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.
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 Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detains a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate for illegally selling Russian arms, Kherson, Ukraine, Sept. 26, 2023. (Source: SBU)
In Kherson, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the police had detained a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate who was allegedly selling Russian weapons and ammunition, the SBU announced on Sept. 26.
The suspect, a priest of a church in Kherson Oblast, was selling arms left behind by Russian forces after they were pushed back by Ukraine's counteroffensive last fall, the report said.
The clergyman was reportedly hiding the weapons in two caches, one of them located on a construction site of a new Moscow Patriarchate's church building in Kherson.
According to the SBU, the suspect was detained while attempting to sell two Igla man-portable air-defense systems and RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher ammunition.
The priest was reportedly also in possession of a machine gun, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, three F-1 hand grenades, and 7,000 small arms rounds.
The weapons have been sent for examination and will be later handed over to the Ukrainian military, the SBU said.
The suspect was allegedly seeking out potential buyers through his own connections, which included criminal circles.
The Security Service noted that continued arms sales "would aggravate the internal situation in Kherson, namely in relation to provocations by the Russian special services."
The priest faces up to seven years in prison.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is subordinate to the Russian church and is not to be confused with the autocephalous (autonomous) Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Ukraine has long accused the Moscow Patriarchate's representatives in Ukraine of serving as the Kremlin's propaganda arm in the war. Some "rank-and-file" clergymen were also convicted of directly assisting Russian troops.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Alexander Query
