"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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in the annual investment forum "Russia calling," in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 7, 2023. (Vladimir Pesnya/Epsilon/Getty Images)
The U.S. allegedly rejected attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to engage in peace talks because Ukraine was not included in the proposed negotiations, Reuters reported on Feb. 13, citing unnamed Russian officials.
Except for unsuccessful talks during the spring of 2022, there have been no direct peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Kyiv said categorically that a full Russian withdrawal is a precondition for any talks.
Both the Russian officials and an unnamed American source said that the U.S. ruled out holding any back channel peace talks that did not include Ukraine. The U.S. source also said it would not engage in official peace talks with Russia.
The Russian officials said that there had been three unofficial talks in Turkey in 2023 through intermediaries which did not produce any results. Sources from the U.S. said they were unaware of such meetings.
The U.S. is unwilling to pressure Ukraine into joining talks unless the impetus comes from Ukraine, sources told Reuters. Russian officials also said that the U.S. does not believe Russia is interested in negotiating in good faith, and does not trust that Putin genuinely wants to pursue a ceasefire.
Putin allegedly proposed to freeze the war at the current front line, but wanted to keep Russian control over all currently occupied Ukrainian territory, Russian sources told Reuters.
The news echoes a Bloomberg report published in January 2024, in which Russian sources said that Putin was allegedly willing to drop his opposition to Ukraine's NATO accession in exchange for control over the roughly 18% of Ukrainian territory Russia now occupies.
Russian sources told Reuters that there is "frustration" in Moscow over Washington's refusal to push Ukraine into holding peace talks on Russia's terms.
Despite these private signals that Russia is willing to discuss a possible ceasefire, there is little indication that Putin's initial maximalist war goals have changed.
"There will be peace when we achieve our goals. They haven't changed. Denazification of Ukraine, the demilitarization of Ukraine," Putin saidin December 2023. The Kremlin has regularly used false accusations of "Nazi-led" Ukraine to justify its aggression.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that freezing the war in its current state would only give Russia time to recuperate for another attack later on.
"If there is a stalemate and a frozen conflict, we have to honestly say that our children, or our grandchildren, will have to fight," Zelensky told journalists in November 2023.
U.S. officials told Bloomberg in January that they thought Russia's signaling of a willingness to begin peace talks was a possible attempt to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its allies.
Estonian foreign intelligence chief Kaupo Rosin said on Feb. 13 that Russia is simply spreading "stories" about its supposed interest in peace talks in order to undermine Western support for Ukraine, but they do not reflect a genuine interest.
"The Kremlin still sees this conflict with Ukraine as long-term if necessary, as long as necessary from the Kremlin's point of view, " Rosin said.
Putin suggested in an interview with U.S. far-right commentator Tucker Carlson on Feb. 6 that he was open to "dialogue" with Ukraine, but also repeated false claims that Ukraine is an "artificial" country. He gave no indication that his repeated goals for the full-scale war have changed.
Nate Ostiller
