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.
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.
Ukrainian servicemen drive a tank on a road near the frontline in Donetsk Oblast on June 5. (AFP via Getty Images)
Russian forces have unsuccessfully attempted to advance near the Donetsk Oblast village of Blahodatne, which was recently liberated by Ukrainian forces, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on June 12.
There are several settlements named Blahodatne in Donetsk Oblast, but reports suggest that it was the village located near the town of Velyka Novosilka, west of Vuhledar, that was liberated on June 11.
According to the General Staff, Russian forces also carried out 17 air strikes and shelled various settlements, including in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, 22 times over the past day.
However, Ukrainian forces struck three Russian command posts, two air defense systems, a military base, and three artillery units located in firing positions.
There were 23 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces along the front line over the past day.
Ukrainian forces also downed a Russian Ka-52 helicopter and an Orlan-10 drone, the General Staff added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed during a press conference in Kyiv on June 10 that Ukraine's long-anticipated counteroffensive was already underway.
Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent. The U.S. publisher Deep Vellum published her co-translation of Ukrainian author Oleh Sentsov’s Diary of a Hunger Striker in 2024. Some of her other writing and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine.
Alexander Khrebet
