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."
The aftermath of Russia's missile attack on Chernihiv, Ukraine, on April 17, 2024. (Oleksandr Lomako/Telegram)
At least 1,839 children have been killed or injured since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office reported on April 18.
According to the prosecutors' calculations, at least 543 have been killed and 1,296 childrenhave suffered injuries of varying severity.
Most of the casualties among children, 529, were recorded in Donetsk Oblast.
Apart from that, 346 cases of casualties have been confirmed in Kharkiv Oblast, 150 in Kherson Oblast, 131 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 130 in Kyiv Oblast, 108 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and 103 in Mykolaiv Oblast.
A Russian attack on April 15 on the city of Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast killed a 9-year-old boy. The day before, a 16-year-old girl was injured after a Russian shell exploded near her home in the village of Kizomys in Kherson Oblast.
Four children, aged from 13 to 17, also were wounded during a Russian missile attack on Chernihiv on April 17. In total, 78 people were injured and 18 killed after this strike.
Russia's war of aggression has taken a staggering toll on Ukraine's civilian population.
The U.N. said on April 10 that it had recorded almost 11,000 civilians killed and over 20,500 injured. The real number is likely higher, as Russia prevents international monitoring in the occupied areas that suffered the heaviest destruction, like Mariupol.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Daria Shulzhenko
