"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
"Perhaps in some areas, the intensity decreased slightly to create an image of compliance with their own announcement. But in reality, (Russia) continued attacks every day, using all available weapons — including aircraft to drop guided bombs on Ukraine," Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said.
Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
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.
Ukrainian soldiers shoot with a BMP during a training as Russian-Ukrainian war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 07, 2023. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Russia's war against Ukraine is expected to continue in 2024, with both sides refusing to negotiate despite neither of them achieving a decisive victory, according to an alleged U.S. intelligence assessment leaked online and obtained by the Washington Post.
The highly confidential document purportedly suggests that even if Ukraine regains a "significant" amount of territories and inflicts "unsustainable losses on Russian forces," which U.S. intelligence considers unlikely, the country's gains would not lead to peace talks.
"Negotiations to end the conflict are unlikely during 2023 in all considered scenarios," reads the document, cited by the publication.
The U.S. intel assessment also predicts that the year will end with only "marginal" territorial gains for both sides due to "insufficient troops and supplies for effective operations," according to the Washington Post.
The document describes such a stalemate as "the most likely scenario" but also analyses possible outcomes of Russia or Ukraine gaining a "decisive advantage" on the battlefield.
U.S. officials have warned that such analysis on the war in Ukraine is fluid, and the leaked material may not contain the details the U.S. has gathered in the days since it was produced, reads the report.
According to the leaked document, the alleged stalemate in Russia's war may not be actualized if there are "substantive improvements to Ukrainian or Russian military capabilities."
The document obtained by the Washington Post is part of a larger classified U.S. military and intelligence files leak that first appeared on the social media network Discord. Following the leak, the Pentagon announced that it had launched an investigation into the source of the leaks.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov spoke about the intelligence leak during a visit to Spain on April 12, acknowledging that there is a "mix" of true and false information contained in them. However, according to Reznikov, the true information is already outdated.
Earlier, the Washington Post wrote that the leak was one of the factors slowing Ukraine's upcoming counteroffensive, given that the documents delve into details about the Ukrainian military, which could potentially force them to alter plans for the counteroffensive.
According to a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, cited by CNN, Kyiv has already changed some of its military plans following the leak.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
