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.
Stanislav Aseyev, photo published on May 1, 2024. (Stanislav Aseyev/X)
Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian writer, journalist, and activist who has joined Ukraine's Armed Forces, suffered a concussion in combat and was hospitalized, according to his social media post from May 1.
Aseyev is known for his reporting from the Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas region before the full-scale war, which led to him spending more than two years in brutal Russian captivity.
"I'm alive, although according to all the laws of physics and probability, I should have died," Aseyev wrote on X, adding: "The positions, unfortunately, have been lost. Now I'm in the hospital with a concussion."
Ocheretyne lies around 15 kilometers (nine miles) northwest of Avdiivka, a key fortified town captured by Russia in February.
Aseyev, a 34-year-old native of Donetsk, remained in his home city after it was occupied by Russia in 2014 and continued reporting on the situation in occupied territories for Ukrainian media.
The writer was abducted by Russian proxies in 2017 and jailed in the infamous Izolyatsia torture prison in Donetsk. He was released in December 2019 in a prisoner exchange. During the full-scale war, Aseyev joined Ukraine's Armed Forces as a volunteer.
Aseyev is also a popular prose writer and received the Shevchenko Award, the country's most prestigious prize for achievements in culture and arts, in 2021.
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.
Martin Fornusek
