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."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
A wounded woman waves while speaking on the phone as rescuers and volunteers work to rescue people from under rubble after Russian missile strike to pizzeria in Kramatorsk on June 27, 2023. (Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine's military said on July 15 that it destroyed a Russian S-400 missile system that was used to launch a June strike on Kramatorsk, which killed 13 people, including three children.
According to the Operational North Command, an American-provided HIMARS, short for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, was used to strike the Russian target.
"The defense forces took revenge on the occupiers for the bombing of Kramatorsk," the Operational North Command said in its Telegram post.
On June 27, Russian forces launched a missile strike on central Kramatorsk, hitting a restaurant full of Ukrainian soldiers on their days off, journalists, and volunteers at its peak hour.
Two 14-year-old twin sisters and a 17-year-old girl were the teenagers killed, and some 60 people were wounded.
Ukrainian writer and war crimes researcher Victoria Amelina was the last fallen victim of the Kramatorsk strike. She died in the hospital on July 1 after being critically injured in the attack.
Kramatorsk lies some 55 kilometers from the front lines and Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. It has been a way station for Ukrainian troops, making it a frequent target of Russian missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia's missile strike on Kramatorsk "a manifestation of terror."
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.
Kate Tsurkan
