In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for the grand final on May 17.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a Russian delegation will be in Istanbul on May 15 for direct peace talks with Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov will likely represent Russia.
The move follows Ukraine's ratification of the minerals agreement, deepening U.S.-Ukraine economic ties and signaling expanded U.S. involvement in Ukraine's long-term recovery.
"Ukraine has initiated a coordinated campaign to vilify Hungary in order to undermine our initiative to hold a poll on (Kyiv's) EU membership," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that further concessions from Ukraine during negotiations would be unreasonable if Russia continues to attack civilian targets.
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.
Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko speaks as he meets with foreign media at his residence, the Independence Palace, in the capital Minsk on July 6, 2023. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko ordered reinforcements sent to border areas near Ukraine following reports of several aerial targets from Ukraine getting shot down over Belarus on the evening of August 9.
“We suspect these are attack drones,” Lukashenko said at a morning briefing on August 10, published by the state-run propaganda outlet Belta. He called the incident “a Ukrainian provocation” and said that “the General Staff of Belarus has been ordered to take measures to ensure the security of our state”.
After his briefing, Belarusian defense minister Viktor Khrenin told journalists that Lukashenko ordered to strengthen military presence in the Gomel and Mozyr directions “in order to respond to possible provocations”, according to the statement by the Defense Ministry.
On the Ukrainian side, the area borders Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv oblasts.
“Military units of special operations forces, ground forces, missile forces, including the Polonez rocket systems and Iskander (mid-range ballistic missile) complexes, were tasked with marching to designated areas.” Khrenin said.
“The forces and assets of air defense systems, radio-technical forces and aviation were also increased,” he added.
The drones were reportedly detected over the Kastsyukovichy District in the west of Belarus, at least 85 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.
According to Lukashenko, Belarusian air defense forces were “put on high alert to intercept the targets”. Around 7 p.m., several were shot down by Belarusian forces, while the rest were “passed on to Russia” and destroyed by Russian air defense over Yaroslavl, he said.
Lukashenko added that the search was ongoing for the remains of intercepted targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement claiming the destruction of 6 fixed-wing UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) above Yaroslavl Oblast overnight, as well as 26 others over Kursk Oblast.
Russian UAVs have crossed into Belarusian airspace several times over the summer on their way to attack Ukraine, the Belarusian Hajun monitoring group reported.
The monitoring group said that "despite the massive and regular flights of UAVs into the airspace of Belarus," Minsk made "practically no comments" on the situation.
Belarus did, however, start sending Su-30 fighter jets to fly to the south of the country during Russian attacks on Ukraine, the group reported.
Natalia Yermak is a staff writer for the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a fixer-producer and contributing reporter for the New York Times since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Previously, she worked in film production and documentary.
