"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.
Ukrainian military personnel sit atop a Howitzer at the front line in Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast, on July 1, 2023, amid Ukraine's renewed counteroffensive during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine (Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces have liberated 7 square kilometers in the Bakhmut direction and 10.9 square kilometers in the south over the past week, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliarreported on July 17.
"Over the past week, as a result of the improvement of the operational-tactical position and alignment of the front line in the Bakhmut direction, the territory of 7 square kilometers has been liberated," Maliar wrote on Telegram.
"In total, during the offensive in this direction, the liberated area is 31 square kilometers."
As Maliar noted, Ukrainian troops have been advancing on Bakhmut's southern flank every day over the course of the last week.
Russian troops have been actively advancing since the end of the past week in the Kupiansk direction in Kharkiv Oblast, the deputy defense minister reported.
She clarified that Russia is currently searching for weak points in Ukrainian defenses and attacking near Masiutivka and Novoselivske.
On July 16, Maliar said that the situation along the eastern front has escalated, with Ukrainian troops gradually advancing in the Bakhmut direction but on the defensive near the Kupiansk direction.
In the south, Ukraine conducts offensive operations in the Berdiansk and Melitopol directions, achieving success at the Makarivka-Staromaiorske, Novodarivka-Pryiutne, Mala Tokmachka-Novopokrovka, and Piatykhatky-Hrozove sectors, Maliar commented.
Together with 10.9 square kilometers re-captured this week, Ukraine has already liberated 179.5 square kilometers and has advanced 9.25 kilometers in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, according to the report.
The partially-occupied Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts saw heavy engagements since the start of Ukraine's counteroffensive in early June.
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.
Anastasiia Lapatina
