"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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on a working visit to Volyn Oblast on April 19, 2023. (Photo: President's Office)
President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Volyn Oblast in northwest Ukraine to discuss the socio-economic and security situations there, the President's Office reported on April 19.
Yurii Pohuliaiko, the head of the Volyn Oblast Military Administration, briefed Zelensky on defensive engineering structures and other fortifications that have been implemented to safeguard infrastructure in the region bordering Belarus and Poland.
Zelensky, Pohuliaiko, and other participants of the meeting discussed the issues faced by customers officers at the border, along with the State Emergency Service's work in protecting the civilian population.
The responsibilities and readiness of the "Volyn" operational group of troops was also a topic of discussion, as was strengthening Volyn Oblast's border security.
Volyn Oblast shares a border with Belarus. While Belarus has not formally entered Russia's all-out war in Ukraine, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has permitted Russian troops to be stationed there and for Russia to launch missile and drone attacks at Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Alexander Khrebet
