Another held aloft by two smiling white-haired ladies read: "Make love not war" appears to be threatening to send in troops accused the government in Kiev of violating a deal struck in Geneva last week under which illegal groups were supposed to give up their arms Lavrov said Kiev had failed to protect ethnic Russians from far-right extremists His comments follow a murky shootout over the weekend in the town of Slavyansk arrived in Kiev on Monday for a two-day visit  Biden will address MPs from across Ukraine and meet its acting prime minister before announcing a raft of supporting measures Washington intends to provide Kiev for energy and economic reforms But with international attempts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine effectively shredded Biden's visit appears largely symbolic and takes place against a backdrop of ominous Kremlin rhetoric The pro-Ukrainians at the rally on Monday claimed that separatists in the east enjoyed only minority support A majority in the Russian-speaking Donbass region were actually in favour of Ukrainian unity Peaceful residents regarded the appearance of "little green men" in Slavyansk – allegedly undercover Russian soldiers – with horror "A lot of people here are frightened," Ludmilla Pogromskaya "Some of those who have seized our town hall are thugs They don't have a single political idea beyond referendum." Pogromskaya described Putin as "the aggressor" and said: "We want a decent society Blindfolded journalist Irma Krat is convoyed to her news conference in Slavyansk after she was detained by militia Photograph: Pochuyev Mikhail/Itar-Tass Photo/CorbisThere have been examples of civic activists who support Ukraine facing harassment and worse On Sunday Slavyansk's militia kidnapped Irma Krat a 29-year-old Kiev activist who was working in the town as a journalist On Monday they seized three more reporters The gunmen blindfolded Krat and paraded her on Russian television and outside the town hall Separately, a mediator from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe met Slavyansk's self-appointed "people's mayor" The mediator asked whether the heavily armed rebels in the town would comply with the Geneva agreement and give up their weapons But other separatists have said they have no intention of disarming said it was becoming increasingly dangerous to express pro-Ukraine views She said a teenage boy was badly beaten on Sunday for shouting "Glory to Ukraine" in a park Separatists had broken the windows of Torez's progressive newspaper and tossed in a firebomb She added: "I don't call it the Donetsk people's republic Oleinikova said she too had received threats She added that local mafia elements were exploiting the crisis to rob shops "What frustrates me most is that the police don't do anything But how can I be a traitor if I show my own flag?" Monday's rally began with the Ukrainian national anthem played out next to the town's statue of Lenin Khartsyzk's mayor vanished on holiday eight days ago when separatists took over his building was bold enough to address the modest crowd "Why isn't the Ukrainian flag flying from the town hall?" someone shouted at him The Ukrainian trident is there too," he replied "I didn't take the flag down," he said "You steal money!" someone shouted Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty ImagesAlexander Gricay He described the town council as "corrupted and pro-Russian" "Russia has artificially created this current crisis," Gricay declared He said the Kremlin was trying to get revenge on the west after the departure of the president On Monday Yanukovych called on Kiev to pull its army out of eastern Ukraine and engage in "peaceful dialogue" the head of the human rights organisation Memorial said rights campaigners were in a difficult situation Pro-Russian feelings in the east were strong but that did not translate as support for separatist positions But a lot of people say: 'I support Russia but want to live in Ukraine.' What they mean is they want Russian money and Russian help." Bukalov was gloomy about the prospect of a further Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine with Moscow seemingly looking for a pretext to go to war He said curious events on the ground – including scarcely believable "attacks" by Ukrainian fascists – appeared to be following a Kremlin script This feels like a performance done for Russian TV," he observed He described the febrile Donbass region as a "splinter from the Soviet Union" Many people yearned for the paternalist certainties of Soviet life "We need to free ourselves from the past We need to move on from myths about Stalin and Putin." Was he an optimist "I'm sure something good can be done here Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 2:23 am)Drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S Putin's Victory Day truce "doesn't sound like much if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 5 Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote and the candidate from the ruling coalition "It requires the continuation of contacts between Moscow and Washington which have been launched and are now ongoing," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said set to operate within the Council of Europe will focus on Russia's political and military leaders up to 20 Russian soldiers were killed and their equipment destroyed The move represents an apparent violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions passed in the wake of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests "We are ready to deepen our contribution to the training of the Ukrainian military," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on May 5 by Martin FornusekIllustrative purposes only: A Ukrainian-operated HIMARS launches a rocket at Russian positions at an unspecified location in Ukraine on Dec (Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)Ukrainian forces carried out a precision strike against a command post of Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army in Russian-occupied Khartsyzk in Donetsk Oblast the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Jan The military said that Russia has seized the facility to coordinate attacks against Ukrainian forces and civilians, especially in Kurakhove. After weeks of heavy battles, Russia announced earlier this week it had fully captured Kurakhove "All necessary measures were taken to limit the risk to civilians," the General Staff noted Khartsyzk lies around 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the Russian-held Donetsk and has been occupied by Russia since the start of its aggression in 2014 The General Staff did not specify what weapon was used in the attack or the extent of the damage inflicted Ukraine fields homemade missiles and long-range drones as well as Western-supplied arms like HIMARS Similar attacks were reported in recent days, including a precision strike against a Russian command post in Kursk Oblast on Jan. 7 and another one in the same region on Jan Earlier on Jan. 8, the Ukrainian military announced a successful long-range attack against a Russian oil depot in Saratov Oblast that provided fuel to the nearby Engels-2 airbase Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff has issued a brief note about a successful precision strike on the command post of the russian 8th Guards Combined Arms Army located in the city of Khartsyzk in the occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk region units of the 8th Army of the russian Armed Forces are involved in combat operations in the Kurakhiv operational axis The city of Khartsyzk is located about 40 kilometers from the current line of contact meaning there are many attack weapons that Ukraine could have used to deliver this strike Some general information about the 8th Combined Arms Army a unit that received the honored "Guards" status in russia may give a better perspective on the significance of this strike To begin with, let us remind that in summer 2024, russia transformed the "1st and 2nd Army Corps" it had deployed in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine into the 51st and 3rd combined arms armies of its armed forces Both were subordinated to the 8th Combined Arms Army prior to this reformation Considering these subordination changes and some associated data from russian sources the approximate composition of the 8th Army would be the following: estimates are that the mentioned 20th and 150th motor rifle divisions may count up to a total of 20,000 troops and 200 tanks of various types; the 238th Artillery Brigade may include up to 24 D-30 howitzers and Msta-S self-propelled guns; the 47th Brigade supposedly wields an unspecified number of Tornado-G artillery rocket launchers (although having Iskander tactical missiles would be more logical here); and the 78th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade operates Pantsir and Buk air defense systems The level of can be evidenced not only by the fact that it was under the command of this army that the above-mentioned "1st and 2nd army corps" were located There is also an interesting fact highlighting the significance of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army in the general structure of the russian armed forces: the 8th Army commander Colonel General Gennady Anashkin in May 2024 was appointed as the acting chief of the Southern Military District one of the five key administrative divisions of the russian Armed Forces This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.