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."
Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna speaks with the Kyiv Independent in downtown Kyiv in early November. Stefanishyna is in charge of Ukraine's EU accession, and says both parties need each other. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Ukraine expects the European Commission to present a negotiation framework for Kyiv's accession to the EU "no later than March 12," Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said, as reported by the media on March 4.
After Ukraine applied to join the EU in 2022, European leaders agreed to open membership talks during a European Council summit last December.
"No later than March 12, we expect the European Commission to present a negotiation framework and assess the progress of reforms so that EU countries can make a decision on March 19," Stefanishyna told journalists on the sidelines of an international platform on victims of conflict-related sexual violence, Ukrinform reported.
"We hope that there will be no delays."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned different timelines for the preparation of the framework on several occasions. During a press briefing on Feb. 21, she said that the framework would not be ready before the June elections for the European Parliament.
Only a few days later, during her trip to Kyiv, von der Leyen named mid-March as the expected timeline.
The European Commission started screening Ukraine's legislation for compliance with EU laws in late January, marking the first necessary step of the accession process.
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.
Olga Rudenko
