Beijing supports all efforts toward achieving peace in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on May 12 when asked about Kyiv and Europe's proposal for a 30-day truce.
"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.
A picture from Michael Gloss's social media showing him in Moscow (Michael Gloss)
The son of a deputy head of the CIA was killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine in 2024, Russian publication Important Stories reported in an investigation published on April 25.
Michael Gloss, 21, was the son of CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Julianne Gallina Gloss, and Iraq war veteran Larry Gloss.
Before arriving in Russia on August 13, 2023, Gloss was travelling around Europe. On his Vkontakte page bio, he wrote: "I ran away from home (and) traveled the world. I hate fascism."
Gloss studied at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and was described as an eco-activist, women’s rights supporter, and anti-fascist, Important Stories reports.
He created an Instagram post with anti-fascist graffiti in March 2023, with the hashtag "end Ukraine war."
But despite supporting Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale war, he was at a military recruitment center in Moscow, alongside other foreign nationals, by September 5, 2023, the investigation found.
His social media posts show a distinct change in his views — one identified by Important Stories as belonging to Gloss suggest he believed in conspiracy theories involving Ukraine, and claimed NATO was an evolution of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party.
Gloss was enlisted in Russia’s 137th Ryazan Airborne Regiment, according to the investigation, which found several pictures and videos of his recruitment process, as well as speaking to some of his fellow recruits.
A Russian soldier who served with him said he was "a staunch supporter of Russia and loved it."
On April 4, 2024, he was killed, likely during a Russian offensive near Bakhmut. His burial in the U.S. did not take place until December 2024, Important Stories said.
Gloss told his family he was working in Russia to get a Russian passport and save money for a trip to Africa.
According to an obituary written by his parents, Gloss "was tragically killed in Eastern Europe," while he "was forging his own hero’s journey with his noble heart and warrior spirit."
"He wanted the world to be a better place with more fairness, peace and harmony with nature," it says.
"In his brief life, he built houses in Honduras, he restored buildings in Turkiye destroyed by earthquakes, he worked on farms in Italy learning sustainable agriculture."
The obituary made no mention of Russia or Ukraine.
Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Moscow has relied on various methods to enlist migrants and foreign nationals to offset its heavy battlefield losses while avoiding full-scale mobilization.
Reports indicate that Russia has recruited individuals from Nepal, Somalia, India, Cuba, and other nations.
Kateryna Denisova
