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."
Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (L) and Romania's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (R) during Shmyhal's official visit to Bucharest, Romania, Aug. 18, 2023. (Photo credit: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)
Bucharest hopes that around 60% of Ukrainian grain exports could transit through Romanian territory following Russia's unilateral termination of the grain deal, the country's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Aug. 18, Reuters reported.
Ciolacu pointed out that Romania is working to improve its connecting infrastructure by rail, road, river, and sea, as well as border crossings.
The country's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Aug. 11 that Romania plans to increase the transit capacity of Ukrainian grain from 2 million metric tons to 4 million every month.
"We agreed that the Ukrainian grain exports must be accelerated in the context of the recent attacks that we are all aware of in recent weeks on the Ukrainian ports of Reni and Izmail," Grindeanu said.
Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17 was followed by systematic strikes against Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure. This included Ukraine's ports on the Danube River Reni and Izmail, lying only several hundred meters away from Romania's border.
As Reuters pointed out, Romania's port of Constanta had emerged as Ukraine's biggest alternative shipping route even before the grain deal collapsed. In the first seven months of 2023, the port facilitated the transit of 8.1 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain, and 8.6 million metric tons in 2022, Reuters said.
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.
Timothy Ash
