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.
In this archive photo now-U.S. President Donald Trump faces off former U.S. President Joe Biden in the first presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. on June 27, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump on Feb. 28 called for an "immediate ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine, warning President Volodymyr Zelensky that he must pursue peace or risk losing American support.
Trump has taken a confrontational stance towards Ukraine, criticizing Zelensky for being "disrespectful" and accusing him of gambling with World War III. Trump has pushed for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, suggesting that Ukraine should make concessions and that he could negotiate an agreement giving Ukraine "almost all of the land."
In a recent heated Oval Office meeting, Trump delivered an ultimatum to Zelensky, adding that "You're either going to make a deal or we're out," and later declared that Zelensky was not ready for peace if America is involved. Shortly after, the U.S. abruptly canceled the signing of a minerals deal with Ukraine.
Zelensky’s visit followed weeks of intense negotiations, as Ukraine pushed back against the first two draft proposals for a mineral deal, arguing they placed one-sided obligations on Kyiv without offering any security guarantees from Washington.
The proposed agreement, which had been under discussion for some time, aimed to create a fund where Ukraine would allocate half of the revenue from the future commercialization of its state-owned mineral resources—including oil, gas, and logistics infrastructure.
"We want peace," Trump told reporters following the meeting which, he said, "didn't work exactly great."
"He (Zelensky) overplayed his hand (...) we are not looking to go into a 10-year-war and play games, we want peace. He's going to have to make peace. He's got to stop the fighting, he's got to stop the death," Trump said, adding that Russia's President Vladimir Putin "wants to end it."
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Dmytro Basmat
