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 arrive to receive Russian passports at a center in Russian-occupied Kherson on July 21, 2022. (Getty Images)
Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets has advised Ukrainians who currently live in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to “make a decision to survive” and take Russian passports.
Otherwise, people should leave such territories “in any possible way,” the ombudsman said on April 30.
On April 27, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing the deportation of Ukrainians in occupied territories who refuse to take Russian citizenship.
Those Ukrainians who choose to retain their Ukrainian citizenship can be deported after July 1, 2024.
“This decree is aimed at legalizing forced passportization, which takes place in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine,” Lubinets said.
He added that those Ukrainians who refuse to change their passports to Russian ones may be arrested, turning them into a “separate category of civilian hostages.”
Lubinets added that he is “absolutely against” the statements of some of Ukrainian officials saying that anyone who took a Russian passport in the Russian-occupied territory should be punished, including possible criminal liability.
“Our citizens are doing this in order to survive.”
Moscow-installed proxies in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine had increasingly forced civilians to obtain Russian passports, using threats and physical violence against those who refused to do so, the Ukrainian military’s National Resistance Center reported on April 7.
On July 13 last year, The EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the EU wouldn’t recognize Russian passports issued to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories.
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.
Alexander Query
