The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Putin, who has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
Three were injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast when the town of Rylsk was allegedly struck by a missile attack on May 11, local governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed.
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.
A view of Volgograd oil refinery. Illustrative purposes. (nsenergybusiness.com)
A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Russia's city of Oryol, regional authorities reported on March 12. First responders have been deployed to the scene, Andrey Klychkov, governor of Oryol region, said via his official Telegram page.
Kyiv often does not comment on alleged attacks on Russian soil. If attributed to Ukraine, this would be one of the largest conducted against Russia since the start of the full-scale war.
The fire was caused by a drone attack, according to the governor. There were no casualties. Oryol region is located in western Russia approximately 220 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Authorities in Nizhny Novgorod region reported in the morning of March 12, that several drones hit the Kstovo industrial zone, targeting a facility within an oil refinery. A fire erupted at one of the oil refining units.
Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, confirmed to state-owned media agency RIA Novosti that operations at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez processing unit were temporarily suspended "due to the incident." Nizhny Novgorod region is located about 400 kilometers east of the Russian capital.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on March 12 that due to an alleged drone attack on the region, seven settlements have been left without electricity. The Kyiv Independent couldn’t verify any of the claims above.
Russia's Belgorod region borders the Ukrainian oblasts of Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk, and is frequently used to launch attacks against Ukraine.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
