Hungary cancelled a meeting planned for May 12 with a Ukrainian delegation on the rights of national minorities, Hungary's Deputy Foreign Minister said on May 11, amid a deepening spying scandal between the two countries.
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.
A screenshot from a video that purports to show a Ukrainian strike against a Russian Pantsir air defense system. Footage published on Jan. 6, 2024. (Ukraine's Navy/Telegram)
Two Russian anti-missile Pantsir-S1 systems and one OSA anti-aircraft vehicle were damaged or destroyed by Ukraine's Navy in one day, the military branch claimed on Jan. 6.
"Our soldiers continue to turn Russian equipment into scrap metal," Ukrainian Navy Commander Oleksii Neizhpapa said in a Facebook post referring to the three successful attacks.
In his post, Neizhpapa shared a video apparently depicting a drone zeroing in on a Russian Pantsir-S1 vehicle, claiming that the two Pantsir-S1 were destroyed in the occupied territory of Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.
A Pantsir S-1 has an estimated price tag of around $15 million. One such system is suspected to be behind the mistaken downing of an Azerbaijani plane on Dec. 25, according to the media.
0:00
/
A video that purports to show a Ukrainian strike against a Russian Pantsir air defense system. Footage published on Jan. 6, 2024. (Ukraine's Navy/Telegram)
Developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, the 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko according to NATO terminology) is a highly mobile, short-range, low-altitude surface-to-air missile system still in use by Russia, Ukraine, and a dozen other countries.
The Osa has been used with great effect by the Russian Armed Forces against Ukrainian drones, with some experts linking it to Ukraine scaling down the use of its once-popular Bayraktar drones.
The system functions as an all-in-one transporter erector launcher and radar (TELAR) vehicle that can detect and attack enemy targets independently.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the Navy's claims nor the extent of the damage done to the Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.
Russia has lost 1,034 air defense systems since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported before the news of the three successful hits surfaced.
Martin Fornusek
