The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"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.
Investigators at the site of an aggregate factory in Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, which was used as a torture chamber under Russian occupation. (National Police)
Two men suspected of having helped Russian forces torture over 500 people in Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast have been identified, the National Police reported on Jan. 11.
Vovchansk, which is around 60 kilometers northeast of Kharkiv and close to the Russian border, was occupied by Russian forces between Feb. 24, 2022, and Sept. 11, 2022.
According to the National Police, the suspects turned the town's aggregate factory into the largest torture chamber in Kharkiv Oblast.
Both men, the Ukrainian-born Anton Politov and the Russian-born Zakhar Zubkov, joined Russian proxy forces in Luhansk following Russia's illegal occupation of the region in 2014.
They reportedly "coordinated and participated" in the torture of local residents who refused to cooperate with the Russian occupying forces after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Politov and Zubkov also allegedly tortured locals to obtain information about the Ukrainian military and to identify those who opposed Russian occupation.
According to the police, the victims were held in the factory for months, with some prisoners held for more than half a year. Among the victims were elderly people, the National Police said.
The men have been informed that they are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war, accompanied by cruel treatment of the civilian population.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing and "the police continue to collect evidence of the involvement of other persons involved in the torture of civilians in Vovchansk."
If convicted, the men could face up to 12 years in prison. The National Police did not provide information as to their whereabouts.
Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independence. She previously worked as a news editor at the Kyiv Independent and was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post. She has a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Elsa is originally from the UK.
