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."
A soldier faces the launcher of a Patriot air defense system during the air defense exercise "Resilient Guard 2020" on Oct. 14, 2020, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. (Thomas Frey/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Germany is pushing the U.S. to send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on April 23, citing its unnamed sources familiar with the issue.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of air defense systems amid an uptick in Russian attacks on population centers and energy infrastructure.
U.S.-made Patriots are highly effective at intercepting Russia's ballistic and cruise missiles. Berlin is reportedly pressuring NATO and European allies to send their systems to Kyiv rather than keeping them unused.
Germany said on April 13 that it would provide Ukraine with one more Patriot air defense system to fend off increased Russian attacks. The new pledge will bring the total number of Patriots supplied to Ukraine by Germany to three.
According to Bloomberg, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck recently highlighted the "extremely high numbers of drones and rockets" targeting Ukraine, describing air defense as the most pressing need for Kyiv at this time.
“If the Americans could send over Patriot systems, that would help enormously,” Habeck said.
The German allocation of three Patriots would constitute a quarter of the country's arsenal, a far larger proportion than that of the U.S., wrote Bloomberg.
Elsewhere, Greece is preparing to give Ukraine at least one Patriot air defense system, the Greek media outlet Pronews reported on April 22, citing government sources.
The news follows a story by the Financial Times (FT) on April 22, in which official sources said that Greece and Spain were under specific pressure from the EU to provide additional air defense systems to Ukraine.
Escalating Russian strikes and resulting civilian casualties underscore Ukraine's dire need for additional air defenses, and while the potential passing of the U.S. aid bill should alleviate some of the need, President Volodymyr Zelensky told an online session of the NATO-Ukraine Council on April 19 that European countries can still do more.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine needs 25 Patriots to protect the country from Russian attacks.
Dinara Khalilova
