting small overnight raids across the river for months.
Alexander Query
