European and U.S. officials, including Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, reportedly convinced Zelensky that attending the peace talks would reflect positively on Kyiv, diplomats told the Washington Post.
"We discussed in detail the logic of further steps and shared our approaches... It is critical that Russia reciprocate Ukraine's constructive steps. So far, it has not. Moscow must understand that rejecting peace comes at a cost," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.
U.S. President Donald Trump will not attend Ukraine-Russia peace talks to be held on May 15, an unnamed U.S. official said.
The Kremlin unveiled its delegation for Ukraine-Russia peace talks in a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 14.
"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.
Vyshyvanka, a traditionally styled embroidered shirt or dress, is the central feature of Ukraine’s national clothing.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on Dec. 3 that his country had repaired two damaged PzH2000 Howitzers and returned them to Ukraine, along with extra ammunition.
As part of its military assistance for Ukraine, Lithuania is repairing the German-provided howitzers were damaged in action so the Ukrainian military can use them again. Anusauskas said earlier that the first batch of repaired long-range weapons were sent back to Ukraine in October and at least 12 in total are expected to be repaired in Lithuania.
Many of Ukraine's artillery pieces, especially the prized and highly-accurate NATO standard howitzers like the PzH2000, are in great need of maintenance due to their extremely high rate of use on the battlefield. The scheme to repair the weapons, of which 22 have been delivered to Ukraine in total, was initially announced by Vilnius on Sept. 15.
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