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."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"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.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Barbed wire on Ukrainian- Belarusian border on February 13, 2024 in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. (Yevhenii Vasyliev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
The regional court in Belarus' Homyel sentenced Ukrainian citizen Nataliia Zakharenko to nine years in prison on espionage charges, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on March 15, citing its sources and Zakharenko's relatives.
Grounds of the accusations are unclear as the trial, ongoing since Feb. 15, was held behind closed doors, the outlet said.
Under dictator Alexander Lukashenko's regime, the Belarusian state uses heavy repressions to crack down against its real or imagined opponents. Lukashenko is also a close ally of Russia and supports Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Zakharenko disappeared last July while on her way to Mazyr, Belarus, where her sister lives. The woman regularly traveled between Chernihiv and Mazyr through Poland, transporting people, animals, and things, RFE/RL said.
According to the Poland-based outlet Belsat, Zakharenko traveled to Belarus to help Ukrainians who ended up in Belarus due to the war return home. She reportedly took out around 30 people.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court reportedly confiscated her minibus. Zakharenko's Belarusian friend, Larisa Krupa, was fined 4,000 Belarusian rubles (around $1,200) for not reporting the alleged "crimes."
According to the human rights group Vyasna, at least five people have been convicted in Belarus for purpoted cooperation with Ukrainian intelligence since the start of the full-scale war.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Maria Yeryoma
