Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelenskyy, on Monday to push for Ukraine ceasefire
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers recover the bodies of passengers after a Russian drone struck a passenger bus at the village of Bilopillya in the Sumy region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Russia and Ukraine are returning the bodies of their soldiers. It's a grim snapshot of battlefield loss
In a social media group dedicated to finding Russian soldiers missing in action, the dozens of posts made each day typically contained names and pictures, along with pleas from desperate mothers, wives and sisters looking for their loved ones. But on Wednesday, some group members were voicing their frustration and anger. Moscow announced it had returned the bodies of more than 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers, and in turn received the remains of 27 Russian soldiers. "How are they getting their fighters, and we can't ours?" said one woman. Another group member said that her husband, who is currently listed as missing, told her during one of their last conversations that the fields were "covered with corpses and no one takes them away." A third woman replied, "Officials only talk pretty, but in reality it is the opposite." As part of a limited deal reached in Istanbul on June 2, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange prisoners of war, including the severely wounded and those under the age of 25. They also agreed to repatriate up to 6,000 bodies each, a grim snapshot of the scale of battlefield losses that both sides rarely address. Neither side has commented on why the numbers of remains repatriated on Wednesday appear so lopsided, with Moscow receiving just 27 bodies. Repatriating remains As Russia appears set to ramp up a summer offensive, various groups have tried to estimate the number of soldiers killed and wounded on each side during more than years of war. The number of Russian soldiers killed and injured is "extraordinary," wrote the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in a report from earlier this month. It estimated that this summer, Russia will hit its one millionth casualty — which includes both deaths and injuries — with as many 250,000 soldiers killed. The last time Russian officials publicly spoke about the country's fatalities was September 2022, when they said just under 6,000 had died in the fighting. CSIS estimated the number of Ukrainian fatalities to be between 60,000 and 100,000, with more than 300,000 soldiers injured. In December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 43,000 had been killed. He had revealed the information in an effort to correct U.S. President Donald Trump, who had posted online that Ukraine had "lost" hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Tens of thousands missing Kyiv says more than 70,000 Ukrainians have been registered missing since 2022. The majority are from the military, but the figure also includes civilians. Another 12,000 have been removed from the list after being identified among the dead or being freed in exchanges. On Thursday, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War said that it has received more than 100,000 requests from Russian citizens, looking for relatives who had gone missing while serving in the military. Thousands of bodies had already been repatriated by both sides before Wednesday's exchange, in arrangements where numbers are often not publicly announced. Russia accused Ukraine of trying to delay the most recent repatriations. Over the weekend, state media showed a line of refrigerated trucks it said were carrying the Ukrainian bodies and were posted near the border with Ukraine, ready to be handed over. In response, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of manipulating the facts, saying a date for the exchange had not yet been agreed upon when the trucks arrived. Prisoner exchanges Russian officials said the group it returned included soldiers who were killed in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where Russia's military continues to advance, and also from Kursk, which Russia has taken back after the surprise Ukrainian offensive last summer. On Thursday, as both sides published videos of newly released prisoners of war calling their family members to say they had been freed, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with military members and veterans who have served in what Russia still calls its special military operation. "Let's remember those guys who are now on the line of combat contact, on the front," said Putin, before he led a group assembled in front of him in a cheer, where they shouted "hoorah" three times. In recent days, Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching a record number of drones, while its military continues to try and press forward in the east and in the north. The First Deputy of the Defence Committee for Russia's state Duma said the military is trying to create a 100-kilometre buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy region. More evacuations According to open source maps created by pro-Ukrainian groups,Russia has taken more than 190 square kilometres of the Sumy region in less than a month. While in the Donetsk region in the southeast, Russia's forces are advancing toward the border with the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War. Throughout its invasion, Russia has already laid claim to four Ukrainian regions over which it insists it will keep control. Entering into the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast would mean the country is trying to take an even greater swath of Ukrainian territory. "One after another there are settlements and cities, where thousands of people lived, which are being destroyed," said Pavlo Diachenko, head of communications for the Donetsk region police. Diachenko is helping evacuate civilians coming under increasing shelling. Earlier this week, he told CBC News, he was assisting people with leaving the city of Lyman, which has come under heavy fighting throughout the war. In May 2022, the city was captured by Russian forces and then taken back by Ukraine four months later. The frontline remains barely eight kilometres away.
National Post
2 days ago
- National Post
Russia's military losses top 1 million in 3-year-old war, Ukraine's military says
Article content Ukraine responded to the Russian attacks with drone raids. Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 52 Ukrainian drones early Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks. Article content The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and northeastern parts of the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line. Article content While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. Article content Article content On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed its troops captured two more villages in the Donetsk region, Oleksiivka and Petrivske. The Ukrainian military had no immediate comment on the Russian claim. Article content The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as nonstarters, making a quick deal unlikely. Article content The only tangible outcome of the talks was an agreement to exchange prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers. Article content Russia and Ukraine conducted another POW swap on Thursday that included severely wounded and gravely ill captives, although the sides did not report the numbers. Article content 'Our people are coming home,' Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram. 'All of them require medical treatment, and they will receive the necessary help. This is already the second stage of returning those who are severely wounded and seriously ill.' Article content According to Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, some of the repatriated soldiers had been listed as missing in action. The oldest among them is 59, the youngest is 22, he said. Article content At the same time, Rutte criticized Putin for appointing his aide Vladimir Medinsky as the top negotiator for the talks in Istanbul. Medinsky ascended through the Kremlin ranks after writing a series of books exposing purported Western plots against Russia and denigrating Ukraine. Article content 'I think that the Russians sending this historian now twice to these talks in Istanbul, trying to start with the history of 1,000 years ago and then explaining more or less that Ukraine is at fault here, I think that's not helpful,' Rutte said. 'But at least step by step, we try to make progress.' Article content Article content Also on Thursday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, noting the stepped-up Russian attacks send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present,' according to German news agency dpa. Article content Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. Article content 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future — what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial cooperation, but also other support,' he said. Article content
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Globe and Mail
At least three killed, scores injured as Russia targets Ukraine with new attacks
Russian forces have pummelled Ukraine with drones and other weapons, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire, officials said Thursday. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched a barrage of 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed. Ukraine's police said two people were killed and six were injured over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said. The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that 15 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight. Opinion: Ukraine showed that drones are the new bullets. Why doesn't Canada get this? Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, kindergartens and other civilian infrastructure. 'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Terekhov said. The Russian military has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and northeastern parts of the more than 1,000-kilometre front line. While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. Ukraine hit back with drone raids. Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks Thursday. The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as non-starters, making any quick deal unlikely. Speaking at a meeting of leaders of southeast European countries in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union to toughen its latest package of sanctions against Russia. He argued that lowering the cap on the price of Russian oil from $60 to $45 as the bloc has proposed isn't enough. Opinion: In Ukraine, the bold drone attacks against Russia are a rare chance for celebration 'Real peace comes with a $30 cap – that's the level that will truly change thinking in Moscow,' Zelensky said. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv Thursday on an unannounced visit, noting that the stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present,' according to German news agency dpa. Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.
