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."
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.
An abandoned cargo vessel lies beached along the Black Sea near the city of Ochamchire in Abkhazia, Georgia in an undated photo. (Tyson Paul/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denounced Russia's plans to create a naval base in Abkhazia, a Russian-occupied territory of Georgia, in comments before the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Nov. 14, as cited by the Georgian media outlet Civil.Ge.
"We strongly support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia, and of course, we don't accept that these breakaway territories can be used by Russia to establish military bases," Stoltenberg said.
Moreover, he noted that the plan reveals "how far Russia is willing to go to achieve (its) military goals in Ukraine."
Russian state-controlled media Izvestia reported on Oct. 5 that Aslan Bzhania, the Russia-backed proxy leader in Abkhazia, said the region would soon host a "permanent" deployment of Russian forces in the Black Sea port of Ochamchire.
Russian authorities did not comment on the plans.
Bzhania's announcement raised concerns in Georgia, with Georgia's Foreign Ministry denouncing the plans as a violation of Georgia's territorial integrity.
There have been Russian troops and Russian proxy soldiers on the ground in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, another occupied region of Georgia, since their seizure in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.
Russian "peacekeepers" were also present in both regions before the 2008 war, a holdover from conflicts in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 1990s.
Both regions became de facto independent but legally part of Georgia, a status that continued until the 2008 war, after which Russia occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia and established military bases there.
The creation of a naval base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Abkhazia would be a significant step, however, and one that could threaten to drag Georgia directly into Russia's war against Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 24 that Russia's plans to create a base in Abkhazia were part of an effort to move its ships "as far as possible from Ukrainian missiles and marine drones," but he added that "we will catch up with them everywhere."
The comments were reported by some Georgian media outlets as a tacit admission that Ukraine would strike Russian targets in Abkhazia, a de jure part of Georgia.
Although the port is not deep enough to host larger warships from Russia's navy in the Black Sea, it could nonetheless become an important logistical hub.
"This is an attempt by the Russian Federation to expand the frontline to Georgia," said Badri Japaradize, one of the leaders of Georgia's opposition party, Lelo.
If the ships are used in attacks on Ukraine, then they would be legitimate targets, even if they are located in what is de jure Georgian territory, Japaridze added.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Nate Ostiller
