The UN denounces a “dangerous escalation”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Thursday May 28 against “a dangerous escalation” in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and called on both parties to return to the negotiating table.
“I strongly call for restraint. Resume negotiations and put an end to the suffering,” Volker Türk said in a statement, indicating that the number of civilians killed in the first four months of the year is up 21% compared to the same period in 2025.
Zelensky and visitors and Suede
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is traveling to Sweden to announce an “air defense” agreement, the government announced.
Stockholm will announce the donation of Gripen Jas 39 C/D fighter planes to Ukraine, reports the daily Aftonbladet. The two countries signed a letter of intent last year with the aim of kyiv purchasing 100 to 150 planes of a more recent version of the Gripen.
According to Aftonbladet, the two countries will formally open negotiations on the sale of Gripen which would be financed by loans from the European Union. In October 2025, the Swedish Prime Minister said he envisaged delivery of the first Gripen E “within three years”.
EU warns of Russian ‘trap’
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, warned against the Russian “trap” consisting of debating the appointment of a European mediator for the war in Ukraine, at a time when the EU must demonstrate its unity against Moscow.
“I think this is a trap that Russia wants us to fall into: that we discuss who is talking to them,” she said before the start of a meeting in Limassol (Cyprus) of EU foreign ministers. “Let’s not fall into this trap. A negotiation is always a team effort,” she stressed, adding that a “strategy” was first needed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked in early May about who could be appointed mediator on the European side in the war in Ukraine, suggested the name of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a long-time ally of Russia.
