Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
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.
A man digs a grave near tombs of Russian soldiers at a cemetery in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region on March 23, 2023. (Photo for illustrative purposes) (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
France estimates 150,000 Russian troops have been killed since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on May 3.
"Europe and its partners will remain united and determined, for as long as necessary. Russia's military failure is already apparent," he said, adding: "We estimate Russian military losses at 500,000, including 150,000 deaths.
"All of this for what? This can be summed up in two words: for nothing."
If confirmed, the 150,000 figure is around ten times higher than that suffered by the Soviet army during the decade-long war it fought in Afghanistan from 1979-89.
For comparison, the U.S. military lost around 102,000 soldiers killed in all the wars it fought since the end of World War 2, including 58,220 during the Vietnam War.
Estimates of the number of Russian casualties vary. Russia itself has not publicly released figures since September 2022, when the official Kremlin death toll stood at just 5,937.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg estimated on March 14 that Russia had suffered over 350,000 casualties in Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
According to Kyiv which releases daily figures, as of May 4 Russia has suffered 473,400 casualties in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, including 1,260 over the last day.
These daily numbers include both dead and injured but in late February, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the number of those killed was 180,000.
He also said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the war. Zelensky added that the exact amount is unknown, and it would only be possible to find out once occupied territories were liberated.
Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, has confirmed through open-source research the names of 49,281 Russian soldiers who have been killed fighting in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Since Mediazona's last update in mid-March, the names of 1,580 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
The journalists specify that the actual figures are likely considerably higher since the information they have verified so far comes from public sources, including obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media news, and local authorities' reports.
Since Russia began its all-out war against Ukraine, over 3,300 officers, with 386 holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher, have been killed in combat in Ukraine.
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.
Francis Farrell
