"I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people," Zelensky said.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a May 2024 arson attack on the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak voiced doubt about leading negotiations with anyone from Russia except President Vladimir Putin, implying only the Russian leader can make real decisions.
This includes at least seven people injured in drone attacks overnight on May 12, a date from which Kyiv and its allies put forward a demand for a 30-day unconditional truce, a step that Moscow continues to reject.
"When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs," the Elysee Palace reacted to a fake story pushed by Russia.
The comments came after Trump urged Ukraine to agree to direct negotiations with Russia, which has invited Kyiv to peace talks in Istanbul on May 15, without first agreeing to halt military operations.
A Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in Donetsk Oblast on May 12 and injured its driver, Ukrainian Railways said amid Kyiv's calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow and Hanoi agreed to negotiate and sign agreements to construct nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement on May 11.
The sanctions appear to be in response to Russia's rejection of a 30-day ceasefire that the U.K., alongside Ukraine, France, Germany, and Poland, demanded during a visit to Kyiv on May 10.
"We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X. "Some of the perpetrators have already been detained, all the others are identified and searched for."
The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of April, 2,857 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
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.
Damage following a Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 8, 2025. (Ivan Fedorov / Telegram)
At least two people were killed and 12 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, regional officials reported on May 9, despite Moscow's announced Victory Day truce.
Although Moscow declared on April 28 that it would halt all military actions from May 8 to midnight on May 11 to mark Victory Day, strikes on civilian areas have continued.
In Kharkiv Oblast, five people were injured in attacks involving FPV drones and artillery, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russian attacks in Kherson Oblast killed one person and wounded another, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. The attacks damaged a residential apartment building and three houses in the region's settlements.
A woman was killed in a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, while two others were injured in a separate strike involving a first-person-view (FPV) drone, the regional military administration reported.
In Donetsk Oblast, three residents were injured — two in Pokrovsk and one in Kostyantynivka — according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
An 83-year-old man was wounded in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Governor Serhii Lysak reported. Two houses, an outbuilding, and power lines were damaged in the strike.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly dismissed Moscow's unilateral "humanitarian" truce as a ploy to create favorable conditions for Russia's Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
It followed Russia's now nearly two-month-long refusal to accept a U.S.-proposed full, 30-day ceasefire to which Ukraine agreed back on March 11.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Chris York,
