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.
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."
The container ship Joseph Schulte set off from Odesa through the temporary Black Sea corridor on Aug. 16, 2023. (Source: Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov/Facebook)
Seven ships have left Odesa ports through the temporary Black Sea corridor thus far, according to the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, Dmytro Pletenchuk, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine on Sept. 26.
The Navy official clarified that this number includes five vessels that were docked in Odesa ports before the start of the full-scale invasion and two ships that have recently entered and left.
"We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our territorial waters where the vessels were sailing," Pletenchuk said, adding that all of the seven aforementioned ships have already entered the waters of NATO countries.
The spokesman noted that the threats to the transit of vessels through the Black Sea stem mainly from Russian aircraft and missile strikes. According to Pletenchuk, Russia refrains from deploying its warships in the open sea, fearing their destruction by Ukrainian forces.
The Ukrainian Navy announced a temporary Black Sea corridor on Aug. 10, less than a month after Russia terminated the grain deal, which allowed safe passage for ships traveling to and from ports on Ukraine's Black Sea coast.
The new temporary route was set up primarily to allow passage for ships that had been docked in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenny since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The container ship Joseph Schulte, sailing under the Hong Kong flag, was the first vessel to leave Odesa ports through the Black Sea corridor on Aug. 16 after being docked there since Feb. 23, 2022.
On Sept. 16, Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov announced that two bulk carrier civilian ships have agreed to enter the Chornomorsk port near Odesa to ship out Ukrainian grain.
Following the successful trip of these two vessels, three more cargo ships have agreed to sail to Ukraine's ports to transport grain and iron ore to China, Egypt, and Spain, according to Kubrakov.
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.
