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.
Petr Pavel, Czechia's president, speaks to members of the media during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Sept. 24 reiterated that the full withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied territories is necessary for a "just and lasting peace," after the president of Czechia said Kyiv should be "realistic" about achieving such a goal.
In an interview with The New York Times (NYT) published on Sept. 23, Petr Pavel said the "temporary" occupation of some Ukrainian territories by Russia is the most likely outcome of Moscow's full-scale invasion.
"To talk about a defeat of Ukraine or defeat of Russia, it will simply not happen. So the end will be somewhere in between," he said, adding Kyiv needed to be "realistic."
In a statement on its website that didn't mention Pavel by name, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said there can be "no middle-ground solutions," and the full withdrawal of Russian troops was "a realistic scenario."
"The withdrawal of Russian occupying forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders is one of the mandatory points of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky’s Peace Formula," it added.
"This and other provisions of the Formula will guarantee a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace not only for Ukraine, but for the entire European continent and the world."
As of late August, Russia was in control of around 27% of Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are partially controlled by Russian troops. Russia claims to have annexed the whole territory of those regions despite not controlling two regional capitals — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Moscow also controls all of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the illegal annexation of four oblasts in September 2022, and in June called for Ukrainian troops to leave these territories as a condition for peace negotiations, a proposal which was rejected by Ukraine.
Pavel later on Sept. 24 responded to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry statement, saying he had previously "warned against unrealistic expectations."
"I have never questioned that we should support Ukraine in restoring its territorial integrity, that this is the ultimate goal. We just have to be realistic about the time horizon and the cost of achieving that goal," he told journalists in New York.
"Defeating Russia in Ukraine at the cost of killing half the Ukrainian population is probably not a victory."
Ukraine says peace talks should be held on the basis of its 10-step peace formula, which includes a full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
Zelensky is also expected to present his "victory plan" to President Joe Biden during his ongoing visit to the U.S. this week.
"There is not and cannot be any alternative to peace, no freezing of the war or any other manipulations that will simply move Russian aggression to another stage," Zelensky said in his evening address on Sept. 18.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Nate Ostiller
