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.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Gazprombank takes part in the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 14, 2023. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Cyber specialists from Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) successfully attacked the systems of Gazprombank, one of Russia’s largest banks, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 5.
The cyberattack, described as a powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) assault, disrupted Gazprombank's online and mobile banking services. DDoS attacks direct excessive amounts of traffic at a website in order to overload its servers, often causing disruptions to service.
"Hundreds of thousands of Russians will be unable to transfer money and carry out online payments due to Gapzormank applications not working," the source said. Russian state media confirmed on Dec. 4 issues with access to the bank's website.
The attack reportedly rendered Gazprombank’s website inaccessible in France and Germany, with its mobile application also experiencing outages. Gazprombank serves around 3 million individuals and 45,000 businesses and is a critical financial institution in Russia.
This disruption follows sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury on Gazprombank on Nov. 21, further targeting the bank amid ongoing efforts to pressure Russia over its war against Ukraine.
Both Russia and Ukraine have widely employed cyber warfare during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, targeting businesses and government institutions with crippling hacker attacks.
Martin Fornusek
