"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"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.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, 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.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
An image shows the damage to the destroyed Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kherson Oblast on the morning of June 6, 2023. (Energoatom)
An investigation published by the New York Times on June 17 indicated that an explosive charge in a passageway running through the dam's concrete base detonated and destroyed the structure on June 6.
The Kremlin knew the dam's weak point because it was built during Soviet times, the investigation noted.
According to the investigation, the evidence "clearly suggests the dam was crippled by an explosion set off by the side that controls it: Russia."
Ihor Strelets, an engineer who served as the deputy head of water resources for the Dnipro River from 2005 until 2018, quoted by the newspaper, said "that an explosion within the gallery destroyed part of the concrete structure and that other sections then were torn away by the force of the water."
The dam's foundation was built to withstand almost any kind of external attack, excluding Ukraine's responsibility for the matter.
Evidence shows that Russia destroyed the dam of the occupied Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kherson Oblast on June 6, causing massive floods across southern Ukraine and triggering a widespread humanitarian and environmental crisis.
Floodwaters from the breached dam rapidly swept through towns along the Dnipro River, fully or partially submerging more than 40 settlements in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces blew up the dam to prevent Ukraine’s counteroffensive, while Moscow blamed the breach on Ukrainian artillery fire without providing any evidence.
As a result of the floods, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, and up to one million people could face water shortages, Ukrainian authorities said.
Alexander Query is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is the former business editor at the Kyiv Post. He worked as a TV correspondent and an anchorman at UATV in Ukraine, and received a BA in modern literature from La Sorbonne, in Paris.
Igor Kossov
