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.
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."
Aftermath of the Russian attack on an apartment building in Sumy overnight on March 13, 2024 (The Sumy Oblast Military Administration/Telegram)
Ukraine has collected pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes, Veronika Plotnikova, the head of the Coordinating Center for Support of Victims and Witnesses of the Prosecutor General's Office, said on air on March 18.
War crimes include acts such as deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on cultural sites or medical institutions, torture, and deportations.
Though the Coordinating Center is currently working with 170 victims of war crimes, "the real number of people who need help is much higher," as information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes has been recorded in the national register of pretrial investigations, Plotnikova said.
The Coordinating Center "provides a bridge between victims and those who provide help," Plotnikova said.
According to Plotnikova, staff at the Coordination Center are trained to use accessible language to tell victims and witnesses of war crimes which procedural actions are taking place, and to accompany them to court, while taking care not to retraumatize the victims.
"We are creating an ecosystem of support because no government body, no organization can provide for so many victims."
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said in November 2023 that Ukraine had collected evidence of 109,000 Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
"It's our commitment to decide to document, prosecute each and every incident, because each and every incident of war crimes has its victims," Kostin told Politico at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Elsa Court
