"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.
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.
US President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump but rejects major territorial concessions and insists that Ukraine abandon plans to join NATO, Reuters reported on Nov. 20, citing five former and current Russian officials.
The Kremlin's terms reportedly include freezing the conflict roughly along current front lines and "dividing control" of eastern regions, including the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.
Moscow, which illegally declared annexation of these regions in September 2022, currently controls only 70-80% of them, with approximately 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) under Ukrainian control. Putin issued a demand in June that Ukraine must withdraw from the four regions completely before any ceasefire talks.
Russia currently occupies roughly a fifth of Ukraine's territory – including Crimea – as its forces continue to steadily advance in the east. Publicly, the Kremlin has rejected freezing the front line or any concessions on its part, with Putin saying any peace deal must be in Moscow's favor.
According to Reuters, Russian officials suggested that Moscow might consider withdrawing from smaller occupied areas in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions but emphasized that any deal must reflect "realities" on the ground.
Moscow remains firmly opposed to NATO membership for Ukraine or the presence of foreign troops on Ukrainian soil, the officials said. Additional demands could reportedly include limiting Ukraine’s military size and guaranteeing unrestricted use of the Russian language.
Ukraine has rejected territorial concessions and said any peace talks should be based on its 10-point peace formula, which includes a Russian withdrawal and full territorial integrity and sovereignty. Officials acknowledged that some territories might be returned through diplomacy rather than military means.
Kyiv also said that NATO membership is the only way to prevent further Russian aggression.
Without a ceasefire, Russia will continue the war, Kremlin sources told Reuters. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the U.S. authorization of ATACMS missiles a "very dangerous escalation."
Trump has positioned himself as a potential peace broker, claiming he could negotiate an end to the war. The contours of Trump's peace plan remain unclear, though media reports indicate it might entail postponing Ukraine's NATO membership for 20 years, freezing the front line, and establishing a demilitarized zone in the east manned by European troops.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Chris York
