The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"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.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Dmytro Lubinets attends the international conference of human rights commissioners in Ankara, Turkiye on Jan. 12, 2023. (Muhammed Abdullah Kurtar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The government's revised draft law on mobilization contains provisions that violate Ukraine's Constitution, chief Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on social media Feb. 6.
Ukraine's leadership hopes to update the legal framework around conscription in order to ramp up mobilization in 2024. The government submitted a new draft of the mobilization law to parliament on Jan. 30, more than two weeks after withdrawing its initial, contentious version.
Lubinets said that the revised bill still "has a number of contradictory provisions."
One of the sections Lubinets criticized says that the military command may impose restrictions on the ability of Ukrainian citizens to leave the country. Lubinets said this violated Article 17 of Ukraine's Constitution, which prohibits the military from restricting the freedoms of citizens.
Lubinets also called attention to an amendment that requires a conscript, reservist, or any "person liable for military service" to register an electronic account. Failure to do so would invoke legal consequences.
"(S)uch a provision of the draft law does not comply with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine 'On Personal Data Protection,' and the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the official interpretation of the right to private and family life."
Lubinets had previously criticized the government's initial draft law on the grounds that it violated Ukraine's Constitution and human rights.
He also said he addressed the problems with the revised draft in a nine-page letter to parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee.
"In general, I, as the Ombudsman of Ukraine, agree that our state should improve the issues related to mobilization training and mobilization itself," he said on Feb. 6.
"However, this should be in line with the Constitution of Ukraine and international human rights agreements."
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.
Francis Farrell
