The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"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.
An electronic ticker displays stock figures in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024 (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images).
Chinese banks are shutting down transactions with Russia "en masse," with delays in payments intensifying during August, Reuters reported on Aug. 30, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The U.S. unveiled a new set of sanctions against Chinese and Russian companies over their support for Moscow's aggression last week. Despite efforts to avoid or mitigate the impact of the trade restrictions, Chinese institutions have begun scaling back their business dealings with Russia.
Specifically, a number of major Chinese banks have begun blocking transactions for electronics out of fear of secondary sanctions.
Transactions worth tens of billions of yuan are currently stuck in limbo, a source told Reuters.
Trade between Russia and China has surged by 121% since 2021, underscoring China's role as Moscow's economic lifeline.
A functioning payment system is necessary for maintaining trade relations, and Russia was cut off from the international SWIFT system in 2022.
By mid-2024, Chinese banks were rejecting and returning about 80% of Russian payments made in Chinese yuan, the Russian state-controlled media outlet Kommersant reported on July 29, citing sources.
According to sources cited by Kommersant, Chinese banks routinely let Russian yuan payments delay for several weeks before ultimately rejecting them, often without providing a reason.
Some Russian businesses have begun using intermediaries in third countries in an attempt to circumvent Chinese compliance checks, but this adds time and cost to transactions.
Then in a further blow, it was reported that banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been rejecting transactions from Russian companies for electronic components and consumer electronics from China since early August.
According to Kommersant, Russian firms used UAE-based entities to transfer money to China to ship goods directly to Russia.
Now, transactions for those products that do not arrive directly to the Gulf country are blocked, the outlet said. According to its sources, the restrictions came at China's initiative.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Dominic Culverwell
