World
Putin masses 50,000 troops on Ukraine's north front as Trump again agrees to meet Russian, Ukrainian leaders
Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed some 50,000 troops on Ukraine’s northern border despite a united push by the U.S. and Ukraine to get Moscow to enter into “meaningful” ceasefire negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday warned that Putin is preparing a massive summer offensive in a move to push Ukraine’s troops out of Russia’s Kursk region, and to launch a new invasion into Ukraine’s Sumy region — a mere 200 miles from the capital city of Kyiv.
Zelenskyy reiterated this week that he is ready to hold direct negotiations with Putin and suggested that if the Kremlin chief is uncomfortable with a bilateral meeting, a trilateral meeting could be held with President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania, on May 16. (Ercin Erturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL MEET WITH PUTIN, ZELENSKYY ‘IF NECESSARY’ AMID NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR
Trump on Wednesday said he would meet with both world leaders “if necessary” but the Kremlin again rejected the suggestion.
The U.S. president said he was “very disappointed” at Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukraine during negotiation attempts, but he has refused to hit Putin with more sanctions, telling reporters, “I think I’m close to getting a deal, I don’t want to screw it up by doing that.”
Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday during a live chat on X that since the May 16 meeting in Turkey, Russia had launched 120 missiles, more than 1,500 Shahed drones and more than 2,500 guided bombs on Ukrainian cities.
The Sumy regional governor confirmed on Monday that Russian forces had officially taken over four Ukrainian villages near the Ukraine-Russia border which were previously evacuated, and which sat in a “gray zone” that has long been militarily contested following Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Firefighters put out a fire following Russia’s missile attack that killed at least 20 civilians in Sumy, Ukraine, on April 13. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
TRUMP WARNS PUTIN IS ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE’ AFTER DECLARING THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT HAS ‘GONE ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’
The movement of Russian troops comes as Putin looks to create a roughly 6-mile wide “buffer zone,” which Moscow reportedly has been attempting to carry out since 2024, but which was thwarted by Ukraine’s Kursk invasion.
Implementing a buffer zone on Ukraine’s northern territory will likely be used as a bargaining chip if Moscow engages in ceasefire negotiations, which Kyiv has said Russia has failed to do in good faith after delegations from both sides met in Istanbul earlier this month, but failed to advance peace talks.
A Ukrainian T64 battle tank fires on a Russian troop position in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Jan. 9, 2024. (Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Russia late on Wednesday suggested a second Istanbul meeting, where it said it would present its “memorandum” of ceasefire terms.
Ukraine has thus far not accepted another meeting with Russia and on Thursday said Moscow “promised” to supply its memorandum ahead of any future talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets a Russian delegation and some officials ahead of the Istanbul talks in Moscow on May 14. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“They are scared to share it because they filled the document with ultimatums and demands,” Tykhyi said Thursday. “They understand this document is needed not to advance the peace process but to stall.”
Tykhyi argued that “[i]f they have nothing to hide, if this document is workable” then there “should be no problem in sharing the document,” which he said is needed to ensure the negotiating parties can achieve a “meaningful result.”
Ukraine has already submitted their ceasefire terms.
World
Shakira Acquitted of Tax Fraud in Spain, Will Be Reimbursed $64 Million: Singer Says She’s Spent Eight Years ‘Enduring Campaigns to Destroy My Reputation’
After an eight-year court battle, a Spanish court has ordered the country’s treasury to refund nearly $65 million to singer Shakira after ruling that the money was improperly collected.
The country’s high court has acquitted the Colombian singer of tax fraud and ordered the treasury to repay the money to her, with interest. In the ruling, the court said that tax authorities failed to prove Shakira had spent 183 days in Spain in 2011, effectively making her a resident and liable for personal income tax. The court ruled instead that she had spent just 163 days in the country during that financial year.
The country’s tax agency said it would appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court, and would make no payment until the final ruling.
In a lengthy statement following the ruling, Shakira said: “After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight. There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.
“Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty. Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.
“Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling. My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin. This victory is dedicated to them.”
The news comes just days after Shakira was announced as a halftime performer, along with Madonna and BTS, during the half-time show at this summer’s Fifa Men’s World Cup final. Earlier in May, she performed for an estimated 2 million people at a free concert on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
World
Bodies of four missing Italian divers found inside ‘shark cave’ in Maldives days after they vanished
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Rescuers located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in the Maldives, days after the group vanished during a dangerous dive far beyond recreational limits, Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Officials said Finnish cave-diving specialists found the bodies in the innermost section of the cave system in Vaavu Atoll, where the divers disappeared Thursday while exploring at a depth of about 160 feet. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 98 feet.
“As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part,” Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaam said, adding the victims were found “pretty much together.”
The Thinwana Kandu cave system where the bodies were found is known locally as “shark cave.”
RESCUE OPERATION FREES INJURED MAN TRAPPED 130 FEET UNDERGROUND IN ITALIAN CAVE
Monica Montefalcone, one of five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives archipelago while exploring an underwater cave, is shown in this undated photo released by Greenpeace Italia on May 15, 2026. (Greenpeace Italia/AP)
Recovery crews plan to retrieve two bodies Tuesday and the remaining two the following day, officials said.
The discovery came after authorities resumed the search following the death of a Maldivian military diver involved in the rescue mission. Mohamed Mahdi died Saturday from decompression sickness after attempting to reach the trapped divers.
Mohamed Mahdi, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died from decompression sickness during the dangerous mission, officials said. (Maldives National Defense Force)
A fifth Italian diver, identified earlier as a diving instructor, was previously found dead outside the cave.
BAGPIPER DIES DOING POPULAR VACATION ATTRACTION DAYS BEFORE MISSING SON’S REMAINS FOUND IN BACKYARD TREEHOUSE
The specialized Finnish team used advanced closed-circuit rebreather systems, allowing for longer and deeper dives in the cave’s confined environment.
Divers prepare to search for four missing Italian divers near Alimathaa Island, Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, on May 15, 2026. (Maldives President’s Media Division/AP)
Rough seas and hazardous underwater conditions repeatedly delayed search efforts as crews mapped and marked the cave entrance before pushing deeper inside.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Authorities continue to investigate the situation and what led to the divers’ deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has criticised the overwhelmingly male nature of peace negotiation teams, linking it to contemporary diplomacy’s tendency toward short-term results.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
“This is a bigger problem we see around the world with different peace talks when we see that they don’t actually address the issues of long-standing peace,” she said at a press conference in Tallinn, Estonia on Sunday.
The ceasefires many talks yield, she said, too often simply declare hostilities over without resolving the “underlying issues” that perpetuate future violence.
Another problem, she said, is the lack of female input.
“There are also studies that show that when women are part of the negotiations, these peace (efforts) last longer,” Kallas expanded, adding that “the picture that we saw from the US China talks, (was) a lot of masculinity in the room”.
“Women have a role,” she said.
Various studies and international bodies, including the UN Security Council, argue that women’s participation in conflict resolution improves outcomes, but mediators and negotiating parties often leave women out of their teams.
According to data compiled by the Council on Foreign Relations, women represented only 16 percent of negotiators in active peace processes led or co-led by the United Nations in 2022.
Security and defence analyst Iana Maisuradze of the European Policy Centre think tank argues that the EU is a firm supporter of the UN resolution calling for more female participation during conflict resolution – and that it is not “sexist argument” to believe that women are beneficial to negotiations. She told Euronews the data backs this up.
“The argument is that women focus on things that male-dominated negotiators are not focusing on such as education, health, victims’ rights, social reconciliation (and) community: things that really bring people together rather than a zero-sum game, which men tend to do,” Maisuradze said.
“Having women at table works because we also bring different perspectives to the resolution of the conflict, and also to the implementation of peace agreements.”
A seat at the table
Kallas’ comments came amid wider chatter in the Belgian capital regarding whether the EU should have a seat at the table for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine – and who should represent the bloc if so.
Putin recently floated appointing former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as the EU’s lead negotiator in potential peace talks on Ukraine. This notion was widely dismissed by European heads of state, and the discussion of who Europe’s mouthpiece should be continues.
Diplomatic sources in Ukraine have said that Russia would “never” accept a woman as lead negotiator.
A diplomatic source in Brussels reiterated this, saying there is no possibility a female figure is being considered as part of the discussions. But another source in the Belgian capital told Euronews that “equality is an important factor”.
Regardless of their differences on the gender issue, most EU officials argue that appointing any envoy before a major European Council (EUCO) summit in June could be unrealistic.
European Commission spokesperson for foreign affairs Anitta Hipper said in response to a question by Euronews on Monday that Kallas is a “feminist” and “has a lot of practice back home”. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia from 2021 to 2024.
Hipper said the Commission could not comment on whether Russia would want a woman at the table, but reiterated that European heads of state will meet in Limassol in Cyprus in the coming weeks to discuss what form any future talks with Ukraine, Russia and Europe might take before June’s EUCO.
“What will be discussed is what our position is in terms of the demands and the ask and what unity we have in demanding our lists of asks from Russia,” Hipper said.
“This is something that we will be looking into – into the what, and not into the who.”
-
Florida4 minutes agoFlorida man plows truck down Orlando road, hitting vehicles: Police
-
Georgia10 minutes agoVoting Tuesday? Here’s what you need to know
-
Hawaii16 minutes agoExclusive | Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi ‘a lot more serious’ after Hawaii trip ‘changed everything’
-
Idaho22 minutes ago9 Best Small Towns To Retire In Idaho
-
Illinois28 minutes agoPritzker blasts Johnson’s push to keep Bears in Chicago: ‘The mayor has no plan’
-
Indiana34 minutes agoIn-state WR Branden Sharpe on choosing Indiana: ‘That winning culture is something I want’
-
Iowa40 minutes agoIowa man sues Nintendo after being denied ‘Pokémon Professor’ status
-
Kansas46 minutes ago
Northwest Kansas community cleaning up extensive damage from weekend storm
