Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, 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.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"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.
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.
People carry portraits of their relatives during the Immortal Regiment march in Moscow on May 9, 2022. (Photo: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
Russian state media reported on April 18 that May 9 celebrations to commemorate the Soviet Union's victory against Nazi Germany will not include the "Immortal Regiment" march this year.
As cited by state news agency TASS, Russian State Duma member Elena Tsunaeva explained the decision as one of "national unity", given that several border regions in Russia as well as occupied Crimea already canceled the march because of security concerns.
The Immortal Regiment march is typically a mass event throughout Russia, where processions of people carry photos of their relatives who fought in or were killed during World War II. The organizers of the movement, who started it in 2011, have since complained that Russian officials hijacked it for their own political gains.
Officials are encouraging people to instead put photos of their relatives who were veterans of World War II "on social media, clothes, cars, or the website of the movement."
This will be the second May 9 celebration to take place since Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine.
When Russian dictator President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had invaded Ukraine, it was seen widely as the abandoning of the Soviet Union's legacy – belonging not only to Russian soldiers but Ukrainians and other nations as well – in the victory against Nazi Germany.
See also our video about 10 popular misconceptions about Ukrainian history
Over the course of the full-scale war, the Russian military has committed a multitude of war crimes, including the beheadings of Ukrainian soldiers and unprecedented damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure during mass missile and drone strikes.
Since Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine's Prosecutor General has recorded a total of 80,840 war crimes and crimes of aggression committed by Russian forces on Ukrainian territory. Two former mercenaries of Russia's state-backed Wagner Group confessed on April 17 to shooting civilians in Bakhmut, including children.
Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent. The U.S. publisher Deep Vellum published her co-translation of Ukrainian author Oleh Sentsov’s Diary of a Hunger Striker in 2024. Some of her other writing and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine.
Francis Farrell
