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.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
Ukrainian soldiers are seen with the Leopard 2 at the Tokmak front as Russia's war against Ukraine continue on Sept. 16, 2023. (Vincenzo Circosta/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Russian forces have likely bolstered their defenses around the occupied town of Tokmak in the southeastern oblast of Zaporizhzhia, the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Sept. 17.
According to the ministry, Russian forces have in recent days added more checkpoints, anti-tank hedgehogs, and trenches in the area, which is currently held by Russia's 58th Combined Arms Army.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said the area, located 16 kilometers from the front line and around 60 kilometers northeast of occupied Melitopol, is likely to become "a lynchpin of Russia's second main line of defenses."
"Improvements to the town’s defenses likely indicate Russia’s growing concern about Ukrainian tactical penetrations of the first main defensive line to the north," the intelligence report says.
More than three months into Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive, Kyiv is taking initiative in some parts of the front line – mainly in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and in the Bakhmut and Velyka Novosilka axes in Donetsk Oblast.
Ukraine has thus far been able to liberate more than a dozen villages since early June, with the most recent success seen in the Bakhmut area.
Though it is difficult to hold on to recaptured territories, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Sept. 11 said that Ukraine has been able to liberate 4.8 square kilometers of territories in the southern part of Donetsk Oblast and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the past week.
Since the beginning of the counteroffensive in early June, Ukraine has liberated 256.5 square kilometers of territory on the southeastern front, according to Maliar.
Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.
Asami Terajima
