Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
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Sunday, May 11
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.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"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."
"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on May 11.
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
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Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
Sunday, May 11
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"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
The American-made weapons cannot be exported, even by a country that owns them, without approval from the U.S. government.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
This post is part of Live Updates. Read our coverage here
Alexei NavalnyRussian state-controlled media: Medics 'arrived in less than 7 minutes' to revive Navalny
• 2 min read
Emergency medics from the Labytnangi city hospital "arrived in less than seven minutes" to the penal colony where Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been held and spent "over half an hour" trying to revive him, Russian state-controlled media Interfax claimed on Feb. 16.
"Medical personnel reached the patient within two minutes on the prison grounds. Upon arrival, the medics continued resuscitation efforts that were already underway by the prison medical staff," Interfax added.
However, as the journalists at the independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta noted on Telegram, the distance between Labytnangi and the penal colony is 35 kilometers, raising obvious questions about the validity of the claim.
Russian media reported on Feb. 16 that Navalny died in prison. Navalny was being held in a penal colony in Russia's far northern Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.
According to the prison service, Navalny supposedly lost consciousness and could not be revived.
Navalny's lawyer, Leonid Solovyov, declined to comment on the news, the Russian state-controlled media outlet Kommersant reported.
"By decision of Alexei Navalny’s family, I am not commenting on anything at all," he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden warned in 2021 that there would be "devastating consequences for Russia" if Navalny died in prison.
The penal colony that Navalny was held in is located in a remote settlement north of the Arctic Circle, with "tough conditions" and limited access to letter delivery, according to Zhdanov, the head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation established by Navalny.
Navalny was previously held in the IK-6 Melekhovo high-security prison in Russia's Vladimir Oblast.
Navalny had been serving a 2.5-year prison sentence since 2021 and a separate 9-year sentence on fraud charges since 2022.
A Russian court also sentenced Navalny to 19 years in a maximum security prison in August 2023 on extremism charges for creating the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
All these cases have been recognized as politically motivated and fabricated by international human rights organizations and governments.
Navalny was poisoned in Russia in 2020 and flown for treatment in Germany. German doctors said he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent — a chemical weapon produced by the Russian government.
The Insider, Bellingcat, CNN, and Der Spiegel published an investigation according to which Navalny had been poisoned by agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service. They also identified the agents' names.
BREAKING: Russian opposition leader Navalny reportedly dies in prison
The famed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has reportedly died in prison, Russian media reported on Feb. 16.
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