U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of a demilitarized zone in the war and emphasized the importance of first securing a ceasefire.
"We agreed that a full and unconditional ceasefire must begin on Monday, May 12, for at least 30 days. We jointly demand this from Russia, and we know we are supported in this by the United States," Zelensky said.
Ukrainian media outlet ZN.UA reported on May 10 that their law enforcement sources confirmed an ongoing probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into suspected embezzlement, money laundering and bribery.
Iran is preparing to send Russia Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile launchers, Reuters reported on May 9, citing Western security and regional officials familiar with the matter.
A screenshot from a video purportedly showing the moment an ammunition depot in Tver Oblast, Russia, explodes on Sept. 18, 2024. (Olexander Scherba / X)
Ukraine's drone strike on the arms depot in Russia's Tver Oblast destroyed two to three months' worth of munitions, Estonian Colonel Ants Kiviselg, head of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center, said on Sept. 20.
Ukraine launched an overnight attack on Sept. 18 against one of the largest arsenals in Russia, opened in 2018 and built to withstand a nuclear explosion.
According to Estonian news outlet ERR, Kiviselg commented on the strike during an Estonian Defense Ministry press conference.
Ukraine was able to strike the depot because some of the ammunition was not located inside bunkers, causing a chain of explosions that destroyed 30,000 tons of ammunition to explode, Kiviselg said.
"At an average rate of military action, Russia fires 10,000 shells per week. That is, a two-to-three-month supply of ammunition,"
"We will see the consequences of this loss at the front in the coming weeks," Kiviselg said.
The arms depot in Topolets stored ballistic missiles, including Iskanders, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery ammunition, and KAB guided bombs, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine has long suffered a disadvantage in terms of ammunition supplies compared to Russia.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told CNN on Sept. 5 that Russian forces currently fire shells at a ratio of around 2:1 to 2.5:1 to Ukrainian forces.
Kateryna Hodunova
