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.
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Monday, May 12
"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."
Monday, May 12
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.
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"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Ukrainians were likely behind the May 3 drone attack on the Kremlin, the New York Times reported on May 24.
According to the New York Times, it remains unclear which of Ukraine's special military or intelligence units were behind the attack, and whether or not President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top officials were aware of the operation.
U.S. intelligence has a "low" level of confidence in the theory that the Kremlin orchestrated the attack, "but that is because intelligence agencies do not yet have specific evidence identifying which government officials, Ukrainian units or operatives were involved," the New York Times wrote.
The New York Times was told by U.S. officials that "some Ukrainian covert operatives work largely independently and without direct supervision from Zelensky or his top deputies" and "the extent to which (Zelensky) is aware of them in advance is unclear."
As such, U.S. officials believe that Zelensky and his top officials have "set broad parameters for covert campaigns, leaving decisions about who and what to target to the security services and their operatives," allowing them plausible deniability should they end up public.
Russian state media RIA Novosti said on May 3 that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's Kremlin residence was targeted by two Ukrainian drones overnight.
The alleged drone attack occurred in the days leading up to Russia's planned May 9 celebration to commemorate the Soviet Union's role in the victory against Nazi Germany.
This Week in Ukraine Ep. 5 – Everything we know about Ukrainian attacks inside Russia
“This Week in Ukraine” is a video podcast hosted by Kyiv Independent’s reporter Anastasiia Lapatina. Every week, Anastasiia sits down with her newsroom colleagues to discuss Ukraine’s most pressing issues. Episode #5 is dedicated to Ukrainian attacks deep behind enemy lines – on Russian soil, and i…
Anastasiia Lapatina
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