These are the key events on day 1,171 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Saturday, May 10:
Fighting
- Russia and Ukraine accused one another of violating a May 8-10 ceasefire that had been unilaterally declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin to coincide with commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
- The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that Ukrainian troops had made four attempts to smash through the border into the Kursk and Belgorod regions in the past week. It claimed that Kyiv’s troops attacked Russian forces 15 times during the ceasefire.
- In Belgorod, the local governor said a Ukrainian drone had attacked a government building on Friday. Pro-Russian war bloggers said Ukraine attacked multiple villages in the region, with further “high-intensity fighting” near Tetkino, a village in the Kursk region.
- Ukraine, which has called the ceasefire “a farce” and did not commit to abide by it, said late on Friday that 162 armed clashes had been recorded over the previous 24 hours, along with 22 air strikes and 956 drone attacks.
- Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had attempted to break through Ukrainian lines 51 times, with heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, a logistics hub in eastern Ukraine targeted by Moscow’s troops for months.
- The military administration of Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region said Russia killed three civilians in armed clashes on Thursday and Friday.
- The governor of Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region said Russia had hit eight Ukrainian front-line villages 220 times since the ceasefire went into effect on Thursday.
- Further attacks were reported in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, with two people wounded.
Politics and diplomacy
- Putin hosted 20 foreign dignitaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at a Red Square military parade on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
- United States President Donald Trump said on Friday he would like Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “get this stupid war finished” after calling for a “30-day unconditional ceasefire” the previous day.
- Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said a group of 10 northern European nations in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) coalition had agreed to support the 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US, noting that a “concerted approach” was now being taken.
- Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he spoke by telephone on Friday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials about the 30-day ceasefire proposal.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia’s position on Friday that it supports the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire in the conflict, but only with due consideration of “nuances”.
- Foreign ministers from almost 20 European nations met in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, backing the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and his officials for crimes of aggression.
- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Interfax as saying Russia and the US plan another round of talks aimed at getting their respective diplomatic missions fully operational.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said North Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war was “just”, calling it an exercise of sovereign rights in defence of a “brother nation”, state media KCNA reported on Saturday.
- Ukraine and Hungary, whose relations have deteriorated amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are expelling two diplomats each after each side accused the other of engaging in espionage.
