"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
Three were injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast when the town of Rylsk was allegedly struck by a missile attack on May 11, local governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed.
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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky during a news conference with Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 11, 2024. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine is still expecting to receive Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 31.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in July that Warsaw may provide Kyiv with additional Soviet-made fighter jets if it can find a replacement.
Following Zelensky's calls to speed up the transfer, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said, "Poland makes decisions based on its security and has already done everything it can for Ukraine."
"We agreed with NATO that they would provide them (Poland) with a police mission, just like our Baltic friends, who do not have their own planes but have such a mission," Zelensky said.
"We agreed on this, but after that, did Poland give us the planes? No. Was there another reason? Yes," the president said without providing further details.
Zelensky added that Ukraine has "constantly asked" Poland to shoot down Russian missiles flying in its direction, particularly to protect the gas storage facility in the town of Stryi in Ukraine's Lviv Oblast, located nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the Ukrainian-Polish border.
"We do not have the appropriate number of (air defense) systems to protect the gas storage facility. What about the Poles? Are they shooting it down? No. The Poles said we are ready to shoot down if we are not alone in this decision; if NATO supports us."
Russian drones and missiles have previously entered Poland's airspace during attacks on Ukraine. Yet, Polish allies advised the government to exercise restraint when dealing with unidentified airspace violations, according to Tusk.
In early July, Ukraine and Poland signed a bilateral security agreement, which included a commitment by both sides to examine "the feasibility of possible intercepting in Ukraine's airspace missiles and UAVs fired in the direction of the territory of Poland, following necessary procedures agreed by the states and organizations involved."
Then NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in turn, was skeptical about this point of the agreement, saying that it puts the alliance at risk of "becoming part of the conflict."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski began to insist on Poland's right to shoot down air targets after a Russian drone reportedly crossed the country's border in an attack against Ukraine on Aug. 26.
The minister said that the risk of Polish casualties increases the closer a missile is to its target when intercepted, so it was better to shoot it down at a higher altitude over Ukraine.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Dinara Khalilova
