Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Kyiv, May 30, 2025

Friday’s Coverage: UN — How Russia “Terrorized” Cities with North Korean Weapons

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1741 GMT:

Kyiv has appealed to Moscow over the fate of a Ukrainian citizen who disappeared in Russian-occupied Crimea on May 7, after he was detained by people who presented themselves as officers of Russia’s State security service FSB.

Ukraine Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Serhii Hrishchenkov was seized in Sevastopol and his whereabouts are unknown. Lubinets has asked Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova to take up the case.

The Russian ombudsman’s office has not issued a public statement.

Lubinets stressed that Hrishchenkov’s disappearance is “not an isolated case”:

This case of a Ukrainian citizen once again demonstrates the inability of the occupation authorities to ensure the implementation of international civil and political rights for residents of occupied Crimea.

Cynicism and human rights violations have become commonplace for thousands of Ukrainian citizens!

UPDATE 1259 GMT:

NATO officials and diplomats say the 32-nation bloc is not discussing Russia’s demand that the alliance halt admission of members from eastern Europe.

Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officials have said the ban on admission, including of Ukraine, is a precondition for a halt to Moscow’s 39-month invasion.

Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Kevin Kellogg, supported the Kremlin’s demand in an interview on Thursday:

We’ve said that, to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we’re not the only country that says that….

That’s one of the issues that Russia will bring up….They’re not just talking Ukraine. They’re talking the country of Georgia, they’re talking Moldova.

UPDATE 0814 GMT:

At least 10 civilians have been killed and 32 others injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Air defenses shot down 69 drones and three Kh-59/69 guided missiles.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, five civilians were murdered.

Three people were killed and 10 wounded in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine amid attacks on more than 30 towns and villages.

A child was slain and a teenager injured in the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region (see 0618 GMT) during 628 strikes across 24 settlements.

In the Sumy region in the north, a civilian died in hospital from wounds. More than 160 strikes hit 39 settlements in 16 communities.

Casualties were also recorded in the Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk regions.

UPDATE 0613 GMT:

A 9-year-old girl has been killed and a teenager injured by a Russian missile attack on the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

One house was destroyed, and several houses, cars, and outbuildings damaged by the blast wave in the village of Dolynka.

UPDATE 0602 GMT:

Websites linked to the Kremlin are stepping up a disinformation campaign targeting Ukrainian refugees in Poland, stoking resentment ahead of Sunday’s Presidential election, warn experts of the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

The sites have “inflamed negative sentiment towards Ukrainians”, calling them “pigs” and accusing them of planning armed attacks.

Poland hosts around a million Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children.

The runoff is a close contest between the pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski and the right-wing historian Karol Nawrocki, who opposes further assistance to Ukraine.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has conferred with Turkey about discussions to end Russia’s 39-month full-scale invasion and mass killings.

On Friday, Zelensky spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and met Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Kyiv, as Ukraine said it would meet the Russians in Istanbul on June 2.

Turkey brokered the Istanbul talks in March-April 2022, in the first weeks of the invasion. Ukraine and Russia returned to the city on May 16, albeit with the Kremlin rejecting the Kyiv-European proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

Since then, Russia has carried out record-setting drone and missile strikes on civilian sites across Ukraine . Moscow continues to pursue maximalist demands for the seizure of around 25% of Ukraine; the rest of the country kept weak, demilitarized, and “neutral”; the lifting of international sanctions on Russia; and the fall of the Zelensky Government.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelensky summarized:

It was Russia that started this war. It is Russia that must stop the killings and the destruction of lives….

If Russia continues to speak in the language of ultimatums, if it tries to blackmail the world with the continuation of war, it must receive a strong response — a response from the United States, from Europe, and from everyone around the world who wants peace and who has declared their support for a ceasefire and for diplomacy.

Erdoğan called for a meeting of Zelensky and Putin after negotiations between their delegations: ““A possible cease-fire discussed during the upcoming talks would lay the foundation for a lasting solution….This should happen without much delay.”

Zelensky commented, “We spoke about the first meeting in Istanbul. The POWs exchange was an important achievement of that meeting, but unfortunately, the only one. A ceasefire is necessary in order to move forward toward peace. The killings must stop.”

US Legislators Press Russia Sanctions After Meeting Zelensky

Zelensky also hosted US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, the co-sponsors of a bill toughening sanctions on Russia.

Graham said he expects the Senate to proceed with the bill next week after 82 of 100 senators expressed support. Noting that Putin was trying to drag out the peace process, he doubted the Istanbul meeting be more than a “Russian charade”.

Donald Trump has not committed to supporting the sanctions, saying he will “see in a couple of weeks”. Graham said he spoke Trump before the trip to Ukraine, and the reality TV star expects concrete actions now from Moscow.

Trump said during a White House press conference on Friday, “All of a sudden rockets got shot into a couple of cities and people died. I saw thing I was surprised at and I don’t like being surprised, so I’m very disappointed in that way.”