"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"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.
A Russian battle tank T-72 drives outside the Russian town of Sudzha on Aug. 8, 2024. (Anatoliy Zhdanov/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Aug. 9 that Russian forces are carrying out attacks against Ukrainian soldiers on the western outskirts of the town of Sudzha as Kyiv's incursion continues into the fourth day.
Sudzha is located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine, while the city of Kursk lies 85 kilometers (53 miles) to the northeast of Sudzha. This is the first time Moscow claimed that Ukrainian forces reached the town amid multiple reports about their presence there.
According to the ministry, Russian forces also "launch attacks on Ukraine's Armed Forces' manpower and equipment" near the settlements of Daryino, Gogolevka, Melovoy, and Nikolskyi.
The battles are ongoing "a few dozen kilometers" from Kurchatov in the Kursk region, claimed the town's mayor, Igor Korpunkov. The town is located some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Ukraine's Sumy Oblast and hosts the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
Russian pro-war Telegram channels also claim that Ukrainian forces are some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the town of Lgov, where a crucial highway is located.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
Earlier in the day, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the situation in the Kursk region has been declared a "federal emergency."
The state-owned train operator Moscow Railway said on Aug. 8 that the railway stations in Sudzha, Korenevo, and Psel are "temporarily closed to passengers."
Kyiv has so far maintained a policy of silence, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 8 that "Russia brought war to our land, and it should feel what it has done." He did not directly mention the incursion into the Kursk region.
Francis Farrell
