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.
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.
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis talks to media prior to an EU Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting on May 22, 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Western military personnel training Ukrainian troops on the ground rather than in NATO countries would have practical advantages, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the Guardian in an interview published on May 9.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received training in 30 partner countries, over 30,000 of whom have received training in the U.K.
Landsbergis told the Guardian that training Ukrainians in their own country could be "more practical" than abroad.
Lithuania's parliament has already authorized Lithuanian troops to train inside Ukraine, but Landsbergis indicated "this would be best done as part of a bigger coalition," the Guardian said.
Lithuanian troops trained Ukrainians in Ukraine before the war "for many years," Landsbergis said, adding that "returning to this tradition might be quite doable."
"It could be that the trainers stationed as part of the coalition to train the Ukrainians in Ukraine could be defended with air defense, and that in turn implies that part of Ukrainian sky could be defended with air defense," Landsbergis said.
The move would show the Kremlin that the West can "adapt to the situation because the situation is not getting better," Landsbergis said.
Sending Western trainers to Ukraine would be a "first step in President (Emmanuel) Macron's initiative," referring to the French president's remarks in March that he would not rule out the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine.
Macron repeated this sentiment in an interview with the Economist published on May 2, saying that he would consider sending troops to Ukraine in the case of a Russian breakthrough at the front or if Ukraine requested it.
Macron's remarks had caused the Kremlin to change calculations, Landsbergis told the Guardian.
Rachel Amran
