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.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
Illustrative purposes only: An aerial view of reconstruction in Irpin, a suburb of in Kyiv Oblast, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Masha Lavrova/The Kyiv Independent)
Council of Europe Development Bank has allocated a loan of 100 million euros ($108 million) to restore housing for Ukrainians, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on March 27.
"This means that more than 2,000 families will soon receive new homes," Kubrakov said on X.
"These are the people whose homes were totally destroyed as a result of Russian aggression."
The World Bank estimated in February that the full cost of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction would amount to $486 billion over a 10-year period.
Raising funds to cover recovery needs remains a challenge for Kyiv and its partners. Last month, the European Council approved the Ukraine Facility, a four-year financing of 50 billion euros ($54 billion) to aid the besieged country's recovery efforts and help finance the state's functioning amid the full-scale war.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
