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.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
An image shows the damage to the destroyed Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kherson Oblast on the morning of June 6, 2023. (Energoatom)
As a result of the Kakhovka dam destruction, the Dnipro River will not be navigable downstream of the city of Zaporizhzhia "for a long time," Shipping Administration Head Yevhenii Ihnatenko said on June 8.
This will effectively block Ukrainian exports through the Dnipro River.
The river will remain navigable up until the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant in Zaporizhzhia, he added.
"Such a terrorist act of the Russian Federation will have catastrophic consequences for the whole region, and for the future restoration of shipping in particular," Ihnatenko wrote on social media.
The sharp flooding wrought extensive damage to the infrastructure of ports in the area and caused many ships to sink. After the water levels drop, many more ships will run aground.
"The Kahkovka gate was the last one on the Dnipro River that let the ships out to the open sea. Effectively, they closed the route for Ukrainian exports."
The Kakhovka Reservoir, located downstream of Zaporizhzhia, is already experiencing water level drops by 10 centimeters every hour. Civilian vessels in the reservoir will be re-based to Zaporizhzhia so they do not run aground.
Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam in the early hours of June 6, sparking a humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
The 2,155 square kilometers large Kakhovka Reservoir is expected to become empty in a matter of days due to the dam's breach.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
