"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.
Ukrainian servicemen ride a Soviet-made armored fighting vehicle MT-LB psat fields of sunflowers in Sumy Oblast, near the border with Russia, on Aug. 11, 2024. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast aims to prevent Moscow from sending additional reinforcements to the front in Donbas and stop Russian cross-border strikes, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a press conference on Aug. 13 attended by a Kyiv Independent reporter.
"Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not seek to seize territory. We want to protect the lives of our people," spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.
Russia's regional authorities said that Ukraine is in control of 28 settlements in Kursk Oblast as of Aug. 12, claiming that the incursion was up to 12 kilometers deep along a 40-kilometer front.
"I would like to remind you that since the beginning of this summer, Ukraine's Sumy Oblast has been targeted with over 2,000 strikes using multiple launch rocket systems, mortars, drones, 255 guided bombs, and more than a hundred missiles, launched from Kursk Oblast," Tykhyi said.
"Unfortunately, Ukraine does not have sufficient capabilities to carry out long-range strikes with the weapons it has to defend itself against this terror," Tykhyi said.
"Therefore, there is a need to liberate these border areas – with the help of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – from the Russian military contingent that strikes at Ukraine."
After Russia's Kharkiv Oblast offensive failed, Moscow began concentrating its efforts in the east, "throwing everything they have" in the direction of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 30.
Tykhyi added that Moscow "would very much like to see" violations of international and humanitarian law in the operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kursk Oblast.
"They would very much like to see this and use it in their propaganda."
There are "reasonable" fears that Russia may fabricate incidents, "including those involving Russian soldiers disguised as the Ukrainian military," Tykhyi said.
Ukraine has warned its partners "to be prepared for such developments," he added.
Asami Terajima
