"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The air raid was announced at around 2:30 p.m. local time, while the explosion sounded around 2:50 p.m. The number of victims killed rose to three, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported at 8:42 p.m.
If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
Gold medalists Maryna Piddubna, Oleksii Virchenko, Anna Stetsenko, and Yaroslav Denysenko of Team Ukraine react on the podium after the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay on day 7 of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Sept. 4, 2024. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Ukrainian athletes won four gold and three silver medals on the seventh day of the 2024 Paralympic Games.
The 2024 Paralympics run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 in Paris. Ukraine's current medal count is 52, with 13 gold, 18 silver, and 21 bronze medals. The team ranks seventh in the overall medal standings.
Ukraine's para-swimmers secured five medals on day 7 of the competition. The national team took won the mixed 4x100 freestyle relay, securing gold medals for Maryna Piddubna, Oleksii Virchenko, Anna Stetsenko, and Yaroslav Denysenko.
Swimmer Andrii Trusov won gold and set a world record in the men's 50-meter freestyle with a time of 26.38 seconds.
Denysenko and Stetsenko, members of Ukraine's victorious mixed relay team, also won individual medals on day 7. Denysenko won gold in the men's 100-meter freestyle S12 class (athletes with a visual impairment). The silver medal in the same event went to another Ukrainian competitor, Maksym Veraksa.
Stetsenko won silver in the women's 100-meter freestyle S12 class.
Team Ukraine's field athletes also took home medals. Anastasiia Moskalenko won the gold medal in shot put, competing in the F32 class. The categorization includes field athletes whose coordination and movement in the trunk and legs is affected to a high degree.
Mariia Shpatkivska won a silver medal in shot put in the F46 class (athletes with moderately affected movement in arms or absence of limbs). Her distance of 12.35 meters set a new European record for the class.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Sonya Bandouil
