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."
An impact hole left by a 122-millimeter artillery shell next to a school in the town of Vrybivka in Donbas on Feb. 17, 2022. (Popasna civilian-military administration)
Dozens of artillery strikes committed by Russian-led militants in Donbas left two Ukrainian soldiers injured and three civilians concussed, according to official reports from the war zone.
Over 47 incidents of enemy shelling have been registered along the 420-kilometer frontline, as of 7 p.m. on Feb. 17.
The heaviest impact was seen in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Stanytsya Luhanska just next to Luhansk, a regional capital occupied by Russia since 2014. According to Ukraine's military, the enemy fired a total of 32 artillery rounds, hitting civilian and military targets, including a local train station.
A 122-millimeter shell impacted a local kindergarten, leaving three teachers concussed. According to Yevgeniy Kaplin, a charity provider associated with the UN present at the scene, the kids were terrified but intact.
The military and local community services helped evacuate civilians, who sought cover in the building's basement.
A soldier was taken to a hospital. The attack also damaged the area's utility infrastructure, leaving half of the city cut off electricity, the Ukrainian military reported.
Later in the day, over 20 other front line locations were also attacked with towed artillery and mortars. Another Ukrainian serviceman was injured.
In the town of Vrubivka in Luhansk Oblast, a 122-millimeter shell impacted a local schoolyard at 10.25 a.m., according to local authorities. 30 pupils and 14 teachers were in the school during the incident.
No casualties have been reported.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Feb. 17 called the shelling "a big provocation" and said that the OSCE monitoring mission and foreign diplomats should stay in the country and provide additional monitoring of the situation, which is "an additional means of deterrence."
NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, while commenting on the incidents in Donbas, said the Alliance was concerned by Russia's attempts to create a pretext for a military attack against Ukraine.
“What we do know is that Russia has amassed the biggest force we have seen for decades in and around Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
The escalation in the war zone unfolded amid continuing Russian military buildup in the region in what might be a preparation for an all-out military action against Ukraine. According to the latest reports from Western and Ukrainian intelligence, Russia currently deploys over 140,000 troops surrounding Ukraine and in the Russian-occupied territories.
On Feb. 17, U.S. President Joe Biden said that a full-out attack might be launched "within the next few days."
“We have reason to believe they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in,” Biden said.
Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023. He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. Besides, he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
