"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.
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.
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.
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."
Ukrainian soldiers adjust a national flag atop a personnel armored carrier on a road near Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, on Oct. 4, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo credit: Anatolii Stepanov / AFP) (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia is accumulating its forces near the Luhansk Oblast village of Novoiehorivka in the Lyman direction, which is one of the epicenters of fighting on the eastern front, Eastern Force Grouping spokesperson Illia Yevlashsaidon Sept. 8.
"Now the enemy is accumulating all their forces there. They have prepared a strike force in that direction," Yevlash said on television.
According to the spokesperson, Ukrainian forces are holding back a heavy onslaught by Russian invaders, with tens of thousands of ammunition rounds fired at them every day.
Russia is reportedly consolidating forces from broken units, sending all military personnel, including signallers, into combat.
Since July, the Ukrainian military has warned that Russia began accumulating a significant force around Lyman and Kupiansk. In late August, Yevlash reported that Russia had concentrated over 100,000 troops in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction in Kharkiv Oblast and Luhansk Oblast.
According to the U.K. Defense Intelligence, this is likely part of a Russian strategy to seize the initiative from Ukrainian forces, who are advancing on the southern front and around Bakhmut.
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
