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.
Members of the Siberian Battalion prepare weapons during military exercises with the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In response to limited raids from Ukrainian territory into Russian border regions, the Kremlin may have to choose between paying a cost in resources or in reputation, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed in their daily report on March 14.
In recent days, multiple pro-Ukrainian military units comprised of Russian citizens have crossed into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts. The Freedom of Russia Legion and Siberian Battalion conducted combat operations, taking control of Tyotkino, in Russia's Kursk Oblast, and Lozovaya Rudka, in Belgorod Oblast.
Oleksii Baranovskyi, a fighter with the Freedom of Russia Legion, said on March 13 that fighting is still ongoing in five settlements near the Ukrainian border.
The ISW notes that these raids have played a role in heightened criticisms from Russian nationalists against the Kremlin, for failures to adequately protect Russian citizens living in border towns. As a result, the Kremlin may either respond to the criticism and allocate extra barricades and border security forces, or choose to keep the majority of military equipment and personnel in Ukraine to conserve resources.
Though the Kremlin's reputation is a factor, the ISW predicts the reputation damage will be much lower in 2024 than in 2023 due to increased censorship in Russia. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, many new laws have been introduced regarding war criticism of any manner, with arrests possible for up to 15 years for spreading "fake news" about the military or government.
Following Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's rebellion against Putin in June 2023, "the Kremlin has cracked down on the Russian information space's complaints against the (Russian Defense Ministry), actively censoring certain fringe and extreme milbloggers through arrests or other measures."
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Emmanuelle Chaze
