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."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi is listening during a hearing of the Development Committee of the European Parliament on May 10, 2021, in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Russia is violating "fundamental principles of child protection" in wartime by granting Ukrainian children on occupied territories Russian passports and organizing their adoptions by Russian families, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told Reuters in an interview published on Jan. 27.
During Grandi's six-day tour across Ukraine, the U.N.'s refugee agency (UNHCR) chief met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Jan. 25.
After the meeting, Zelensky asked Grandi's organization to create mechanisms to "defend and return" children and adults forcibly displaced to Russia, as well as to punish those responsible, according to Reuters.
Grandi told Reuters that the UNHCR wasn't able to determine the exact number of Ukrainian children who were given Russian passports or put up for adoption due to limited access in Russia.
"We are seeking access all the time, and access has been rather rare, sporadic, and not unfettered, if you see what I mean," said Grandi.
According to the UNHCR head, more refugees could return to Ukraine over the warm season, but a possible escalation in hostilities could cause a new wave of refugees, although mostly internal.
"What we have seen in the last few days is not very promising in this respect, everybody foresees that there will be a rise in hostilities, an escalation… and this is likely to generate more displacement," Grandi said in the interview.
Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine's presidential advisor for children's rights and rehabilitation, reported on Jan. 17 that Russia had abducted almost 14,000 Ukrainian children, and only 125 of them had returned to Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War wrote in October that Russia's deportations of Ukrainians likely amount to a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign in addition to apparent violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
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