“Our top priority remains bringing an end to the fighting and an immediate ceasefire,” the State Department said Sunday concerning the war in Ukraine.
And yet the overnight exchanges of fire, especially drone attacks on a large scale, doesn’t suggest the warring sides are actually any closer to ceasefire, despite that over the weekend President Putin proposed negotiations in Istanbul on May 15, and Zelensky responded by saying he’s willing to fly to Turkey to meet with Putin “personally”.
“I hope that this time, Putin won’t be looking for excuses as to why he ‘can’t’ make it. We are ready to talk, to end this war,” Zelensky stated on X Sunday. “Thursday. Türkiye. President Trump has expressed support. All the leaders support this.”
Ukraine’s Air Force said early Monday that Russia launched dozens of drones across Ukraine overnight. A statement detailed that at least 108 UAVs were sent, which included mostly Iranian-made Shahed drones. “An additional 30 enemy decoy drones were lost due to location failure, with no negative consequences,” it sated.
The military said it intercepted 60 of the Iranian suicide drones across the eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of the country – which suggests many still hit their targets.
Emergency authorities indicated that at least 22 people were injured the attacks, along with damage in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Donetsk and Zhytomyr regions.
Things had been relatively quiet since Friday, given Moscow’s unilaterally declared 72-hour ceasefire in observance of WW2 Victory Day events, which went off without incident. Ukraine had seemed to hold to the ceasefire at least by not sending large numbers of drones on Russia, as was the case last week in the days leading up to Friday.
Also, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland were in Kiev Sunday for solidarity and talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. European leaders urged a show of support to Zelensky at a moment some 29 world leaders were in Moscow for the Red Square V-Day parade, including China’s Xi and Brazil’s Lula.
Ukraine and its backers, the United States among them, want an immediate 30-day ceasefire. President Trump is turning up the pressure and expressing frustration with the slowness of dialogue.
“President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday in Turkey to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH,” Trump wrote Sunday on his Truth Social platform.
He insisted that Putin and Zelensky should meet directly, even they prove not yet ready to reach any level of compromise. “At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” -Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, drones didn’t just go one way overnight, but Russian officials in southern border regions say Ukrainian forces launched multiple drone and missile attacks on Belgorod and Kursk oblasts, resulting in injuries to civilians and damaged property and infrstructure.
A missile hit the town of Rylsk in Kursk Region on Sunday, the region’s governor reported. “Two men suffered serious shrapnel wounds to the head and arms, as well as bone fractures – they are in critical condition. A woman received shrapnel wounds to the forearm and thigh, but her life is not in danger,” regional head Aleksandr Khinshtein has been quoted as describing.
Additionally Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said of a Ukrainian drone assault, “One woman was injured when a first-person view (FPV) drone struck her moving car on the Krasny Oktyabr-Bessonovka road.”
As for Putin’s declared V-Day ceasefire, Moscow is still alleging that Ukraine broke it. “During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unilaterally declared Victory Day truce from May 8 to May 11, Ukrainian forces attempted five cross-border incursions into Belgorod and Kursk regions, all of which failed, according to Russian officials,” Russian media writes.
It would be interesting to at least see what comes of the proposed direct Istanbul talks. President Putin is unlikely to go in person, despite the ‘challenge’ to do so from Zelensky, who is seeking to demonstrate to the White House that Kiev is ready and willing for peace. But we could at least see the two warring sides’ negotiating teams meet in Turkey, which would in and of itself be some level of progress.