US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a press conference after a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden, May 22, 2026

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: “Kremlin Can’t Cope” If Ukraine Escalates Strikes Inside Russia

Friday’s Coverage: Kyiv’s 158 Strikes on Russia’s Oil Refineries

UPDATE 1450 GMT:

One person has been killed and nine injured by a Russian drone attack on a funeral procession near Sumy city in northeast Ukraine on Saturday morning.

The Russians struck as commemorations marking Ukraine’s Day of Heroes were taking place across the city.

UPDATE 1147 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized an “unfair” German proposal to grant Ukraine participation in European Union institutions without voting rights.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed the “associate” form of EU membership for Ukraine and other candidate countries while they wait for full accession to the bloc. The proposal would allow Ukraine to join EU meetings and institutions.

Zelensky wrote European Council President António Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, whose country hold the Council’s rotating presidency.

It would be unfair for Ukraine to be present in the European Union, but remain voiceless. The time is right to move forward with Ukraine’s membership in a full and meaningful way.

We are defending Europe – fully, not ​partially, and not with half-measures. Ukraine deserves a fair approach and equal ​rights within Europe.

UPDATE 1140 GMT:

Ukrainian drones struck energy and industrial facilities deep inside Russia overnight.

The targets including a chemical plant in Perm Krai and a major fuel terminal, which was set afire, in the port city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike on the Metafrax Chemicals plant in Perm Krai, around 1,700 km (1,050 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The facility has a capacity of almost 900 tons of ammonia and more than 1,600 tons of urea per day.

UPDATE 1133 GMT:

Kyiv has denied the Kremlin’s claim that a Ukrainian drone strike killed six people and injured dozens of juveniles in a college dormitory.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the Russians were pushing “misleading information”, as it hit military targets in the occupied Luhansk region. The military said strictly adheres to international humanitarian law.

The General Staff said Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery, ammunition depots, air defense systems, command posts, and one of the headquarters of Russia’s elite drone units.

UPDATE 1005 GMT:

At least five civilians have been murdered and 62 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 102 of 124 drones launched by Russia overnight.

In the Kherson region in the south, one person was killed and 20 injured. At least eight private houses, a church, and several civilian vehicles were damaged.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, three people were slain and five injured.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, one man was killed and two injured amid attacks on 45 settlements.

Casualties were also reported in the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Donetsk regions.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Trump camp has walked away from talks to end Russia’s 51-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, after a NATO foreign foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden on Friday:

If we see an opportunity to pull together talks that are productive, not counterproductive, and that have the chance to be fruitful, we’re prepared to play that role.

There are no such talks occurring at this time.

With Donald Trump seeking the glory of ending the invasion — albeit with the possibility of endorsing Russia’s seizure of more Ukrainian territory — Ukraine-Russia-US talks were launched early this year.

However, no progress was made as the Kremlin stood on its maximalist demands, including a weak Ukraine with no significant security guarantees. The talks were effectively suspended by the US-Israel War on Iran, which began February 28.

Rubio declared, “over the last few months, (we) just sort of sensed that there wasn’t a lot of progress being made.” The Administration was ready to return to the table if “dynamics…change”.

In his daily address to the nation on Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky focused on Kyiv’s move from resistance to strength, both on the frontlines and with aerial attacks inside Russia:

Ukraine’s positions are stronger now than in previous years. Since the beginning of the year, 590 square kilometers of our territory have been liberated and brought under Ukrainian control.

The trend is certainly not in the occupier’s favor. We continue to increase the rate at which Russian personnel are being eliminated, and together with sanctions in all their forms, this is forcing Russia toward diplomacy.