U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, will travel to Istanbul for possible peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Reuters reported on May 13, citing three undisclosed sources.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, but said both leaders are ready to fly to Istanbul if Russian President Vladimir Putin chooses to attend the talks there.
A captive named Umit allegedly agreed to serve in the Russian army in exchange for Russian citizenship and a monetary reward of 2 million rubles ($25,000).
Russia's Buryatia Republic declared a state of emergency on May 13 over massive forest fires that have engulfed multiple regions in the Russian Far East.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
During reconnaissance in an unspecified front-line sector, Special Operations Forces' operators detected Buk-M3 and Uragan-1 on combat duty, the unit said.
The suspect quit his job at the Rivne NPP before the full-scale war began. In the spring of 2025, a GRU liaison contacted him and offered cooperation in exchange for money.
North Korean soldiers in Pyongyang, North Korea, on July 8, 2019. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
An estimated 18 North Korean soldiers have deserted from their positions in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts near the Ukrainian border, Suspilne reported on Oct. 15, citing unnamed intelligence officials.
Concerns over the deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have escalated dramatically this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 13 that Russia's plans for supporting its full-scale invasion of Ukraine would this autumn include "the actual involvement of North Korea in the war."
The motive behind their desertion has not yet been established, but the sources said that the Russian military is searching for the soldiers.
Russian commanders are attempting to conceal the soldiers' desertion from their higher-ups, the sources said.
Earlier this year, the two countries signed a mutual defense pact during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang.
As part of the alliance, the North Korean military announced that an engineering unit would join Russian forces on the ground in Donetsk Oblast the following month.
No picture or video evidence has emerged to date that this went ahead.
Putin submitted the treaty, which stipulates that either nation must render military assistance to the other in the event of an attack, to the Russian State Duma for ratification on Oct. 14.
Chris York
