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."
Photo for illustrative purposes: A Russian FSB officer in assault gear. (Grigorenko/Getty Images)
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) shot to death a suspected terrorist who was allegedly preparing an attack on the Moscow subway station and a Jewish institution, Russian media reported on Mar. 3.
While being detained in Moscow region, the suspect resisted arrest and was "neutralized" during a shootout, the Public Relations Center of the FSB said, in comments reported by Interfax-Russia
Firearms and chemical substances for assembling explosive devices were reportedly found and seized during a subsequent investigation at the suspect's apartment.
"The terrorist intended to carry out the detonation of self-made explosive materials," the FSB said.
The suspect was a Russian citizen originating from Central Asia and is alleged to have been a member of an international terrorist organization banned in Russia. After the attack, he planned to join a terrorist organization in Afghanistan, the FSB claimed.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, four terrorism suspects were killed by the FSB this year so far. One of them was accused by Russia of undergoing training in Kyiv before preparation of an attack against a Russian official.
The State Duma passed a bill on Dec. 12 expanding the criteria for the 'Terrorists and Extremists' registry, including political, religious, ideological, racial or national hatred.
According to the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the proposed bill would provide "significant leeway to designate people who have allegedly committed a wide array of crimes as terrorists and extremists."
The law is to take effect on June 1, 2025, Deutsche Welle reported.
Russia has been regularly accused of arbitrarily jailing political opponents and dissidents accused of politically-motivated hatred.
According to the ISW, in seeking to control dissent, the Kremlin is "looking to change the mechanisms for adding people to the terrorist and extremist list in order to incentivize Russians to engage in self-censorship by tightening the Kremlin's control over criticism in Russian society, especially about Russia’s war in Ukraine."
Kateryna Hodunova
