"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The air raid was announced at around 2:30 p.m. local time, while the explosion sounded around 2:50 p.m. The number of victims killed rose to three, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported at 8:42 p.m.
If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
The tail section of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane that crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, pictured on Dec. 27, 2024 (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, the Kremlin reported on Dec. 28.
The Kremlin press service released a briefing detailing a call between Putin and Aliyev, during which the Russian president addressed some aspects of what he called a "tragic accident."
The briefing stated that the plane made multiple attempts to land at Grozny airport during a Ukrainian drone attack, which was reportedly repelled by Russian air defenses.
The press statement did not address the claims that a Russian surface-to-air missile may have downed the Azerbaijan Airlines plane.
Putin apologized for the fact that the "tragic accident" occurred in Russian airspace and "expressed deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims." He didn't acknowledge that it was Russia's fault.
He also said that "initial investigative actions" were underway, and that two representatives of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office were in Grozny working with Russian authorities.
Officials from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were also working together at the disaster site in the Aktau region, the briefing concluded.
Shortly after this briefing was published, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his Telegram channel that he also spoke to Aliyev over the phone about the crash, and said the key priority was "to conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the truth about what happened."
He also called on Russia to provide clear explanations, pointing to evidence from photos and videos showing "damage to the aircraft’s fuselage, including holes and dents," similar to those "caused by an air defense missile strike."
The aircraft, carrying passengers from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny in Russia's Chechen Republic, crashed near the coastal city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25.
There were 67 people on board the aircraft, including 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz citizens. Thirty-eight people died in the crash.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
