"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
Three were injured in Russia's Kursk Oblast when the town of Rylsk was allegedly struck by a missile attack on May 11, local governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed.
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.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in a photo on March 23, 2019. (Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Europe has not taken the threat from Russia seriously enough, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Jan. 30. He emphasized that Berlin is within range of Russian missiles stationed in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Sikorski's comments were the latest in a series of warnings from Western officials about the danger of a potential war with Russia.
NATO militaries have strengthened their capacity and preparedness since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the prospect of the war escalating to an all-out clash between the alliance and Russia has so far been averted, there are concerns that the West has not truly accepted that it may still be a possibility.
Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, a commander of NATO's military logistics center in Germany, said earlier in January that NATO should be prepared for the possibility of Russian missile strikes in Europe in the event of an all-out war. He warned that Germany would likely be one of the potential targets.
When asked if Poland is in danger, Sikorski said, "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin threatened Poland, Latvia and Finland. When he threatens a country, he is serious. Too often we have not taken him seriously."
"And the nuclear weapons near Kaliningrad, the Iskander missiles, could reach Berlin. I'm always surprised that this isn't an issue in Germany," he added.
Sikorski stressed that the combined economic might of the West is 20 times stronger than Russia, but Russia nonetheless has the upper hand in the production of ammunition.
"We must mobilize our forces," he said.
"If the Americans withheld their aid, we would have a serious dilemma: either replace America, that is, double our efforts, or let Putin conquer Ukraine," Sikorski added.
As aid from the U.S. has become mired in domestic political disputes largely unrelated to Ukraine, there is concern that the continuation of U.S. support at the level of 2022 and 2023 is no longer a given.
U.S. President Joe Biden said in December 2023 that the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine for "as long as we can," a rhetorical shift from his common refrain that the U.S. is committed for "as long as it takes."
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican primary and likely presidential nominee, has declined to commit to the U.S.'s long-term support for Ukraine if elected.
Instead, he said his primary goal would be to secure a peace treaty within 24 hours. Trump has not disclosed the potential parameters of such a deal, but it would likely be on terms unfavorable to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders have acknowledged that Europe likely not be able to support Ukraine financially and militarily if the U.S. were to reduce its aid significantly.
There is no "plan B" if U.S. aid ends, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier in January.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
