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 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.
"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."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
A man receives a Covid-19 vaccine shot in Ternopil, Ukraine, on Nov. 16, 2021. (Ternopil Oblast State Administration/Facebook)
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko announced on Dec. 13 that Ukraine has reached the World Health Organization's recommended target of fully vaccinating 40% of its adult population against Covid-19 by the end of 2021.
According to the health ministry, a total of 32.6% of Ukrainians have now received both doses required for complete vaccination. This includes over 12.4 million adult Ukrainians.
The ministry calculates vaccination rates out of a total population of 38 million, excluding Russian-occupied Crimea and parts of the Donbas.
Lyashko said that people with weak immune systems will be allowed to get another vaccine dose, which will not be considered a "booster shot."
Ukraine remains the third-least vaccinated country in Europe, according to the statistics website Our World in Data.
The World Bank announced on Dec. 10 that it will give Ukraine $150 million to help “prevent, detect and respond to the threats posed by Covid-19 and strengthen Ukraine’s national health system.”
Around $120 million will go towards helping Ukraine buy 16.5 million vaccine doses, enough to fully innoculate around 20% of the population.
The remaining $30 million will help the Ukrainian vaccination effort by developing IT systems, communication, public outreach and logistical networks.
Victoria Petryk is a staff writer at the Kyiv Independent. She studied philology at Kyiv National Linguistic University. She worked at the Embassy of Israel in Kyiv as an information officer before joining the Kyiv Post as a staff writer in October 2021.
