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.
Ukrainian soldiers adjust a national flag atop a personnel armored carrier on a road near Lyman, Donetsk Oblast on Oct. 4, 2022. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Feb. 26 that changes the conditions for demobilization of conscripts.
Zelensky originally submitted the bill on Feb. 22. According to the proposal, conscripts whose term of service expired during martial law and whose military service was extended beyond the established period are released from service to the reserve "within the terms determined by the presidential decree."
The parliament's National Security and Defense Committee then added a provision to the bill that allows conscripts to "postpone further mobilization for 12 months," lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on Telegram after the committee approved the changes earlier on Feb. 23.
Zelensky has previously said that mobilization reforms have to include provisions on military rotation and demobilization to provide relief to long-serving front-line troops.
The parliament on Feb. 7 passed broader bill regarding changes to Ukraine's wartime mobilisation process in the first reading.
The updated bill sets out "transparent rules for the mobilization process, as well as necessary regulation of the rights of military personnel and conscripts."
The bill also specifies clear terms of service for the period of martial law, service exemption for people with all levels of disability, as well as a two-month reprieve for volunteers before the start of service to "resolve personal issues and prepare for mobilization."
More than 4,000 amendments to the bill have been submitted since its passing in the first reading.
Francis Farrell
