"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The air raid was announced at around 2:30 p.m. local time, while the explosion sounded around 2:50 p.m. The number of victims killed rose to three, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported at 8:42 p.m.
If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel speaks about the future of the EU-led special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its role in bringing Russia to justice.
Turkish officials told Bloomberg that while they don't expect Trump to visit Istanbul, they are not ruling it out, and preparations for any scenario are underway.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) gestures while speaking during a news conference on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Republican Senator and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance questioned the importance of Ukraine to U.S. strategic interests on a recent episode of "The Tim Dillon Show" podcast, which aired on Oct. 26.
Vance suggested that Ukraine is less crucial than other regions, specifically Taiwan, which he highlighted as the world’s leading producer of semiconductor chips.
"My whole argument with the Russia-Ukraine (war) is that Russia should have never invaded Ukraine, a lot of innocent people are being killed... Our interest is in peace. But part of that is motivated by my view that Ukraine is not nearly as important to us as other regions of the world, right? Just putting my cards on the table," Vance told Tim Dillon, an American stand-up comedian, who questioned Vance on various topics, including those related to foreign policy.
"Taiwan makes so much of the computer chips, which is such a driver of all economic growth, that if the Chinese took over Taiwan, it would be really bad for us."
When asked about the cause of the war in Ukraine, Vance replied: "Did American diplomacy actually create conflict instead of diffusing conflict? In my view, it did."
Vance, who was selected as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate in July, has been outspoken about his opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine. He repeatedly has said that he "doesn't care about Ukraine," including just days after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Vance also repeatedly disparaged Ukraine and voiced his unwillingness to continue U.S. support in leaked text messages with far-right conspiracy theorist Charles Johnson, the Washington Post reported on Aug. 7.
Vance also rejected the notion that Russian President Vladimir Putin would extend his military operations beyond Ukraine into Europe. He labeled the idea of Putin marching through Europe as "absurd" and expressed doubt about the likelihood of Putin pursuing goals beyond his current objectives in Ukraine.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Timothy Ash
