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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky in his office. (Ukraine's Presidential Office)
President Volodymyr Zelensky held a day of meetings on the situation on the front lines on April 30, calling for Western allies to speed up deliveries of critically needed military aid.
Speaking during his daily address, Zelensky said the front should not be dominated by Moscow's forces "but by our Ukrainian initiative - our air defense, our artillery, our drones."
"We need a significant acceleration of supply to significantly increase the capabilities of our warfighters," he added.
Ukraine has faced a worsening situation on the battlefield in recent weeks as well as an increase in successful Russian aerial attacks, both compounded by delays in Western assistance, particularly the months-long wait for the latest U.S. aid package. The European Union also fell short of its target of providing Ukraine with one million rounds of artillery shells by March.
"We greatly count on the promptness of the supply from the United States," Zelensky said, adding: "A supply that must be felt in the destroyed logistics of the occupier, in their fear of being based anywhere in the occupied territory."
He added that every repulsed Russian attack "is an approach to the day when even the crazies in the Kremlin will realize that they cannot break Ukraine."
Zelensky said he had held several meetings on April 30 on military matters and had discussed Ukraine's plans both to "disrupt the Russian plans and to achieve our goals" after receiving a report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
He also said he had discussed weapons supplies and communications with international partners with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Russian forces have recently intensified offensive operations in the east of Ukraine, occupying multiple villages after the capture of Avdiivka in February.
The Russian military leadership set a goal to capture the town of Chasiv Yar, just west of the Russian-occupied Bakhmut, by May 9, according to Syrskyi.
Elsewhere, Ukraine has allocated a further Hr 15.5 billion ($391 million) to purchasing drones for the country's armed forces, enough to buy 300,000, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 30.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Stanislav Storozhenko
