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.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 16, 2024. (Olena Zashko / The Kyiv Independent)
Sweden will allocate 28 million euros to several funds to support Ukraine's defense capabilities, the country's Defense Ministry announced on May 9.
According to a statement on the ministry's website, 18 million euros will be given to three coalitions within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and 10 million euros will go to NATO's fund for Ukraine.
"The Swedish support will gradually develop towards buying new equipment from the industry for donation to Ukraine," Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said.
"Through these payments to funds, we can strengthen Ukraine's defense in terms of drones, mine clearance and by strengthening the capabilities of the Ukrainian navy," he added.
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In March 2024, Sweden officially joined NATO after a lengthy application process triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and was immediately vocal in its calls for other alliance members to do more.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Euractiv that NATO is not doing enough for Ukraine and some countries in the alliance don’t “understand that the conflict is here and that we need to deal with it."
“We have to understand that Russia is a neighbor that is behaving irresponsibly, which is threatening the world with irresponsible nuclear threats and the idea of recreating its former empire at the expense of independent sovereign states… We have to put an end to that,” he said.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Francis Farrell
