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.
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.
Police officers search a car next to a woman's body that was found in a car shot by Russian forces on a roadside on April 6, 2022, in Bucha, Ukraine. Hundreds of bodies were found in the days since Ukrainian forces regained control of the town. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on Aug. 31 that it had identified another Russian serviceman involved in the massacre of civilians in Kyiv Oblast.
Vadim Ovchinnikov, senior lieutenant and the commander of a reconnaissance platoon, told his subordinates to shoot at a family trying to evacuate from the village of Severynivka near Bucha, according to the SBU.
Ovchinnikov’s unit, part of Russia’s 36th Combined Arms Army of the Eastern Military District, was reportedly directly involved in capturing Severynivka, Motyzhyn, and Kopyliv in the Bucha district.
During the month-long occupation, the commander and his subordinates traveled around the settlements in armored vehicles “to intimidate residents,” the SBU wrote.
On one of those raids in early March last year, Ovchinnikov allegedly ordered to open fire at two civilian cars moving towards their vehicle.
The investigation revealed that the shooting had killed a couple and their 15-year-old daughter on the spot, with another daughter aged nine having managed to survive. The family was trying to leave Severynivka for Uman, Cherkasy Oblast, according to the law enforcement agency.
The SBU charged Ovchinnikov and his five subordinates with violating the laws and customs of war combined with intentional murder in absentia.
“Comprehensive measures are underway to fairly punish Russian war criminals, regardless of their location,” the SBU added.
Bucha, a small city near Kyiv, was occupied by Russian troops shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. After it was liberated, mass graves were discovered, and thousands of war crimes were documented.
Asami Terajima
