"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."
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.
The flag of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh flies in its de facto capital, Stepanakert, on July 25, 2023. (Photo by Ani Balayan/AFP via Getty Images)
Authorities in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh declared that they had "no choice but to cease hostilities" with Azerbaijani forces, Reuters reported on Sept. 20.
Following reported advances by the Azerbaijani military into territory held by the ethnic Armenian forces, authorities in the capital of Stepanakert (Khankendi in Azerbaijani) agreed to accept a ceasefire mediated by Russian peacekeeping forces.
According to the terms of the proposal, any remaining Armenian troops must leave Azerbaijan territory and there must be a “dissolution and complete disarmament of the Armed Forces of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Further issues relating to the integration of the territory and the status of the predominantly ethnic Armenian population that live there will be discussed at upcoming talks on Sept. 20, in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh, RFE/RL’s Armenian service reported.
Under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as Azerbaijani territory, but has been under the de-facto control of Armenian separatists since 1991, who refer to it as Artsakh. Yerevan has supported the breakaway territory militarily, which regularly clashed with Azerbaijani forces in the following decades.
In 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a major war in which the latter's forces successfully reclaimed a large portion of the territory before a ceasefire was mediated by Moscow, which sent a "peacekeeping" force of several thousand Russian troops to the region.
In the following years, tensions did not subside, with Azerbaijan blockading the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, leading to a humanitarian crisis widely condemned by UN member states and international organizations.
This dispute culminated in the outbreak of full-scale fighting on Sept. 19.
Armenia, whose troops are reportedly no longer stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh, has claimed not to be involved in direct fighting with Azerbaijani forces. Yerevan was neither party nor made aware of the ceasefire negotiations, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an address on Sept. 20.
Stepanakert stated that as many as 100 people died in the fighting as it entered its second day.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities stated on Sept. 20 that shelling continued into the day, RF/ERL’s Armenian service reported.
At the same time, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry declared in a press conference on Sept. 20 that the “anti-terrorist operations” had been suspended.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
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