The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which 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.
The former abbot of the Dormition Cathedral in Kherson charged with treason. Photo published on Feb. 19, 2024. (SBU/Telegram)
A former abbot of the Dormition Cathedral in Kherson was charged with treason for supporting Russian occupation and cooperating with occupation authorities, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Feb. 19.
The suspect fled Kherson shortly before the city's liberation in Ukraine's counteroffensive in the fall of 2022. He is now believed to reside in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast, serving as secretary in the Skadovsk eparchy, illegitimately established by the Russian Orthodox Church in occupied Ukraine.
While heading the cathedral in Kherson, the sanctioned priest of the Kremlin-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) has maintained close contact with occupation authorities and praised them publicly, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
As a person with "informal influence on the opinion of the believers of the UOC-MP in Kherson and other regions of Ukraine," he provided "ideological support to the Russian Federation in carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine," according to the prosecutors.
The SBU also reported that the former abbot was invited to the Kremlin in September 2022 to attend the ceremony on the illegal annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian oblasts, including Kherson Oblast.
The suspect was believed to have joined the inner circle of Vladimir Saldo, a Russian-appointed proxy head in Kherson Oblast, the SBU said.
In return for his support, the suspect has reportedly received various benefits. For example, he was allowed to use property illegally confiscated from Ukrainian citizens and businesses for religious services.
He was charged with treason and aiding an aggressor country.
"Comprehensive measures are underway to bring the perpetrator to justice," the SBU said.
Ukraine has two main Orthodox churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the autocephalous (autonomous) Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and has been accused of aligning with the Russian government during the war, which the church's leadership has denied.
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.
