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.
Flag of NATO is seen in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland on October 23, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith doesn’t expect NATO will offer Ukraine a membership invitation at the alliance's July summit in Washington, she said at a press conference on Feb. 13.
Kyiv did not receive the much-desired invitation nor firm deadline to join the alliance during the much-anticipated 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, even though NATO took steps to tighten cooperation.
Ukrainian officials have voiced hope that the Washington meeting, scheduled for July 9-11, will bring a more definite signal.
According to Smith, there are no such plans “at this juncture.” She expects that allies will instead be able to signal that “NATO continues to move closer to Ukraine.”
“And that we are taking concrete steps to serve as a bridge between where we are now and that full-fledged membership,” Smith said, adding the alliance will demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin that it is not “going anywhere in terms of our support” for Ukraine.
The U.S. Ambassador to NATO noted that since the summit in Vilnius, allies have been working to continue to help Ukraine with the needed reforms on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration.
“We continue to focus, first and foremost, on supporting them in the current fight and ensuring that they can prevail on the battlefield,” she said.
Earlier, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance’s former Secretary General, said that NATO's invitation to Ukraine “would be a controversial and at least an unprecedented decision to take.”
However, he suggested that this step could serve as “an instrument” to ending Russia’s war.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Nate Ostiller
