It's another delay tactic, the ceasefire was proposed by Europe to be enforced starting on May 13th, Russia's counter is talks on a ceasefire starting on May 15th, therefore they've essentially rejected the ceasefire proposal. They're once again, like the 100 other times, delaying things and only pretending they're acting in good faith.

❗️No extra conditions — Russia must come to the table for a 30-day ceasefire, said Macron and Starmer.

Otherwise, new sanctions will follow. Merz added Germany will continue financial support and help push peace talks. The US and partners are ready to help monitor.

www.rbc.ua/rus/news/mak...

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 14:00

❗️“The idea of a buffer zone is dead” — no official proposals were made, and a 15 km pullback risks losing Kherson, Kharkiv, and Sumy, Zelensky said at a press conference. “If our troops aren’t in Kherson — there won’t be a Kherson. We’ve seen this before in 2014,” he stressed.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 15:35

🇷🇺 Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and known for his frequent unhinged, seemingly drunk rants, lashed out at Western leaders visiting Kyiv:

“Either a truce for the respite of Banderite hordes or new sanctions. Shove these peace plans up your pangender arses!”

🙃

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 15:51

🇩🇰 Denmark will allocate nearly €830M to Ukraine’s defense industry under the "Danish model," as announced by its Defense Ministry. It's unclear whether this is new aid or part of the EU's package announced yesterday, funded by frozen Russian assets.

www.fmn.dk/en/news/2025...

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 15:53

🇭🇺 Hungary just retaliated after its intel op was exposed in Zakarpattia — detaining a former Ukrainian diplomat in Budapest, accusing him of “espionage,” and deporting him.

Ukraine's MFA responded: “When the evidence runs out, the witch hunt begins.”

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 18:56

❗️Peskov tells CNN that Russia will "consider" the 30-day ceasefire — but claims Moscow has its own view on any truce. He also whines about European pressure, adding that new Western sanctions won’t scare the Kremlin, which is “used to them.”

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 10 May 2025 at 19:10

Putin held a press conference full of recycled lines and no real substance—he floated the idea of possible ceasefire talks on May 15 in Istanbul, blamed Ukraine for allegedly violating it's self-declared truce, and completely ignored the joint 30-day ceasefire proposal from Zelensky and EU leaders.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 06:45

Trump says it’s a “big day” for Russia & Ukraine and he’s working to end the “endless bloodbath.” Promises a “better world” and a “BIG week ahead.”

So far? He’s accomplished exactly zero.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 06:47

Macron on Putin’s offer for Ukraine talks: “A first step, but not enough.” Adding that Putin’s looking for a way out — but also just trying to buy time.

www.barrons.com/news/putin-s...

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 06:58

Zelensky: “It’s a good sign that Russia is finally thinking about ending the war. The first real step is a ceasefire. There’s no reason to keep killing, even for a day. We expect Russia to confirm a full, lasting, and reliable ceasefire starting May 12. Ukraine is ready to meet.”

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 08:38

Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Andriy Yermak: First, 30 days of silence — then, the next steps. He emphasized that a ceasefire is the beginning of the path to ending the war and a real test of Russia’s willingness to stop the violence.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 09:16

"We’ll judge Russia by actions, not words," says State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce. Indeed, given how many times Russia has broken its word, talk is cheap. Concrete steps are what matter.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 08:07

Putin chose war — and rejected ending it in favor of a summer offensive, said Andrii Kovalenko, Head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 08:24

So predictable: Putin’s aide Ushakov says talks in Istanbul should be based on the 2022 proposals and the current “situation on the ground” — meaning Russia keeps occupied land.

The 2022 Istanbul deal was a blueprint for Ukraine’s surrender. Not a basis for peace.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 09:22

🇫🇷 Macron responds to Putin's Istanbul counter-proposal: "France and the U.S. offered a clear, unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Zelensky agreed — no strings attached. Now it’s Russia’s turn. No real talks can happen while bombs are falling. Ceasefire first. Peace talks after."

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 09:55

Putin has made it clear: first, negotiations on the causes, then talks on a ceasefire, said Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova, commenting on Zelensky's reaction. She claims Kyiv misread Putin’s statement regarding talks.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 10:36

Russia’s position explained:

“We are not interested in negotiations. We want to annihilate Ukraine.

We pretend to negotiate so that Trump/others are fooled into believing we want peace.

We only agree to terms that enable us break the deal later.”

— Benjamin Husstad-Nedberg (@factforce.bsky.social) 11 May 2025 at 09:37

So we're back to the start, the shitty Istanbul Agreement which essentially demanded Ukraine's total surrender and only then when Ukraine completely surrenders and dismantles its military and surrenders all its land will Russia stop lobbing bombs at them. So they've rejected the ceasefire, for the 200th time and even if they accepted it, we'd have to wait and see if they didn't break it, for the 200th time.

Lula's Visit to Russia is Hypocritical, Undermining Everything He Allegedly Stands For

Brazil’s Lula Pitches ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Russia - The Moscow Times

Lula is a piece of shit, EU should cancel their free trade deal with Brazil.

While serving as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, Robert Prevost — recently appointed Pope Leo XIV — spoke out against Russia's continued war against Ukraine in a 2022 interview. Speaking with Peruvian news outlet Semanario Expresión, Prevost condemned Russia's war against Ukraine, characterizing it as a "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."

By explicitly naming Russia's imperialist aspirations in Ukraine, the pope's past comments come as a departure from his predecessor's position on the war and may indicate a potential change in messaging from the Vatican. While Pope Francis was widely seen as a reformer who led the church with compassion and humanity, his legacy in Ukraine is more complex.

Throughout Russia's full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians viewed Pope Francis' statements as failing to clearly assign responsibility for the war. His description of Ukrainians and Russians as "brothers" was perceived as painfully out of touch amid Moscow's brutal war. Additionally, while Pope Francis repeatedly called for peace, he also failed to call out Russia as the aggressor or to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2022 Interview, Pope Condemned Russia's 'Imperialist' Invasion of Ukraine

NBC reports that, shockingly, during his latest Moscow pilgrimage Witkoff met with Putin and his two negotiators alone and without his own interpreter, relying - in breach of protocol - on a locally present one www.nbcnews.com/world/russia.... However, this seems half the problem (1/n)

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— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:10

Here's the video released by the Kremlin. It clearly shows Witkoff pointing at the young woman and asking "Interpreter?", to which Putin & Co say "yes". Following that, cryptically Witkoff asks "from Embassy?", to which he again gets a confirmation.

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— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:11

So what embassy is the interpreter from? Obviously there's no Russian embassy in Moscow (unless Witkoff thinks so), so a logical conclusion is that he was assured she was, hm, sent by or approved by the US embassy? Anyway, let's look at who she is.

— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:12

She apparently is the government appointed interpreter for key Russian political figures, such as Putin, Lavrov and Medvedev.

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— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:14

More worryingly, she's also apparently the interpreter for the head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency, Naryshkin.

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— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:14

Her name is Natalia Koshkina, born 1991. Currently she works as second secretary of the Russian MFA's linguistics department..but a few years ago she worked as third secretary of the Russian mission to NATO in Brussels.. almost certainly not am interpreter job.

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— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:15

Leaked social insurance records show that in addition to being employed by the MFA, she is also working for the holding company of RT, the Kremlin's propaganda mouthpiece.

— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:16

So the question is: did Witkoff really think she was sent by the US embassy? Or did, maybe worse, the UA embassy in Moscow endorse her as a "neutral" interpreter for a negotiation where lives of hundreds of thousands of people - plus the security of half the world - were at stake?

— christogrozev.bsky.social (@christogrozev.bsky.social) 10 May 2025 at 16:16

Russian air attacks with drones started again hours after Putin’s sham ceasefire ended, showing Russia’s dictator can continue or end the war as he pleases. His offer of talks (but no ceasefire) is just another attempt to string Trump along and prevent the US siding with Ukraine.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) 11 May 2025 at 04:48

Russia is likely preparing a major airstrike on Ukraine. To give it a “diplomatic cover”, Putin has rejected the Western call for a 30-day ceasefire and has instead suggested Ukraine to capitulate at the Russia-Ukraine “talks” that would begin in Istanbul on 15 May.

— Anton Shekhovtsov (@shekhovtsov.substack.com) 11 May 2025 at 03:15

Macron’s really stepping up his game in the peace effort.

From Kyiv, he rang Trump personally at 6AM US time — “Hello, Donald” — to get him on board with the 30-day Ukraine-Russia ceasefire. And it worked. Diplomacy, done right.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 14:16

🇺🇸 Trump's special envoy Kellogg: First comes an unconditional 30-day ceasefire — only then can peace talks begin. Not the other way around.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 13:27

President Erdogan stated that Turkey is ready to contribute in any way, including organizing negotiations, to ensure a ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine. 🇹🇷🇺🇦

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 11 May 2025 at 11:29

Erdogan also said peace negotiations only after the ceasefire has been accepted.

Seems like everyone is finally on the same page for once about Putin's delay tactics and finally putting their foot down about no more delays, but lets wait and see until the 13th. I think it does help though that Germany, UK and France are on the same page, in the sense that every leader is pretty firm on Russia whilst Scholz was a bit of a coward, a strong no bullshit Germany is good because Germany is still seen as Europe's leader. So if Merz is willing to remove all restrictions then that will convince Europe to do the same.

But we won't be out of the woods even if Russia does accept a 30 day ceasefire, they've accepted ceasefires before and broke them all.