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.
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.
A photo taken on May 18, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine, of a monument memorializes the "lost childhood of children" during the Holodomor, a man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet Union that killed upward of 3 million Ukrainians in the 1930s. (Photo by Oleg Pereverzev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced on July 17 new sanctions against Russia over the attempts to destroy Ukrainian national identity and the abduction of Ukrainian children.
London confirmed 14 new sanctions, including 11 against those who participate in the abductions such as Ksenia Mishonova, Commissioner for Children's Rights in Moscow Oblast, or Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov.
The British sanctions list is also expanded by two Russian propagandists for spreading anti-Ukrainian sentiments, including former Russia Today (RT) presenter Anton Krasovsky.
On Oct. 20, 2022, Krasovsky called for the murder of Ukrainian children, saying they should be "thrown into a river with a rapid current." He was suspended from his position at RT soon after.
The U.K. extended sanctions also against Culture Minister Olha Lyubimova for "using her position to support the Russian state’s damaging anti-Ukrainian policies."
London announced that the sanctioned Russian officials are to face asset freezes and travel bans.
According to the Ukrainian portal Children of War, Russia has abducted or forcibly moved 19,493 Ukrainian children since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Many of them are forced to undergo "Russian patriotic re-education" and are assigned to Russian adoptive and foster families.
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
