Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Tuesday, May 12, 2026, on the 1,539th day of the conflict.
Fact of the day
Despite Vladimir Putin’s remarks on Saturday referring to an imminent “end” of the war, the Kremlin judged it premature on Tuesday to discuss the “concrete details” of the process leading to peace between Russia and Ukraine. “All the achievements in terms of the peace process allow us to say that the end is truly approaching. But, in this context, it is not possible for the moment to go into concrete details,” indicated the spokesperson for the Russian presidency Dmitri Peskov.
The Russian president surprised by affirming that the conflict in Ukraine was “coming to an end” during a press conference on the day of celebrations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. “The president said that Russia remains open to contact and that work has been done in a trilateral format. He said he will welcome the efforts that will follow from the United States,” added Dmitri Peskov.
Negotiations between Moscow and kyiv under American mediation have been on hold since the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the end of February.
The number of the day
216. This is the number of drones that Russia launched during the night from Monday to Tuesday against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the east of the country, Russian strikes left at least one dead and four injured.
The Kremlin, unsurprisingly, confirmed on Tuesday that the Russian army had resumed its offensive in Ukraine after the end of the three-day ceasefire which expired at midnight Monday evening.
For its part, Russia said it had shot down around thirty Ukrainian drones after the expiration of the same ceasefire that American President Donald Trump announced on Friday.
The trend
Russia announced on Tuesday that it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and specified that it would be “operational for combat” at the end of this year, a few months after the expiration of the New Start treaty which no longer binds Moscow and Washington on the nuclear disarmament. “This is the most powerful missile system in the world,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said after receiving a report of a successful launch of the Sarmat missile, which he said could have a range of more than 35,000 km.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
“The total power of the warhead delivered is more than four times that of any of the most powerful existing Western analogues,” he added. The commissioning of this missile, called “Satan II” by the West, was first announced for 2022, the year of the launch of the large-scale offensive against Ukraine.
Today’s statement
« We are now certain that he is Ukrainian »
The words are signed by the Greek Minister of Defense, Nikos Dendias. the latter announced this Tuesday that the military drone found last Thursday in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece is Ukrainian.
This is “an extremely serious subject which affects the freedom and safety of navigation”, underlined the minister. He specified that he had informed his European counterparts as well as the Ukrainian Minister of Defense who is participating by videoconference in the European Council.
This military drone was found in a cave off the island of Lefkada, in the Ionian Sea, by fishermen and the Greek Ministry of Defense opened an investigation soon after.
