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."
Romanian Army soldiers build a bomb shelter in the village of Plauru, Danube Delta, 300 kilometers east of Bucharest, Romania, on Sept. 12, 2023. (Mihai Barbu/AFP via Getty Images)
Romania has installed an anti-drone system at the Danube Delta near its border with Ukraine, the country's President Klaus Iohannis said on Oct. 26, Digi24 reported.
Bucharest has been tightening security in its border regions as Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports resulted in some unmanned aerial vehicles falling on Romanian soil.
"The anti-drone system is 'in place,' as they say; it is operational," Iohannis said in Brussels.
"Some of the (equipment) comes from the Romanian military, other comes from allies."
Iohannis added that the radars Romania uses are now able to detect targets at a much lower altitude than before.
"You know that earlier, the problem was that radars only detected targets above 600 meters. Now this level is much lower, almost at the ground," he explained.
Romanian media reported on Oct. 20 that Bucharest is planning to install an anti-drone system along the border with Ukraine in cooperation with an unnamed partner state.
Bucharest has previously deployed additional security measures in the border areas, including setting up bomb shelters and issuing air raid warnings.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
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