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.
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.
People cast their votes in Russia's illegal referendums at a hospital in the occupied territory in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 23, 2022. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The package proposes to introduce a price cap for Russian oil sold to third countries, which "will help reduce Russia's revenues on the one hand and it will keep global energy markets stable on the other hand," according to von der Leyen.
The Commission also proposes further import bans that will "deprive Russia of an additional 7 billion euros in revenues." The package is also set to extend the list of products banned from being exported to Russia, aiming "to deprive the Kremlin's military complex of key technologies," well as target new Russian individuals and entities.
In addition, the Commission introduces a new category of sanctions, aimed to step up the EU's efforts to crack down on circumvention of sanctions by targeting those individuals who circumvent them.
In her statement, von der Leyen condemned Moscow's sham referendums on joining Russia that were held in the occupied parts of four Ukrainian regions on Sept. 23-27. She also said that the mobilization in Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent threats to use nuclear weapons are "further steps on the escalation path."
"We do not accept the sham referendums nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. And we are determined to make the Kremlin pay the price for this further escalation," the official said.
On Sept. 28, Russia declared a 98% secession support rate in illegal referendums held at gunpoint in the occupied territories in Ukraine.
Moscow is expected to use these "results" as a pretext to illegally annex parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, as it did with Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
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.
