According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
"I believe both leaders are going to be there," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"The clock is ticking — we still have twelve hours until the end of this day," German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius reportedly said.
"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
‘A tyrant bent on domination,’ Biden says of Putin during D-Day speech
U.S. President Joe Biden used his speech at the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy on June 6 to reaffirm support for Ukraine in its fight against a "tyrant bent on domination."
Speaking in front of 180 World War II veterans, Biden linked the struggle against the fascism of Nazi Germany with that of Kyiv's against Russia.
"We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago; they never fade," he said, adding: "Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force — these are perennial. The struggle between dictatorship and freedom is unending."
Biden was speaking at the event marking the day on June 6, 1944, when 7,000 boats carrying nearly 160,000 troops from eight Allied countries landed on five Normandy beaches.
The landing was the starting point for the liberation of France, and eventually the rest of Western Europe, from Nazi Germany.
Biden said Ukraine was fighting a "tyrant bent on domination" in what was the "the test of ages," and insisted "NATO is more united than ever."
"Isolation was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today," he added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is also attending the event, joining French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among other leaders and surviving veterans in attendance.
Zelensky said he was "very honored to take part" in the event, which serves as a "reminder of the courage and determination shown for the sake of freedom and democracy."
Macron is expected to preside over an international ceremony at 3 p.m. local time. World leaders will then gather in the nearby city of Caen for talks later in the day.
According to Politico, France initially invited a representative from Russia to take part in the commemoration due to the Soviet Union's role in the war against Nazi Germany, but this invitation was revoked after the U.S., U.K., and "two other World War II allies expressed concerns."
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the D-Day commemorations in 2004 and again in 2014, months after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and invasion of Donbas.
During this year's commemoration, Macron is reportedly expected to make an announcement on support for Kyiv. News emerged at the end of May that Paris could soon send its military trainers to Ukraine.
Irynka Hromotska
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