"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The air raid was announced at around 2:30 p.m. local time, while the explosion sounded around 2:50 p.m. The number of victims killed rose to three, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported at 8:42 p.m.
If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel speaks about the future of the EU-led special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its role in bringing Russia to justice.
Two Ukrainian children returned from Russian captivity and reunited with their mother on July 6. (Ombudsman Dnytro Lubenets/Telegram)
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are trying to broker a deal to repatriate Ukrainian children abducted and forcibly deported to Russia, the Financial Times (FT) reported on July 18, citing four undisclosed sources.
Although officials in Kyiv and Moscow are compiling lists of the deported children as part of the mediation process, the two sides refuse to communicate with each other directly, requiring the intervention of third parties, the FT wrote.
According to the outlet, the talks have been ongoing for several months and involve Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who has previously played a role in various negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Ankara and Riyadh have sought to play the role of peacemakers between the warring parties. Both countries have negotiated several prisoner exchanges, and Turkey helped to broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative, terminated by Russia on July 17.
As the FT commented, Turkey and Saudi Arabia hope that the talks on the repatriation of children could evolve into peace talks aimed at ending the war.
Over 19,500 children have been abducted by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to the Ukrainian national database Children of War. Thousands are unaccounted for.
Ukraine has so far managed to return 385 Ukrainian children deported by Russia in an ongoing operation.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on March 17 against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for organizing the deportations.
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.
