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.
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Sunday, May 11
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.
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.
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"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."
"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on May 11.
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."
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Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
Sunday, May 11
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"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.
The American-made weapons cannot be exported, even by a country that owns them, without approval from the U.S. government.
Russian forces have regained the initiative in Ukraine and have begun their next major offensive in Luhansk Oblast, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update.
According to the D.C.-based think tank's assessment, the pace of Russian operations along the Svatove-Kreminna line in western Luhansk Oblast has significantly increased over the past week.
Russian sources have also widely reported that "conventional Russian troops are attacking Ukrainian defensive lines and making marginal advances along the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border, particularly northwest of Svatove near Kupyansk and west of Kreminna," the ISW said
Geolocated combat footage also confirmed Russian troops' gains in the Dvorichne area northwest of Svatove.
Svatove and Kreminna are located in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk Oblast. Russia occupied parts of the oblast in 2014 and, since February 2022, has managed to capture the majority of the oblast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Feb. 5 that, based on several reports, Russia plans to do "something symbolic" in February to make up for its losses over the past year.
In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda news outlet, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russians have learned from their mistakes and won't attempt to attack from all directions at once. According to Reznikov, Russia has major forces in Ukraine's east and south.
"Now they have a new tactic – concentrated, slow attempts, little by little, ten meters at a time, to capture, push, squeeze out (Ukrainian troops)," Reznikov said.
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