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.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on March 1 that Anton Shevtsov, an ex-chief of Vinnytsya Oblast police, had been charged with high treason in absentia.
This is the second time Shevtsov is being investigated for alleged treason.
When evidence of his pro-Kremlin views emerged in 2016, then-President Petro Poroshenko and then-Interior Minister Arsen Avakov were accused of lobbying for his appointment. He was later fired and charged with treason and fled to Russia in the same year.
Shevtsov, who has obtained Russian citizenship and has stayed in the Russian-occupied Crimea since 2016, “voluntarily assisted Russian law enforcement in carrying out reconnaissance and subversive activities against Ukraine,” the SBU said on March 1.
Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Shevtsov developed a plan for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to carry out sabotage activities in Ukraine, according to which Russia had to target civilian infrastructure in different regions of Ukraine, the SBU said.
Shevtsov faces up to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
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Shevtsov was a top police official in the city of Sevastopol in Crimea during its annexation by Russia in March 2014.
In 2016, evidence of Shevtsov’s pro-Russian views triggered a high-profile scandal leading to his dismissal as chief of Vinnytsya Oblast’s police.
Ukrainian media published footage that shows Shevtsov walking with a St. George ribbon, a pro-Russian symbol, in Russian-occupied Sevastopol during a Victory Day parade on May 9, 2014, shortly after Russia invaded and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula.
Journalists also found photos of Shevtsov with Nikolai Valuyev, a Russian pro-Kremlin lawmaker, and pictures of his children with Russian military equipment in the background.
Meanwhile, Shevtsov’s wife Yelena Shevtsova regularly published pro-Russian posts on social networks.
The SBU arrested Shevtsov and charged him with treason when he tried to cross the border to Russia in 2016. However, later the case was closed, and he left Ukraine.
Poroshenko, Avakov and the SBU were accused of providing political protection to Shevstov back then.
Several lawmakers and activists accused Shevtsov of helping Serhiy Berezenko, a lawmaker from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, during the campaign when he won a parliamentary by-election in Chernihiv in 2015.
Another Avakov appointee, his former aide Ilya Kyva, also supported Russia after it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He fled from Ukraine and was charged with treason.
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