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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. Ukrainian servicemen fire with a CAESAR self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions in eastern Ukraine on Dec. 28, 2022. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian Air Force struck the control center of Russia's drone units near the village of Tetkino in Russia's Kursk Oblast on May 4, Ukraine's General Staff reported on the following day.
The crews of unmanned reconnaissance and attack drones were based at this location. As a result of the strike, up to 20 Russian soldiers were killed and their equipment destroyed, according to the statement.
The village of Tetkino in Kursk Oblast is less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Before Russia's full-scale invasion, the settlement was home to up to 4,000 people.
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted Russian military and industrial facilities in the rear to undermine Moscow's ability to wage its all-out war.
In the meantime, Russia continues regularly targeting Ukrainian cities and villages with drones, missiles, glide bombs, and artillery, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.
Ukrainian air defense shot down 42 of the 116 attack and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Twenty-one decoy drones disappeared from radars without causing damage, according to the statement.
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.
Katie Marie Davies
