"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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Sunday, May 11
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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.
The pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on May 11.
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National Resistance Center: Partisans blow up soldiers who protected sham elections in occupied areas
• 2 min read
Ukrainian partisans killed one Russian soldier and injured two by blowing up a car in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, on Sept. 9, the National Resistance Center reported.
The car was reportedly used to protect polling stations set up for sham "elections" in occupied Ukrainian territories as Russia seeks to consolidate its control over these regions.
Partisans also hacked Russian broadcasts in occupied Crimea, showing a pro-Ukrainian video clip calling for a boycott of the sham "elections" on TV.
The illegal elections in the occupied territories come nearly a year after Russia held sham annexation referendums in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk oblasts, which Moscow only partially controls, and nine years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
The sham voting began on Aug. 31 and is scheduled to end on Sept. 10.
Ukrainians under occupation face deportation, loss of property after Putin’s new order
Editor’s Note: The names of the people from the Russian-occupied territories interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story have been changed to protect their identity, as they have shared sensitive information that could place them in danger. As Russia largely exhausted its military potential…
Alexander Khrebet
The sham elections have been widely condemned in Ukraine and abroad, with officials saying the results will be rigged in Russia’s favor.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that “Russia’s sham elections in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the voting a “blatant disregard for UN Charter principles” and said that Washington will “never recognize the Russian Federation’s claims to any of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”
“The Kremlin hopes these pre-determined, fabricated results will strengthen Russia’s illegitimate claims to the parts of Ukraine it occupies, but this is nothing more than a propaganda exercise,” Blinken said.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party's headquarters located in the occupied city of Polohy, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, were destroyed on Sept. 8, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov reported via Telegram.
Russia holds sham ‘elections’ in occupied Ukrainian territory
Voting is underway in sham “regional elections” in occupied Ukrainian territories as Russia seeks to consolidate its control over these regions. The illegal so-called elections in the occupied territories come nearly a year after Russia held sham annexation referendums in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luh…
Alexander Khrebet
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