"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.
The Georgian national flag flying on March 24, 2023, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
The U.S. will pause more than $95 million in assistance to Georgia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on July 31, citing the country's "undemocratic" foreign agents bill.
The move is part of a U.S. government-initiated full review of its relationship with Georgia on May 30, soon after the Georgian parliament passed a controversial bill requiring organizations that receive foreign funding to be labeled as "foreign agents."
The U.S. implemented the first tranche of sanctions against Georgian government officials on June 6, imposing travel restrictions on individuals "responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia."
The Georgian government falsely accused the U.S. of pressuring Georgia "to open a second front against Russia to alleviate pressure on Ukraine," prompting the decision, the Pentagon said at the time.
"The Georgian government's anti-democratic actions and false statements are incompatible with membership norms in the EU and NATO," Blinken said on July 31 in a statement reported by Reuters.
"Washington will continue assistance that benefits the people of the South Caucasus country," he added.
The U.S. move comes weeks after Brussels froze 30 million euros ($32 million) in defense sector funding for Georgia after halting its EU accession process in June.
The EU granted candidate status to Georgia at the end of 2023, but relations with Tbilisi deteriorated after the passing of the foreign agents bill.
The European Council said on June 27 that the law represents a back-sliding on the steps set out for Georgia's candidate status, "de facto leading to a halt of the accession process."
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.
Nate Ostiller
