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."
The World Bank Group headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine received a grant of $1.25 billion from the U.S. through the Multi-Donor Trust Fund of the World Bank, the Finance Ministry reported on Sept. 21.
This is part of the fifth additional package provided under the program called Public Expenditures of Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) in Ukraine, designed to support the country's social and humanitarian expenditures.
In particular, the funding will be used to cover pension payments as well as the salaries of medics, emergency workers, civil servants, and teaching staff.
According to the ministry, Ukraine received $9.7 billion in direct budget support from the U.S. in 2023. Since the start of the full-scale war in February last year, Washington has reportedly supplied Kyiv with $21.7 billion in grant funding.
"Financial assistance from the U.S. is provided on irrevocable terms, which allows not to increase the debt burden on the state budget. I am grateful to the U.S. government for its solidarity and large-scale support", said Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko.
The PEACE project in Ukraine was established in June 2022 to help the country in supporting around 13 million beneficiaries.
Those include 10 million pensioners, 500,000 education employees, 145,000 government employees, 56,000 emergency workers, and over three million social assistance beneficiaries and IDPs, according to the World Bank.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak
