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.
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.
US President Joe Biden on Nov. 2, 2023, in the White House. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden on May 13 signed a bipartisan bill that bans Russian imports of enriched uranium, the primary fuel used in nuclear power plants. The move aims to sever one of the remaining major financial channels from the United States to Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"This new law reestablishes America’s leadership in the nuclear sector. It will help secure our energy sector for generations to come," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "...It will jumpstart new enrichment capacity in the United States and send a clear message to industry that we are committed to long-term growth in our nuclear sector."
Following the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Congress promptly moved to prohibit Russian oil and gas imports. However, implementing sanctions on uranium imports has been a lengthier process.
This delay is attributed, in part, to Russia's substantial contribution of approximately 20 percent of U.S. nuclear fuel. Concerns among lawmakers about potential disruptions to the nation's 93 nuclear reactors have influenced the pace of action on this matter.
The bipartisan legislation will enforce a prohibition on uranium imports from Moscow starting 90 days following its enactment. It will provide waivers until 2028 for utilities that would be forced to shut down nuclear reactors once Russian supplies are cut off, the Washington Post reports. The bill also frees up $2.7 billion passed in previous legislation to build out the domestic uranium processing industry.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Francis Farrell
