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.
Bashkir activist Fail Alsynov in a photo uploaded on Jan. 3, 2017. Alsynov's four year sentence on charges he called politically motivated triggered protests in Russia's Bashkortostan republic in January 2024. (Facebook)
Large protests erupted in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan on Jan. 17 after authorities sentenced a popular local rights activist to four years in prison.
Protests are rare in Russia, and have become even less common after the government's crackdown on public expression that accompanied the full-scale invasion.
Bashkortostan is a republic of Russia located near the Ural Mountains, close to the border with Kazakhstan. Ethnic Russians make up around 38% of the population, followed by the Bashkirs, and Tatars, both of whom are Turkic people with their own language.
The protests broke out as supporters came to the town of Baymak to demonstrate against the authorities' sentencing of local rights activist Fail Alsynov to four years in prison on charges of "inciting ethnic hatred."
The charges, which Alsynov has denied, stemmed from a speech he gave earlier in 2023 denouncing government plans to mine gold in the region.
Alsynov and his supporters say the charges are politically motivated.
Videos shared on social media showed protesters clashing with riot police, who used tear gas and batons against the crowd.
Alsynov, who has campaigned for the protection of Bashkir language rights, also previously characterized Russia's mobilization campaign as a "genocide" against Bashkirs. There have been widespread claims that Russia disproportionately mobilizes ethnic minorities, including Bashkirs, to fight in Ukraine.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, appealed to Bashkirs in May 2023 not to fight in Ukraine, saying that Moscow is infringing on the rights of Bashkirs' and exploiting their natural resources, not Ukrainians.
The protests came in the lead-up to the presidential election in Russia in March, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win. Analysts told Reuters that the unrest may put additional pressure on local authorities to restore calm before the voting begins.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Elsa Court
