"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
Three were injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast when the town of Rylsk was allegedly struck by a missile attack on May 11, local governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed.
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.
Cargo is loaded at the port of Ventspils in Latvia, on April 20, 2023. (Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine could export up to 1 million tons of grain per year through Latvia's ports on the Baltic Sea, Rinalds Plavnieks, the CEO of state-owned Latvian Railways, said on Aug. 15.
Speaking to Latvia's public broadcaster, Plavnieks said he initially thought the option was "impossible on an industrial scale," but developments in logistics technology meant shipments via rail could start this autumn.
One issue is that the trains would have to travel through Poland to reach Latvian ports, requiring two reloadings of cargo, as Latvia and Ukraine use a different railway gauge to Poland, he said.
However, Plavnieks believes that "there is now an opportunity for Ukrainian grain," as reloading capabilities have developed and sped up the process.
He said that there was the potential for 500,000 tons to 1 million tons of Ukrainian grain per year to be transported through Latvia.
Plavnieks added that there has been a meeting with the Ukrainian ambassador to Latvia and that Latvian Railways employees visited Ukraine last week.
Other EU countries have also suggested ways to help Ukraine export its grain after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17, effectively terminating the deal.
The agreement, brokered in July 2022 by Turkey and the U.N., allowed Ukraine to export its agricultural products through its Black Sea ports.
Shortly after the withdrawal, Russian forces began systematically targeting Ukrainian ports and agricultural infrastructure.
Romania plans to increase the transit capacity of Ukrainian grain from 2 million metric tons to 4 million every month, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Aug. 11.
Poland asked the European Union for an investment of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) so that Warsaw can increase its capacity for transiting Ukrainian grain, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Aug. 4.
The Ukrainian Grain Association reported in August that "favorable weather conditions and better-than-expected crop yields" have pushed up forecasts for Ukraine's harvest this year.
The association expects the country to harvest 76.8 million tons of grain and oil seed crops, like sunflower and flax, in 2023.
Liliane Bivings
