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.
Russian soldiers patrol a street on April 11, 2022, in Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast. (Photo credit: Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia has begun deploying units of its fresh 25th Combined Arms Army "piecemeal" to reinforce the over-stretched lines, indicating that a new Russian offensive is unlikely in the coming weeks, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence report on Sept. 27.
The ministry pointed out that Russia had "only rarely maintained an uncommitted army-size grouping which could potentially form the basis of a major new offensive thrust" since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The report noted that since mid-September, Moscow had most likely started committing elements of the 25th Army to action for the first time. Russia started building the new formation earlier this year to "add depth to its ground forces" in Ukraine, the U.K. ministry said.
Forces of the 67th Motor Rifle Division and the 164th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade are reportedly fighting west of Sievierodonetsk and Kreminna along the border between Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the ministry said.
Russia began concentrating its forces in the northeastern part of Ukraine since the summer, trying to take back initiative as Ukraine pushes forward on the southern front and around Bakhmut.
Ukrainian troops in Kreminna, a town in Luhansk Oblast not far from the administrative border with Donetsk Oblast, have sustained a particularly heavy onslaught by Russian forces.
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.
Francis Farrell
