"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"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.
Anna Tsivileva waits for a meeting with Russian president in Moscow on June 1, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sacked four deputy defense ministers and appointed a relative to fill one of the resulting vacancies in the latest shake-up of the ministry.
According to Kremlin decrees, Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Tatiana Shevtsova and Pavel Popov all lost their jobs.
Anna Tsivilyova, a daughter of Putin's late cousin, took one of the empty spots and will be responsible for improving social and housing support for military personnel.
She is president of the Russian coal mining company JSC Kolmar Group and was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022.
Tsivilyova is married to Sergei Tsivilyov, Russia's energy minister.
The changes are the latest moves to have shaken-up Russia's defense ministry.
Putin last month officially appointed Andrei Belousov as the country's new defense minister, replacing the long-standing Sergei Shoigu in a surprise reshuffle of Russia's security and defense apparatus.
Shoigu had faced criticism for the Russian military's poor performance in Ukraine.
And in April, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on the suspicion of receiving a bribe.
Ivanov, who was Russia's top official in charge of the country's construction of military facilities, was detained and remains in jail ever since.
Russia's Investigative Committee noted that an investigation is ongoing and did not provide any details on the allegations.
On May 13, a day after Shoigu was moved from the defense ministry to the security council, another top defense official was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe.
Yuri Kuznetsov, who oversaw the ministry's personnel, was arrested for allegedly taking 30 million rubles ($335,000).
Major General Ivan Popov, former commander of the 58th Army, was arrested on May 21 on charges of corruption and Defense Ministry's Communications Department Head Vadim Shamarin was arrested in his office on May 23.
Oleg Sukhov
