"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.
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.
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.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
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."
Firefighters work near the site of a deadly helicopter crash near a kindergarten in Brovary, Kyiv Oblast, on Jan. 18, 2023. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) reported on Aug. 3. that five State Emergency Service officials had been charged with safety violations and negligence regarding the helicopter crash in January that killed Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, among other victims.
According to the DBR, the suspects include the head of the Emergency Service's Department of Aviation and Air Search and Rescue, its acting commander, the commander of the aviation squadron, the deputy commander for flight training, and the head of the flight safety service of the Special aviation unit from Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast.
The crash took place on Jan. 18 in Brovary, a city just east of Kyiv. All 10 people on board were killed, including Monastyrsky, his deputy Yevhen Yenin, and the ministry's secretary Yurii Lubkovych.
The helicopter crashed close to a kindergarten, killing also four women and a child. Some 31 people on the ground, including 13 children, sustained injuries of varying severity, the DBR said.
The investigators decoded the helicopter's black box and managed to reconstruct the event "minute by minute."
The ministry's officials were traveling to Kharkiv and Dnipro oblasts in a helicopter designated only for emergency situations in Kyiv Oblast. Due to unfavorable weather conditions and poor visibility, the helicopter was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude.
The crew did not spot an obstacle in the helicopter's path – a multiple-story building – until the last moment. The attempted evasion maneuver led to the crew commander losing control and crashing the helicopter.
The DBR's reconstruction of the helicopter crash in Brovary on Jan. 18, 2023. (Source: DBR)
According to the DBR, the crew did not have appropriate permits to fly in such weather and the commander was not provided data on the meteorological conditions before the flight. The flight safety also failed to abort the trip despite the unsafe conditions, the investigators added.
The four officials of the Emergency Service's Aviation Department were charged with violating flight safety rules, which caused the death of people and large-scale material damage. The head of the flight safety of the same unit was charged with negligence, the DBR said.
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
