U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
According to Steve Witkoff, the key topics in the peace discussions are the fate of the five partially or fully occupied Ukrainian regions, the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Ukraine remains the most mined country in the world. Nearly one-third of Ukraine's territory, approximately 174,000 square kilometers, had been mined since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The phone call comes as Moscow once again rejected a 30-day ceasefire, with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claiming that a ceasefire would give "Kyiv a break to restore its military potential and continue its confrontation with Russia."
Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport en-route to Kuala Lumpur International Airport on July 17, 2014. Three hours into the flight, the Boeing-777 was shot down by Russian proxy forces using a Buk surface-to-air missile above Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
"I am grateful for the support and the readiness at the highest level to promote diplomacy," President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the phone conservation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We share the same view on the need for a ceasefire."
A mural of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 19, 2021. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
The city of Kharkiv has decided to rename three metro stations and 48 streets to "remove Russian markers from public space," Governor Oleh Syniehubov announced on July 26.
"This is an important step of decolonization," Syniehubov said after signing the decree.
Ukraine's parliament outlawed most Soviet and communist symbols, street names, and monuments as part of a decommunization process in 2015.
President Volodymyr Zelensky then signed a law in April 2023 that banned naming geographic sites in Ukraine after Russian figures or historical events in response to Russia's full-scale invasion.
Heroes of Labor metro station in Kharkiv will be named Zavodska, meaning factory in Ukrainian.
Malyshev Factory metro station, originally named after the Russian-born Soviet statesman and engineer Vyacheslav Malyshev, will be renamed Saltivska, after Saltivka, the Kharkiv residential neighborhood that has been hardest hit by Russian attacks.
Gagarin Avenue, named after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, will be renamed Aerospace Avenue. Gagarin Avenue metro station will now be named Levada metro station, after the name of a nearby neighborhood.
Other streets that have been renamed include Lermontov Street, named after Russian writer and poet Mikhail Lermontov. The street will now be named after Maik Yohansen, a Ukrainian poet of Latvian ancestry who rose to prominence in Kharkiv in the 1920s.
The Soviet authorities accused Yohansen of being part of a "Ukrainian bourgeois-nationalist terrorist organization." He was executed by firing squad in 1937.
Tchaikovsky Street will be renamed after another Ukrainian poet executed in 1937, Mykhailo Semenko, who is considered the founder of Ukrainian futurist poetry.
The targeting of Ukrainian cultural figures in the 1930s was so widespread that those who were murdered are referred to in Ukraine as the "Executed Rennaisance." Many of those who were killed were living and working in Kharkiv, the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1934.
Other renamings will have more modern references. One street will be named after the 92nd Assault Brigade, while another street will be named after the Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard. Both brigades fought in the Battle of Kharkiv in 2022.
The new names were chosen by a special working group of the Kharkiv City Council, which included local historians, scientists, and members of the public.
"The working group held nine meetings, discussing all proposals in detail," Syniehubov said. The members of the working group chose the new names through a vote.
Liliane Bivings
