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."
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Sept. 27, 2023, that it had detained two Kyiv residents suspected of providing coordinates for Russian missile strike against the capital on Sept. 21. (Source: SBU)
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained two Kyiv residents on suspicion that they assisted Russian forces in their missile attack against the capital on Sept. 21, the SBU announced on Sept. 27.
According to the report, the two suspected collaborators provided the Russian military intelligence (GRU) with coordinates to target critical infrastructure in the city, namely energy facilities, shortly before the attack.
The two suspects allegedly came to the attention of Russian intelligence because of their anti-Ukrainian posts on social networks, which they started publishing after the start of the full-scale invasion.
Subsequently, the GRU reached out to them online and recruited them to collect intelligence in Kyiv, asking them to provide photographs and geolocations of critical energy infrastructure sites, the SBU said.
They were also allegedly tasked with monitoring military bases and the movement of Ukraine's Armed Forces around the capital.
The two suspects reportedly received a monetary reward for their collaboration. They face life in prison.
Russia launched a mass wave of missile attacks against multiple oblasts on Sept. 21, killing two people and injuring at least 26.
According to Ukraine's state energy operator Ukrenergo, this marked the first mass attack by Russian forces against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure in six months.
Energy facilities in western and central Ukraine were damaged, and there were blackouts in Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv oblasts.
Russian forces escalated their attacks against Ukraine's energy grid during the previous fall and winter, hoping to cripple the country's power grid and undermine resistance against the invasion. Kyiv warned that Moscow is likely to return to this strategy during the next winter months.
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.
