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.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
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."
A Tupolev Tu-142 M3 maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, right, is flanked by two Sukhoi Su-33 fighter jets during a fly past on the Russian Navy day in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 28, 2019. (Photo credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The U.S. military has detected and tracked four Russian warplanes flying in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) late Aug. 13 and on the morning of Aug. 14, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported.
According to NORAD, the planes remained in international airspace and did not violate U.S. or Canadian airspace. The Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, the report clarified.
NORAD defined ADIZ as a "stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security."
Earlier today on Aug. 14, two Danish F-16 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian borders flying close to Danish and Dutch airspace over the North Sea, the Danish Defense Ministry said.
In a similar incident on the same day, British Typhoon jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian Tu-142 bombers flying north of Scotland, according to the British Defense Ministry.
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.
Maria Yeryoma
