"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.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, during a news conference following a Special European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the idea of allies downing Russian drones and missiles in Ukrainian airspace, the dpa news agency reported on July 18.
Speaking at a European Political Community (EPC) meeting in the U.K., Scholz said that Kyiv's request for NATO allies to intercept Russian weapons flying over Ukraine is "out of the question."
The German chancellor said he saw a consensus on the issue among other partners, adding that the "U.S. is also very clear on this." Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg voiced a similar sentiment.
"NATO will support Ukraine, and we have now increased our support...But NATO's policy is unchanged – we will not be involved in this conflict," Stoltenberg said last week.
"So we support Ukraine in the destruction of Russian aircraft, but NATO will not be directly involved," he added.
The only NATO country to openly consider the idea was Poland, Ukraine's western neighbor that saw Russian missiles briefly enter its airspace on several occasions.
Although a bilateral security treaty signed between Poland and Ukraine on July 8 envisaged "a mechanism" for intercepting Russian missiles and drones, no definitive decision has been taken so far. Warsaw said that an agreement within NATO is necessary for such a step.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to the Western partners to help protect Ukrainian airspace the same way they did when Iran launched a wave of drones and missiles against Israel in April.
"By defending Israel, the free world demonstrated that unity (among allies) is not only possible but 100% effective," Zelensky said.
"The allies' decisive actions prevented the success of terrorism and loss of infrastructure and forced the aggressor to cool down. The same can be done to defend Ukraine from terrorism, and Ukraine, just like Israel, is not a NATO member."
Scholz also objected to lifting restrictions on Ukrainian strikes deep within Russian territory with Western-supplied arms, another step that Kyiv called for. Germany and the U.S. have permitted such attacks only just across the Ukrainian-Russian border to disrupt Russian offensive operations.
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.
Dominic Culverwell
