The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace on July 18, 2024 in Woodstock, England. (Hollie Adams/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky will address government officials at an "extraordinary meeting" of the U.K. Cabinet on July 19, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on July 18.
Zelensky's speech will mark the first time a foreign leader has delivered an in-person address to the U.K. Cabinet since former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1997. He is also the first official visitor to Downing Street since Starmer took office earlier in July.
"Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government's agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelensky will make a historic address to my Cabinet," Starmer said.
Zelensky will brief Starmer's new Cabinet on ongoing battlefield developments in Ukraine and the need for European countries to outpace Russia in defense production, according to the prime minister's office.
"The Prime Minister is expected to tell President Zelensky tomorrow that the U.K. will go further in the coming months to place a greater stranglehold on Putin's war machine," the announcement said.
The two leaders are also expected to sign a defense export security treaty.
The meeting follows London's announcement of new sanctions targeting Russia's "shadow fleet," vessels used to circumvent Western sanctions and continue trading Russian oil.
Zelensky arrived in the U.K. on July 18. He met with Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's former commander-in-chief and recently appointed ambassador to the U.K., and King Charles.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Dominic Culverwell
