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.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends talks between Russia and Belarus at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 6, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Getty Images)
Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to North Korea for backing his actions in Ukraine and affirmed that their nations would work closely to counter U.S.-led sanctions, as he traveled to Pyongyang on June 18 for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin’s remarks were published in an op-ed in North Korean state media just hours before his anticipated arrival for a two-day visit, according to the Associated Press, signaling a deepening alliance between the two countries as they each face escalating confrontations with Washington.
Putin, making his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, expressed deep appreciation for its steadfast support of his invasion of Ukraine. He said that the countries would continue to "resolutely oppose" Western ambitions "to hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice."
Additionally, Putin mentioned that Russia and North Korea would develop unspecified trade and payment systems "that are not controlled by the West" and would jointly oppose sanctions against them, which he labeled as "unilateral and illegal restrictive measures."
North Korea faces stringent economic sanctions from the U.N. Security Council due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is contending with sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies over its war in Ukraine.
Putin also announced that the two countries will also expand cooperation in tourism, culture, and education.
His visit takes place amid growing concerns about a potential arms deal in which Pyongyang would supply Moscow with much-needed munitions for Russia's war in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and technology transfers that could bolster Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Since Kim’s visit to the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, their first since 2019, military, economic, and other exchanges between North Korea and Russia have significantly increased.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Chris York
