The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
German anti-aircraft gun tank Gepard photographed at the Putlos military training area in Schleswig-Holstein on Aug. 25. 2022. (Photo: Marcus Brandt/dpa via Getty Images)
Germany will supply Ukraine with 45 more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns by the end of the year, with 15 of them expected to arrive in the coming weeks, German Brigadier General Christian Freuding said in an interview published on June 25.
Speaking to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Freuding, who heads German Defense Ministry's Ukraine Situation Center, said that Ukraine still needs more air defense even if its allies are "doing everything" to provide what they can.
Freuding also said in the interview that Germany is to send two more IRIS-T SLM air defense systems as well by the end of the year, and another four in 2024.
The Gepards are to be provided in cooperation with the U.S., according to Freuding.
The expected Gepards' delivery is coordinated by a Florida-based company Global Military Products. The Pentagon announced earlier in June that Global Military Products received a $118.3 million contract to purchase and deliver the German-made weapons.
Berlin has already delivered 34 Gepards, including about 6,000 rounds of ammunition, since the start of Russia's full-scale war. The most recent delivery took place in early March.
The Gepards have helped Ukraine defend itself against Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones targeting Ukrainian cities and their critical infrastructure, the German Embassy in Ukraine said last November.
The German official's announcement of expected arm deliveries, particularly in the air defense sector, comes as Russian forces continue to bombard cities, such as Kyiv, located far from the front line.
In the words of Freuding, it is "the perfidy of the Russian strategy" to attack Ukraine's population centers, so it concentrates its air and anti-aircraft defenses around the cities rather than the battlefield – where Ukraine is launching a much-awaited counteroffensive.
Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.
Francis Farrell
