"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
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.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during his meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on Sept. 13, 2023. (Vladimir Smirnov / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his nation wants to build a "forward-looking" relationship with Russia, state media reported on Oct. 19.
Kim's remarks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Pyongyang to meet with Kim and other officials.
North Korea's government wants "to work out a stable, forward-looking, far-reaching plan for the DPRK-Russia relations in the new era," Kim said.
Lavrov thanked North Korea on Oct. 18 for its "fundamental, unequivocal support" for Russia's war against Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un made a rare international visit to Russia last month, traveling by armored train to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in the far-eastern Amur Oblast. The visit signaled deepening ties between the two nations, and possibly resulted in a new arms deal.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Oct. 13 that North Korea had already sent Russia shipments of weapons and ammunition following the talks.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Katie Marie Davies
