Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
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.
Illustrative purposes only: Ukrainian flag waving over Parliament in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Getty Images)
Around 50% of Ukrainians think it is important to criticize the government's actions even during the war, but the criticism should be constructive and not destabilize the situation, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published on June 10.
Around 31% of the respondents said that the criticism must be harsh and uncompromising "as the only way to put pressure on the authorities" to correct their mistakes. Some 13% think that criticism should not be allowed to prevent destabilization of the situation in the country, and 5% were undecided.
Numerous surveys after the outbreak of the full-scale war showed the Ukrainian population rallied behind the government, but more recent polls indicate that the level of trust and support is decreasing in some areas.
Respondents from eastern regions were most uncompromising about the criticism, with 47% saying it should be as harsh as possible and 49% calling for a more balanced approach.
People from central, southern, and western regions displayed roughly the same position, with around 30% calling for harsher criticism and over 60% preferring a restrained approach.
Those respondents who said they trust President Volodymyr Zelensky completely (21%) or partially (38%) were more likely to call for a balanced criticism without destabilizing the situation (77% and 76%, respectively).
People who do not trust the president at all (22%) or partially (14%) were more likely to call for uncompromising criticism (62% and 39%, respectively).
The survey was conducted between May 16 and 22 and involved 1,067 respondents from all regions except for occupied territories.
Another KIIS survey published last week showed the level of trust in Zelensky was at 59%, a notable decrease from 90% at the start of the full-scale war but still higher than some other world leaders.
Yet another poll from last week found that 43% of people think that the state of democracy declined during Zelensky's five-year term, but only 28% blamed exclusively the authorities for this development.
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
