"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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 pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
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.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
Chechnya hit by drone strike for first time, special forces university damaged
A drone attack targeted Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya on Oct. 29 for the first time during Moscow's war against Ukraine, according to claims by dictator Ramzan Kadyrov and media reports.
The drone strike hit the building of the Russian Special Forces University named after Vladimir Putin in the city of Gudermes, the independent news outlet Agentstvo reported.
Footage shared on social media shows significant damage and a strong fire at the university's main building, Agentstvo noted.
Kadyrov claimed that the strike, which took place at 6:30 a.m. local time, hit the roof of the university's empty building, starting a fire but causing no casualties. The fire had been extinguished, the Chechen dictator said.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. Ukraine has not yet commented on the reported attack.
While the Russian state media wrote that the university was built in 2016, the institution's management said that it was still under construction as of 2023. The facility was presented by Kadyrov as a multifunctional complex that combines modern methods and techniques of special forces.
Putin visited the university in August this year. According to a statement on the Kremlin's website, the Russian president "inspected the training complex, observed classes, spoke with special forces commanders, instructors, and volunteers undergoing training there."
Martin Fornusek
Pro-Kremlin Chechen fighters ("Kadyrovites") have been fighting on Russia's side since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion. In turn, anti-Russian Chechen volunteers have also joined the war on Ukraine's side, forming several formations like the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion.
A group of Russian National Guard service members reportedly came under fire from unknown attackers near the region's capital of Grozny on Oct. 24, leaving one soldier killed and another injured.
Nate Ostiller
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