"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
"Stop - state border" written in three languages on the Latvian-Belarusian border near Kaplava, Latvia, Nov. 17, 2021. (Photo credit: Alexander Welscher/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The Latvian State Border Guard will ask the government to close the Silene border crossing with Belarus after a record number of people tried to illegally cross last week, the Latvian Radio reported on Sept. 11.
Head of the Border Guard Guntis Pujāts said on the channel LR1 that during the past seven days, 892 asylum seekers were intercepted trying to enter Latvia from Belarus, making the week "probably the most tense in all three years since 2021."
The official did not rule out the possibility that some of the people managed to evade the security and cross the border.
Aside from the border guards, Riga has called up the military and the police to strengthen its borders with Belarus. Lithuania has also agreed to send an additional 20 border guards to aid Latvia.
The tensions at Belarus' borders with Poland and the Baltic countries have been mounting since 2021 when Minsk engineered a migrant crisis.
Concerns among NATO's eastern members spiked again following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and more recently when fighters of the Russian Wagner Group began moving to Belarus following their short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin.
According to Pujāts, Minsk and the Kremlin decided to focus on Latvia as the main target of their orchestrated migrant crisis.
The Latvian Radio noted that in the event of the Silene crossing's closure, it will leave Patarnieki as the only functioning checkpoint. The head of the State Border Guard hopes that closing Silene will free up personnel to secure the rest of the border.
Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland said earlier that they are ready to fully close their borders with Belarus if a "critical situation" occurs, fearing an escalating migration crisis and the Wagner Group's activity.
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.
Abbey Fenbert
