"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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 pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
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.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
IAEA: Situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 'increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous'
The situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly worrisome as shelling around the plant continues and Russia forcibly evacuate residents from the area, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous. I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant," IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on May 6.
IAEA experts present at the plant also received information that an "announced evacuation of residents from the nearby town of (Russian-occupied) Enerhodar, where most of the plant staff live, has started." The staff are closely monitoring the situation and whether it will have any impact on the nuclear safety and security of the plant, the statement said.
The director's plant, Yuri Chernichuk, publicly said that the plant's operating staff are not being evacuated and according to the IAEA statement, "are doing everything necessary to ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant, whose six reactors are all in shutdown mode."
Earlier on April 21, experts currently present at the plant said they had heard shelling almost every day over the past week.
Since Russian forces occupied the plant in March 2022, they have used it as a military base from which they launch attacks at Ukrainian-controlled territory across the Dnipro River, in particular, Nikopol.
The plant, Europe’s largest, has been fully disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid several times due to regular Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. The power plant is also currently operating with only a quarter of its regular staff, causing concerns about maintenance.
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