"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"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.
The sanctions list includes 58 individuals and 74 companies, with 67 Russian enterprises related to military technology.
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.
Despite the Kremlin's announcement of a May 8–11 truce, heavy fighting continued in multiple regions throughout the front line.
Putin has done in Russia everything that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been against in Brazil.
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.
US embassy in Kyiv warns of potential mass attack amid Putin's Victory Day 'truce'

The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days and urged U.S. citizens to prepare to take shelter immediately in the event of an aerial alert.
The warning comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's self-declared "Victory Day truce," a ceasefire the Kremlin claimed would last from midnight on May 8 to midnight on May 11 in honor of Russia's May 9 celebrations.
"The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days," the embassy announced on its website.
"The Embassy, as always, recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."
The embassy has previously issued similar warnings as part of its standard security protocols.
While the temporary ceasefire has ostensibly already begun, Russia has continued to launch deadly attacks against civilians in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has also reported that combat operations on the front lines have not stopped.
Similarly, Moscow's unilateral "Easter truce" was a ceasefire in name only, as Russia violated its own terms thousands of times.
President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Putin's latest ceasefire declaration as a "theatrical performance" and reiterated calls for a full, unconditional truce.
U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 called for a "30-day unconditional ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia — a proposal Kyiv first assented to back in March. Moscow has repeatedly refused these terms, insisting Ukraine halt all military aid before agreeing to a full ceasefire.
The U.S. and European allies are in the final stages of developing a proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, Reuters reported on May 9.

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