"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
Children stand holding Russian flags in the children's center Artek, run by the Russian government in occupied Crimea, Ukraine, in February 2023. The U.S. State Department introduced sanctions against Artek and its director, Konstantin Fedorenko, for receiving Ukrainian children who are subsequently placed in extensive “patriotic” re-education programs and are prevented from returning to their families. (Artek's press center)
Russia forcibly sent at least 8,330 Ukrainian children to the so-called "re-education camps" this year for the purposes of political indoctrination and militarization, Ukrinform reported on Oct. 30, citing human rights expert Kateryna Rashevska.
These facilities, posing as "rehabilitation institutions," are part of Moscow's strategy to eradicate the Ukrainian identity and turn Ukrainian children against their own homeland, the legal expert of the NGO Regional Center for Human Rights said at a round table discussion hosted by Ukrinform.
There are at least 46 such facilities on Russian territory, seven in occupied Crimea, and eight in Belarus, Rashevska said. Some children are also placed in military camps, where they "carry weapons, learn to shoot, and salute to Russian commanders – usually Don Cossacks, who receive money for this," Rashevska said.
Another project called "Cultural Map 4+85," co-developed by the Russian Defense Ministry, the presidential office, and the Education Ministry, among others, reportedly aims to forcibly integrate Ukrainian children from occupied territories and "turn them into citizens of the Russian Federation."
Attempts at re-educating and indoctrinating Ukrainian children have a "clear genocidal character," Rashevska said, and will likely carry an impact on Ukraine in the future.
The expert emphasized that these efforts are clear violations of children's right to education and to preserve their identity. The militarization projects also have characteristics of another international crime – forced service in the armed forces of an opposing state, Rashevska noted.
At least 19,500 children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the Children of War database. Only 386 of them have been safely returned home.
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.
