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.
Belgorod administration building after an alleged drone attack on March 12, 2024. (Telegram)
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said there are no hostilities on the territory of the region just hours after Ukrainian military intelligence said it was “now an area of active combat actions.”
In a post on Telegram published late on March 14, Gladkov claimed he had taken a tour of villages in the area where several pro-Ukrainian military units comprised of Russian citizens had advanced after crossing the border from Ukraine earlier this week.
Gladkov claimed that the battle is taking place outside the Belgorod Oblast borders. He also said that the village of Kozinka had “suffered greatly, the destruction was very serious.”
Residents in the areas affected had been taken to a “safe place,” according to Gladkov.
The Russian governor’s comments were contradicted by a spokesperson of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), Andrii Yusov, who told national television just a few hours earlier that Kursk and Belgorod regions are “now an area of active combat actions.”
“As stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the (Russian President Vladimir) Putin regime.”
Unconfirmed videos posted to social media on the morning of March 15 appear to show air raid sirens, fires and explosions in the Belgorod region continuing.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Emmanuelle Chaze
