UKRAINE PERSPECTIVE

Kyiv is keeping score. Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russian forces committed 1,820 violations of Ukraine's ceasefire within hours of its May 6 entry into force — artillery fire, infantry assaults, drone strikes and missiles across Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions. Two women workers were killed in a kindergarten in Sumy. Kyiv Post detailed Ukraine's counterstrike: long-range drones hit the Lukoil-PNOS refinery in Perm, in the Urals, 1,500 kilometres from the border, for the second time in eight days — one of Russia's largest, capable of processing 13 million tonnes of oil per year. Ukrinform recalled that Zelensky had proposed the truce on May 6 in response to Moscow's, which the Kremlin ignored. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X: 'Putin only cares about military parades, not human lives.' Against the backdrop of the embassy warning, Kyiv remained officially silent but residents expressed their anguish: 'Maybe we should act the same way Russia does. That is, not to stay silent, not to observe the truce. We have no other choice.' Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov nonetheless flew to Miami for talks with US envoys Witkoff and Kushner — a signal that the diplomatic channel remains formally open.