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.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi visits military units in the Bakhmut sector on Feb. 8, 2024. (Ground Forces/Telegram)
Any attempt by the Russian army to take the city of Kharkiv would be “fatal” for Moscow’s forces, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on March 29.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, located just over 30 kilometers south of the Russian border, has in recent weeks seen an escalation in strikes from Russian missiles, drones, and now air bombs.
A recent report by Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza claimed “political elites” have not ruled out that President Vladimir Putin will order a ground offensive against the city.
In an interview with Ukrinform, Syrskyi said such an attack could not be ruled out and Ukraine’s Armed Forces were “taking all measures to adequately respond to such a possibility.”
“Today, we are carrying out a large scale of works on the fortification of territories and positions, we are installing a complex system of barriers,” he said.
Referencing the liberation of parts of Kharkiv Oblast in 2022 after seven months of Russian occupation, Syrskyi said Ukraine’s Armed Forces already had experience of military operations in the region which caused the “large-scale collapse of the Russian front.”
“If the Russians go there again, Kharkiv will become a fatal city for them,” he added.
In the same interview, Syrski said that despite being outmanned and outgunned, Ukraine’s use of drones and high-precision artillery mean Russian troops “can never feel safe” even far from the front lines.
He also acknowledged the “very difficult” situation on the front, saying Moscow’s forces continue to use mass assaults and has recently significantly increased the use of air strikes and guided bombs “that destroy our positions.”
Syrski also said Russian forces currently enjoy an ammunition advantage of around 6:1, adding that Ukraine is helped by high-precision ammunition.
“Our gunners use high-precision ammunition to destroy enemy concentrations even tens of kilometers from the front line,” he added.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Kateryna Hodunova
