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.
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.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with his vice-presidential running mate, J.D. Vance, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., on July 15, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski /AFP via Getty Images)
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance repeatedly disparaged Ukraine and voiced his unwillingness to continue U.S. support in leaked text messages with far-right conspiracy theorist Charles Johnson, the Washington Post reported on Aug. 7.
According to the texts, which Johnson shared with the Washington Post, Vance said in October 2023, "Dude I won't even take calls from Ukraine." The exchange came as congressional Republicans began blocking an aid package for Ukraine, an impasse that continued for several months.
"Two very senior guys reached out to me. The head of their intel. The head of the Air Force. Bitching about F-16s," Vance said in the messages to Johnson.
Vance, who was selected as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate in July, has been outspoken about his opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine. He repeatedly has said that he "doesn't care about Ukraine," including just days after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
In response to a request for comment about the leaked messages, Vance spokesperson Willia Martin told the Washington Post that "Johnson spam texted J.D. Vance."
"J.D. usually ignored him, but occasionally responded to push back against things he said."
The Washington Post did not say if the spokesperson refuted any of the statements that Vance had made in the texts.
The leaked exchanges covered a wide variety of topics, many of which pertained to domestic issues.
In one text conversation that Vance initiated, the vice presidential nominee "ridicule(d) the mental state of a pro-Ukraine activist," the Washington Post wrote, adding that he implied the U.S. government was "engineering popular support for Ukraine."
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Chris York
