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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Britain's foreign minister will host European peers on Monday to discuss support for Ukraine and greater regional defence cooperation in the run-up to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's summit with European Union leaders next week. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy also planned to announce further sanctions targeting actors supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
ISW: Putin is attempting to manipulate ongoing discussions about a ceasefire and future peace in Ukraine, likely in an effort to undermine Ukrainian-US-European unity around a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
Reuters: Vietnam and Russia have agreed to quickly negotiate and sign agreements on building nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement.
11.05.2025
Reuters: Russian secret services were behind a massive fire that nearly completely destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre in May 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday after a year of investigation into the case.
AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday insisted on "the necessity for a ceasefire" before a meeting between Russia and Ukraine proposed by Putin and accepted by Volodymyr Zelensky can be held.
The Kyiv Independent: Trump has demanded that Ukraine should "immediately" agree to direct talks with Russia in a bid to end the war.
Reuters: Putin's proposed peace talks with Ukraine will take into account an abandoned 2022 draft deal between the two countries and the reality of Russia's control over almost a fifth of Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
Reuters: Turkey is ready to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul again, President Tayyip Erdogan told Putin in a phone call on Sunday, Erdogan's office said.
AP News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday challenged Russia’s Putin to meet him personally in Turkey on Thursday, the latest move in a weekend-long exchange of proposals from both sides on the next steps in the U.S.-led peace effort.
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the informal NATO foreign ministers meeting in Turkey on May 14-16 to discuss ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Euronews: Hungary has unexpectedly suspended negotiations with Ukraine on the rights of national minorities, according to Ukrainian media, citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. The talks, scheduled for 12 May, were postponed by the Hungarian side, although the Ukrainian delegation had already arrived in Uzhhorod.
10.05.2025
Reuters: France is consulting with partners on how to potentially support Ukraine in its struggle with Russia with troops, French President Emmanuel Macron told newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday, without elaborating on what such a presence could include.
The Kyiv Independent: Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked the idea of establishing a demilitarized zone in the war with Russia.
Reuters: The German government will stop publishing details of military aid to Ukraine, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday during a visit to Kyiv.
NBC News: Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin.
Reuters: Major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire on Saturday, with the backing of Trump, and threatened Putin with "massive" new sanctions if he did not accept within days. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine set the start of the ceasefire for May 12 at a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.
The Kyiv Independent: Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported.
The Guardian: “The Kremlin plays the long game and is highly invested in developing assets that can be used to wreak havoc in the west,” said Colin Clarke, a geopolitics expert and director of research at the Soufan Center who has closely followed Russia’s flurry of sabotage operations around the world. “Russian intelligence services are using far-right terror groups to their advantage.”
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is reportedly closing its airspace over the Kapustin Yar military training and rocket launch complex from May 12 to 13, raising speculation of a possible ballistic missile launch, Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi reported on May 10.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Kremlin mouthpiece Peskov said Putin needed to see "certain dynamics" on the battlefield before agreeing to an extended ceasefire, insisting arms deliveries from Ukraine's allies must stop before there can be a pause in hostilities.
09.05.2025
The Kyiv Independent: The EU would like to secure unanimous support, but it has alternative plans if Hungary vetoes Ukraine's accession to the bloc, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on May 9.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant air attack" in the coming days and urged U.S. citizens to prepare to take shelter immediately in the event of an aerial alert.
Reuters: Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine.
AFP: Ukraine said Friday it was expelling two Hungarian diplomats in retaliation for Budapest expelling two of its own, in an escalating row over Kyiv's detention of alleged spies for Hungary.
Reuters: German legislators are demanding an explanation from a senior Social Democrat on the parliamentary committee that scrutinises the work of the intelligence services after he held undisclosed talks with close associates of Russia's president.
Bloomberg: Hungary raised objections to a European Union proposal to sanction Litasco Middle East DMCC, a Dubai-based trading unit of Russian oil giant Lukoil PJSC (archive).
Politico: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev hit out at EU support for Ukraine, calling Kyiv’s prospects of victory against Russia “doomed” in his latest pro-Kremlin remarks.
AFP: France and Poland on Friday signed a new cooperation and friendship treaty with a defence clause committing the parties to mutual support in case of an attack by an aggressor, as the two NATO and EU allies strengthen ties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters: The issue of Russian gas shipments to Europe is being discussed at talks between Russia and the United States, TASS quoted a Kremlin official as saying on Friday, confirming a report by Reuters a day earlier.
Interfax-Ukraine: The European Union has officially announced its intention to allocate almost EUR1.9 billion for military support for Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
AFP: France will tap income from frozen Russian assets to help maintain some 60 French-made Caesar howitzers delivered to Ukraine, France's foreign minister said on Friday.
Reuters: Europe threw its support on Friday behind a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and other senior Russian officials for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, a show of unity on a day when Moscow marks its "victory day".
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