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.
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.
The Kherson Oblast sign is seen on Nov. 13, 2022, after Russia's retreat from Kherson, Ukraine. (Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Some 45,000 residents of Kherson were left without electricity after a morning Russian attack on one of the city's power facilities, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on April 1 during a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Kestusis Budrys.
The attack happened after Russia and Ukraine announced a partial ceasefire on strikes against energy facilities following technical consultations with the U.S. in Riyadh the previous week.
"After Riyadh, one of the agreements with the U.S. was about not striking at energy infrastructure," Sybiha said at the press conference.
"At the same time, Russia continues to violate this agreement," the minister said, adding that Ukraine has also recorded attacks against energy facilities in the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Poltava oblasts since March 25.
According to the local military administration, the Central and Korabelnyi districts of Kherson are without electricity. Electric transport is partially out of service due to the outages.
Throughout the full-scale war, Russia has consistently used targeted missile and drone strikes to knock out Ukraine's power grid, while Kyiv has hit oil and gas facilities inside Russian territory with long-range drones.
Ukraine and the U.S. previously agreed on a full 30-day truce during their talks in Jeddah on March 11. Russia had rejected this proposal unless it included conditions undermining Kyiv's ability to defend itself, such as a full halt on foreign military aid.
Moscow has claimed that its side of the energy ceasefire has been in effect since March 18, when Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly declared a halt on such attacks following a call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In spite of this, Russian forces also reportedly attacked Kherson's energy infrastructure on March 27, violating the terms of the U.S.-brokered limited ceasefire.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Dominic Culverwell
