"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.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 24 that he believes Ukraine might be able to reclaim some of its territories occupied by Russia, but it would be challenging.
He stated this in response to journalists during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, which took place at the White House.
"You’re asking whether or not they (Ukrainians) could take back the land that they lost. And I say that yes, perhaps some of it, yes. But that’s not an easy thing to do,” Trump said.
He also noted that this question is part of the current negotiations that have recently started.
“We’ll see,” Trump said. “There has been a lot of land that has been taken, so we will have to see how it works out. It’s part of the negotiation.”
The U.S. held the first round of talks directly with Russia on Feb. 18, excluding Ukraine from the meeting. The decision sparked a backlash in Europe and Ukraine, with European leaders worried they were being sidelined by the U.S.
Macron has recently rallied European counterparts to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to visit Washington later this week to meet with Trump.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn
