"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 warships, part of a blockade of Ukrainian ships, are viewed in Sevastopol harbor on March 7, 2014 in Sevastopol, Crimea, Russian-occupied Ukraine. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Russia will move eight warships, including three Karakurt class corvettes capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles, to the Azov Sea, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on July 7.
The warships will be commanded by Russia’s newly created Azov Naval District headquartered in the occupied Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the ministry wrote in its latest intelligence update.
Russia reportedly established the district, subordinate to the Black Sea Fleet, on July 1.
According to the ministry, it will likely focus on logistical and counter-partisan missions, enabling the Black Sea Fleet to concentrate on long-range strike operations and extending its naval power further abroad.
“The Azov Sea is a vital maritime area for Russia because it links its inland waterways to international maritime routes,” reads the report. “In the context of the war, it also offers an alternative military resupply option should Russia’s over-land routes to southern Ukraine be disrupted.”
In its previous intelligence update, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote that Russia had redeployed its military units from strategic Russian regions to counter Ukraine’s large-scale counteroffensive.
Dinara Khalilova is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a news editor. In the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she worked as a fixer and local producer for Sky News’ team in Ukraine. Dinara holds a BA in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master’s degree in media and communication from the U.K.’s Bournemouth University.
Igor Kossov
