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.
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."
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks to a journalist in Kyiv on Aug. 16, 2023. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will meet his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in person for the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, European Pravda reported on Dec. 11.
Relations between Budapest and Kyiv have been increasingly strained as Hungary blocks EU aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
Hungarian leaders have also spoken out against the launch of EU membership talks with Ukraine during the European Council summit later this week.
"Today, I will meet Hungary's foreign minister. This will be our first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the full-scale invasion," Kuleba said ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
"And I think this fact speaks for itself: We continue to talk with Hungary."
One of the key points of dispute between the two countries centers around Ukraine's 2017 language law that requires at least 70% of education above fifth grade to be conducted in Ukrainian.
Hungary claimed that the law discriminates against the Hungarian ethnic minority in Ukraine. Kyiv responded that it does not intend to crack down on its minorities, only to ensure that every Ukrainian citizen has sufficient knowledge of Ukraine's official language.
Reforms to national minorities legislative were also listed among the seven membership criteria presented to Kyiv by Brussels. Ukraine has made two updates to the law based on recommendations of the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe.
"As I've already mentioned, Ukraine changed its legislation on education and language use by national minorities in a way that Hungary wanted," Kuleba commented.
Hungary has been broadly labeled as the most Kremlin-friendly EU country, and Szijjarto hastraveled to Russia five times since the start of the full-scale invasion.
As the European Council summit commences on Dec. 14, Ukrainian and Western officials seek to sway Budapest away from blocking the start of Ukraine's membership talks.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky held a brief conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during the inauguration of the Argentinian president, and the head of Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, called Szijjarto last week.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
