Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
Three were injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast when the town of Rylsk was allegedly struck by a missile attack on May 11, local governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed.
This week, the world watched in anticipation for Russia’s Victory Day parade after President Volodymyr Zelensky commented that he could not guarantee the safety of those attending. Meanwhile, the European Union moves one step forward to banning Russian gas from the European continent. It is also revealed this week that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fallen out of step with the White House.
"(Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin... doesn't want to have a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the bloodbath. Ukraine should agree to this, immediately," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to to Antalya, Turkey, for a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting from May 14–16, where he is expected to address the war in Ukraine and push for stronger Allied defense commitments.
The Kremlin said the leaders held a detailed discussion about the Russian initiative and Erdogan expressed full support, reiterating Turkey’s readiness to provide a venue and assist in organizing the negotiations.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
A damaged cultural center in Chernihiv Oblast, July 21, 2023. (Source: Governor Viacheslav Chaus)
A total of 1,795 cultural institutions have suffered damage at the hands of Russian forces in parts of the country that had been liberated by Ukrainian forces, the country's acting Culture Minister Rostyslav Karandieiev announced on March 29.
Speaking at a forum on the reintegration of liberated Ukrainian territories, Karandieiev emphasized the devastation, including the recent destruction of the Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv by a Russian missile.
Putin has long argued that Ukraine is historically illegitimate and is notorious for insisting Ukrainians are actually Russians as a justification for Russia's full-scale invasion, falsely claiming that "no Ukraine ever existed in the history of mankind."
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said in July 2023 that at least 274 cultural sites had been damaged during the full-scale invasion, although that number has is likely grown.
An emergency assistance program for preservation was adopted by UNESCO during the 219th session at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian forces have liberated over 70,000 square kilometers briefly occupied by Russia in the first few months of full-scale war. The Center for Preventive Action's Global Conflict Tracker estimates that Ukraine has recaptured 54 percent of previously occupied territory, with Russia still occupying approximately 18 percent of the country.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Kate Tsurkan
