"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will wait for Putin on Thursday in Turkey," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"We cannot allow NATO's military infrastructure to get that close to our borders," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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.
Preliminary findings suggest that one of the men killed the other before taking his own life.
Western leaders dismissed the Kremlin's proposal for talks in Istanbul on May 15 as insufficient.
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 pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
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.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
Zelensky: 'Russia needs to bear full responsibility for ecocide'
In a June 8 address to the world's environmental protection community, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia needs to bear full responsibility for the ecocide it caused through the Kakhovka dam destruction.
He emphasized that the ongoing disaster is a deliberate, man-made ecocide, aggravated by ongoing Russian attacks against evacuating civilians.
The dam's demolition destroyed lives in more than 30 settlements, cutting off access to drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people, according to Zelensky.
The flooding will lead to water pollution, soil pollution, and the mass dying of fauna and flora. The effects will not be limited to Ukraine, as toxic material carried by the river will reach the Black Sea as well.
As the first order of action, the international community must save as many people as possible.
Though admitting assistance from international organizations in the government-controlled territories, Zelensky criticized them for not helping victims in the occupied territories.
Earlier today, Foreign Ministry said that the UN would send its personnel to the occupied left bank of the Dnipro River once Russia guarantees safe passage.
As a second point, Ukraine will create an Expert Group that will consolidate international efforts to bring Russia to full responsibility for the ecocide.
Third, the global community must avert long-lasting environmental damage which can be caused by the dam breach.
Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam on June 6, causing a large-scale environmental and humanitarian disaster.
Earlier on June 8, Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said that 600 square kilometers of the oblast had gone underwater. Some 2,339 people, including 120 children, were evacuated from the flooded areas of Kherson Oblast by June 8, 8:45 p.m. local time.
Martin Fornusek
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