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.
"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.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
The remains of a Russian drone in the courtyard of a residential building following an attack in Kharkiv on Jan. 30, 2024. (Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian air defense units destroyed 16 of the 23 Shahed drones Russia launched overnight, the Air Force said in its morning update on Feb. 13.
The drones were launched from Primorsko-Akhtarsk in southern Russia as well as cape Chauda in the occupied Crimea.
Anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups of the Air Force were involved in repelling the air attack. The weapons were intercepted over Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. No casualties were reported at the time of the publication.
Ukraine’s main private energy company DTEK said on Feb. 13 that one of its thermal power plants was targeted in an overnight Russian attack. The shelling “severely damaged” the plant, according to DTEK.
The company did not specify where the plant that was hit is located, presumably to avoid giving up sensitive information about the location of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. In the early hours of Feb. 13, Suspilne media outlet reported power outages in the city of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Pavlohrad district Pavlohrad is located 80 kilometers east of Dnipro, regional capital.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, at least 10 attack drones were downed in Dniprovskyi district, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said via his official Telegram channel. An energy facility came under attack in the city of Dnipro as well as an infrastructure site. A fire broke out and was later extinguished by rescuers, according to Lysak.
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
