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."
Russian-controlled forces stand near a tank in occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, on March 11, 2022. (Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Russian Investigative Committee claimed that two Russian soldiers had been arrested on Oct. 30 in connection with the murder of all nine members of a Ukrainian family in occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast.
The two soldiers in question were identified as contract personnel from Russia's Far East, the report said.
Ukrainian law enforcement alleged earlier on Oct. 30 that Russian forces entered a home and murdered nine civilians, including three women and two children, aged five and nine.
According to the preliminary Ukrainian investigation, Russian soldiers approached the home several days before and demanded that the residents vacate so that they could reside there. The residents refused even though the Russian soldiers threatened them, and the soldiers left.
They returned on Oct. 27, the Prosecutor's Office said, and shot all nine members of the family while they slept.
The statement from Russia's Investigative Committee corroborated the basic facts of the case, namely the death toll, but did not mention the other details of the murders cited by the Ukrainian report.
Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces commit crimes in Ukraine.
A Russian soldier confessed to murdering a Ukrainian civilian in the Kyiv region at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and was arrested by Russian authorities- not for the murder, but for spreading "fake news" about the war.
A report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Siberian service in March 2023 said that a court in the Russian city of Khabarovsk gave the soldier a suspended 5.5-year sentence.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Daniil Ukhorskiy
