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.
"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Schuman RoundaboutMembers from a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, Avaaz, light candels and lay toys on the ground in the , the center of the EU district in Brussels, Belgium, in protest against the Russian abduction of Ukrainian children on Feb. 24, 2023. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Russia transferred 17 Ukrainian children with disabilities from the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast to a rehabilitation center near Moscow as part of the forced passportization campaign in the occupied territories of Ukraine, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Jan. 22.
Ukrainian authorities have identified over 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been illegally deported to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some of them were deported under the guise of sending them for rehabilitation and then put into the custody of Russian families.
Only 388 children have been brought back to Ukraine so far, according to the national database Children of War.
The 17 children, who have issues related to their nervous and musculoskeletal systems, were reportedly taken to the “Ogonyok” rehabilitation center near Moscow by a Russian Defense Ministry plane, according to Lubinets.
The Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova reportedly facilitated the transfer.
“The practice of transferring Ukrainian children is not a gesture of goodwill with the aim of helping, but a strategically important program of the aggressor state — when, under the pretext of providing medical care, the Russians force Russian citizenship onto Ukrainians,” Lubinets said on Telegram.
“A mandatory condition for treatment is the presence of a Russian passport, which, by (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin’s order, is issued according to a simplified procedure. In this way, Russian citizenship is imposed under coercion, which contradicts the norms of international law.”
Putin signed a decree on Jan. 4, which states that Ukrainian orphans and children left without parental care can receive Russian citizenship by Putin's personal decision without taking into account all or some requirements of federal legislation.
According to Lubinets, this document will facilitate granting Russian citizenship to deported Ukrainian children, which, in turn, will allow for adopting them as Russians and changing their identity.
Russia has deported 150 Ukrainian children from the occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts under the pretext of rehabilitation in 2023, Lubinets added in his Telegram post.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova in March for their role in the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
