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.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
Photo for illustrative purposes. Vapour escapes from processing complex during operations at the Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim oil refinery, operated by Bashneft PAO, in Ufa, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Kuibyshev oil refinery in Russia's Samara Oblast halted one of two primary refining units, taking half of its capacity offline, after a drone attack overnight on March 23, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed industry sources.
Samara Oblast Governor Dmitry Azarov claimed that a fire had broken out at the Rosneft-owned oil refinery following the reports about explosions. There were no casualties, according to him.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency spokesperson, Andrii Yusov, did not comment on Kyiv's possible involvement in the recent attack, saying an "incident" occurred at the Kuibyshev oil refinery.
The refinery halted operation of the CDU-5, with a production power of 9,500 metric tons per day (70,000 barrels), around half its capacity, according to Reuters.
The news agency calculated that seven refineries have halted refining capacity of 4.6 million tons of oil, or some 7% of the total, due to drone attacks.
A total of 12 Russian oil refineries were successfully hit in multiple regions deep inside Russian territory as of March 17, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing an unnamed source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Drone attacks on Russia's oil refineries have likely disrupted at least 10% of the country's refinery capacity, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
Kateryna Denisova
