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.
Hundreds of trucks wait in line as an ongoing blockade by Polish farmers continues on the Dorohusk Polish-Ukrainian border crossing in Dorohusk, Poland, on Feb. 20, 2024. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)
Polish farmers have completely blocked truck traffic at the Yahodin and Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on March 24.
He said that 500 trucks are stuck in line at three border checkpoints amid Polish farmers' ongoing blockade to protest against the EU's cheap Ukrainian food imports that they say prompt unfair competition.
“Polish farmers are not allowing Ukrainian freight vehicles to pass from Ukraine to Poland at all," Demchenko said.
The Polish farmers are not allowing a number of vehicles to get to the Ukrainian side either, according to Demchenko. He explained that they had only let through about 60 trucks over the past day through Yahodin, which is a major drop from the checkpoint's daily capacity to process 1,200 to 1,400 trucks.
Kyiv and Warsaw are negotiating a solution to the ongoing border blockade by Polish farmers, as there is no free movement of trucks at any crossing, Ukraine's Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said on air on Feb. 21.
Polish farmers launched a new wave of protests on the border in early February in response to Ukrainian agricultural imports to the EU and in opposition to the Green Deal. The situation escalated on Feb. 20, when protesters restricted the traffic even further and, in one incident, dumped Ukrainian grain on railway tracks.
The two key demands by Polish farmers include higher subsidies and the postponement of the Green Deal, which aims to halve pesticide use, lower fertilizer use, and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski has voiced hope that an agreement between the two countries could be reached in March.
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