News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe

"There's no need to look for any hidden meanings in the fact that these contacts occur," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

"Probably they need more people to send to the war in Ukraine," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said.

Ukraine struck several Russian military targets this week, including a Be-200 amphibious aircraft, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 16.

Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, described the facility as "a critical component" of Russia's defense-industrial complex.

The Russian side has not commented on whether Ukraine transferred the bodies of Russian soldiers in return.

The Russian and Chinese presidents will discuss bilateral relations and ways to deepen the countries' "partnership and strategic cooperation."

Russia launched 294 drones overnight, Ukraine's Air Force said, adding that 269 of them were shot down.

The number includes 1,230 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russian forces launched overnight strikes targeting critical and civilian infrastructure across parts of Ukraine on the night of May 15–16, with attacks reported in Odesa Oblast and Kharkiv, according to regional authorities.

"The EBU is making it up as it goes along, and the BBC — a public broadcaster accountable to this country — is sitting at that table nodding along. That has to change," British MP Josh Newbury said.

A day of mourning was being observed in Kyiv on May 15.

"The Russians are not hiding it, they are war criminals, and anyone who wants to strike a deal with them is an accomplice to these crimes," Serhii Sternenko wrote on X on May 15.

Almost all of the Ukrainian POWs who returned home had been held under Russian captivity for four years.