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.
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Monday, May 12
"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."
Monday, May 12
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.
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"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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.
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Swiss Foreign Minister: Switzerland not against giving Russian assets to Ukraine but referendum may be needed
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Switzerland's Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper that his country supports the idea of using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's reconstruction, but it would require "major legal adjustments."
According to Cassis, current Swiss legislation doesn't allow the confiscation of sanctioned assets, and a referendum may be needed to change this law.
"We can't just take money that doesn't belong to us because we think it's morally right… It's about finding the right mechanisms so that there are no side effects greater than the intended main effect - almost like in medicine," said Cassis, cited by Bloomberg.
Swiss banks have been critical of the proposal to redirect frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, according to NZZ news outlet. An unidentified representative of a large Swiss private bank told the publication that if the idea is implemented, it would be "the beginning of the end of the Swiss financial center."
Cassis told Tages-Anzeiger that Switzerland had frozen 7.5 billion francs ($8.2 billion) in Russian assets so far.
According to SECO, the agency overseeing sanctions, Swiss banks hold deposits of Russian nationals, natural persons, and legal entities amounting to about 46.1 billion francs ($48.15 billion). It is far less than the $213 billion estimated by the Swiss Bankers Association in March.
Bloomberg reported on Jan. 9 that Estonia was preparing to present a plan for seizing Russian assets and delivering funds under European Union sanctions to Ukraine. Poland and Finland backed the idea earlier.
On Dec. 22, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment allowing the transfer of seized assets belonging to Russian oligarchs to the people of Ukraine.
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