"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.
Evacuation of civilians continues in Sumy Oblast
Ukrainian authorities continue evacuations of communities in the northeastern Sumy Oblast close to the Russian border after Moscow intensified its attacks against the region, local officials said on March 15.
Over 180 residents from areas adjacent to the Velyka Pysarivka community have been evacuated. The town of Velyka Pysarivka, with a pre-war population of about 4,000, experienced the bulk of the attacks on March 15 with 208 explosions reported in the area. The community is located directly on the Ukraine-Russia border.
Authorities in Sumy have long been issuing daily reports of Russian shelling, but the attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
In the past five days, three people were killed and 13 were wounded, including five children, in the Velyka Pysarivka community, local administration said via Telegram.
During the early hours of March 6, a drone strike launched by Russian forces in Sumy resulted in four injured individuals and inflicted damage on numerous residences, schools, and medical facilities. Another assault on March 7 claimed the lives of two people and left 26 others wounded, with six civilians requiring hospitalization.
The administration said a total of more than 4,500 residents, including 829 children, had been evacuated from 22 villages in Sumy Oblast, but gave no time frame.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
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