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.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
Dzmitryi Shautsou, Head of the Belarusian Red Cross, near the Polish border in 2021 (Photo by Ulf Mauder/picture alliance via Getty Images).
The head of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dzmitryi Shautsou, has admitted that the organization is involved in deporting children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
“When they accused the Republic of Belarus of kidnapping children who come to us for rehabilitation – frankly speaking, the Belarusian Red Cross has been, and is, and will be actively involved in this,” Shautsou said.
He made the statement while on a televised visit to Russian-occupied Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast, which was aired on the state channel Belarus-1.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) stated that they learned about the visit through the media, "nor were we involved in any of the activities, including with children."
"It is essential that all components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement maintain their independence from governments and weapon bearers."
Footage posted on social media on July 13 show Shautsou in Russian-occupied territories wearing a camouflage uniform with a 'Z' symbol on his sleeve.
The IFRC added that "the extraordinary circumstances of this visit, including the use of a symbol associated with one of the parties to the international armed conflict in Ukraine, implicate the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement."
According to the Guardian, Belarusian authorities have confirmed that they are hosting over a thousand children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine "for health reasons."
On July 18, the European Parliament called on the ICC to issue an arrest warrant against Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko for his regime's responsibility for the deportation of Ukrainian children.
The Belarusian anti-government organization National Anti-Crisis Management submitted evidence to the ICC on June 27 that Lukashenko and other Belarusian and Russian officials are responsible for the forced deportation of at least 2,100 Ukrainian children to Belarus.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made a similar appeal to the ICC on July 19 to issue a similar arrest warrant for Shautsou.
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants on for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official allegedly overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The Ukrainian Red Cross released a statement on July 19 condemning the "active involvement of the Belarus Red Cross in the deportation of children from Ukrainian territories," and called for the society to be excluded from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
According to the Ukrainian national database, about 19,500 Ukrainian children have been abducted from the occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas or Russia since last February.
Daria Shulzhenko
