"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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 pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
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.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
Poll: Majority of Hungarians disapprove of Orban's meeting with Putin
A majority of Hungarians disapprove of the recent meeting of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, according to a survey commissioned by Hungarian opposition media outlet Nepszava released on Nov. 7.
The survey found that 52% of respondents said the meeting was unacceptable, while 35% approved of the meeting.
Nepszava said that the methodology of the survey was representative of the Hungarian adult population.
Orban met with Putin on Oct. 17 in Beijing, where the two were participating in China's Belt and Road Forum. Orban was the only EU leader to attend the forum.
When meeting with Putin, Orban referred to the war in Ukraine as a "military operation," a coded term used by Russia to distract attention from the fact that Moscow launched a full-scale war. A plurality (36%) of respondents polled believed that Orban intended to make a pro-Russian statement by using the term, while 23% said he was only "trying to be diplomatic."
An overwhelming majority of respondents said that Orban was aware of the weight that using Russia's terminology would carry.
When asked who initiated the talks between Russia and Hungary, 39% believed that Hungary pressed for the meeting.
At a time when other leaders and officials from EU countries have refrained from meeting with Putin or other Russian leaders, Hungary has remained an outlier, maintaining close ties with Russia since the full-scale invasion, stalling sanctions, and holding up aid for Ukraine.
Hungary has also delayed the ratification of new members Finland and Sweden into NATO. It finally ratified Finland's accession to the alliance nine months after the original application.
Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto visited Moscow in October for the fifth time since Feb. 24, 2022. He has also visited Belarus twice.
Francis Farrell
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