"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.
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.
Over a dozen Russian trucks lay destroyed in a forest as a result of a Ukrainian artillery attack outside Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin/The Kyiv Independent)
Ukraine’s State Environmental Inspectorate reported that Russia's full-scale invasion has caused $55.9 billion (Hr 2 trillion) in environmental damage, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said on July 8.
According to the minister, a single day of war causes $111 million (Hr 4 billion) in environmental damage.
Strilets also said the number doesn’t include the damage, caused by the Kakhovka dam explosion on June 6.
The calculations are ongoing.
“Russia will pay for every day of this war. For every tree it burns. For every piece of Ukrainian land desecrated. That is why we are uniting with the whole civilized world and working towards the recognition of ecocide in international law,” Strilets said.
Russia's war have been polluting and littering Ukraine’s land, causing the wildfires, creating the hazardous waste, contaminating the water, deforesting, and disrupting the ecosystems.
As of late June, Russia’s war has created more than 200,000 tons of hazardous waste and scrap metal, while every destroyed house represents 50 cubic meters of destruction waste, according to the ministry.
Alexander Khrebet is a reporter with the Kyiv Independent. He covers Ukraine’s foreign policy, alleged abuse of power in the country’s military leadership, and reports on the Russian-occupied territories. Alexander is the European Press Prize 2023 winner, the #AllForJan Award 2023 winner and Ukraine's 2022 National Investigative Journalism Award finalist. His was published in the Washington Times and Atlantic Council.
Alexander Khrebet
