"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, 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.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony floating out the new Project 22220 Class nuclear-powered icebreaker Chukotka, held at the Baltic Shipyards in Saint Petersburg, via a videoconference in Moscow on Nov. 6, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the Russian budget on Dec. 1, which plans for record levels military spending over the next three years.
The Russian State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, passed the law on the federal budget for 2025 and the planning period of 2026-2027 in November.
According to the law signed by Putin, in 2025, national defense spending will reach a record 13.5 trillion rubles ($126 billion), more than 6% of Russia's GDP.
Spending on war and law enforcement agencies exceeds expenditures on education, healthcare, social policy, and the national economy combined.
The new three-year budget envisages that military spending will be slightly lower in 2026-2027: 12.8 trillion rubles ($114.9 billion) in 2026 and 13.1 trillion rubles ($122.4 billion) in 2027.
The total expenditures of the Russian budget next year are planned at 41.47 trillion rubles ($387.3 billion), accounting for 19.3% of GDP. This is 1.17 trillion rubles ($15.9 billion) more than the expected revenues.
The budget deficit is expected to be 2.18 trillion rubles ($20.3 billion) and 2.76 trillion rubles ($25.8 billion), respectively, in 2026 and 2027.
On Nov. 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed law on Ukraine's own state budget for 2025.
The budget for 2025 envisages spending Hr 2.2 trillion ($53 billion) on Ukraine's defense, which is 26.3% of the country's projected gross domestic product (GDP).
On Nov. 12, Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin said the budget envisages Hr 55 billion ($1.3 billion) for weapons production.
Some Hr 54.55 billion ($1.3 billion) will be directly allocated for the development and implementation of new technologies and the expansion of defense production capacity, according to Smetanin.
The minister added that the 2025 figure is almost Hr 3.5 billion ($84.4 million) more than in 2024.
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.
Oleg Sukhov
