"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.
Mariya comforts her daughter Sophia (9) after evacuating from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, May 8, 2022. (Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Humanitarian aid for Ukraine is falling as its need only increases, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR warned on May 20.
In an interview with AFP, Karolina Lindholm Billing, the UNHCR's representative in Ukraine, said there are 4 million displaced people in the country, including "some very, very vulnerable people."
Billing said the situation was only worsening as Russia's full-scale invasion drags into its third year, but funding for international humanitarian aid was slowing down.
The U.N. has a humanitarian plan for Ukraine that requires $3.1 billion this year, including $599 million for the UNHCR.
So far in 2024, both have received only 15% of the required funding. Similar plans for 2023 were 30% at the same time last year, she said.
"It is the most vulnerable (that) will bear the brunt of that reduced funding and support," Billing said.
Countries have continued to pledge humanitarian aid packages to Ukraine, most recently Denmark.
The Danish Foreign Ministry announced on May 7 a new 250 million kroner ($33.2 million) package and said about 40% of Ukraine's population is in need of humanitarian aid, citing U.N. data.
"The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is extremely serious," said Dan Jorgensen, the Danish development cooperation minister.
"Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, thousands of homes have been destroyed, hospitals have been bombed, and basic necessities such as water, heating, and electricity are scarce resources for many Ukrainians."
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Kateryna Denisova
