Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
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.
Donald Trump walks out to speak at a speaks at a Get Out The Vote campaign rally held at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC on Feb. 10, 2024. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The White House called "outrageous" a claim by Donald Trump that he would encourage Russians to do "whatever the hell they want" to NATO allies who didn't meet their defense spending commitments.
“Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement on Feb. 11.
“Thanks to President Biden’s experienced leadership, NATO is now the largest and most vital it has ever been.”
Trump, who is known for saying deliberately inflammatory messages to his supporters, made the claim at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Feb. 10.
The former U.S. president and current presidential candidate said that NATO was "busted" until he forced members to "pay up."
Many allies are not meeting their 2014 pledge to invest 2% of their GDP into defense. When he was in office, Trump accused them of taking advantage of the U.S.
Russia has been found to have meddled in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, in favor of Trump. Multiple Russian individuals and state-tied organizations were convicted of interference and multiple Trump associates were convicted of lying under oath.
Russian figures, including the late mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin have publicly said that the Kremlin meddled in U.S. elections and will continue to do so.
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.
Martin Fornusek
