"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.
"Our people are going to be going there," U.S. President Donald Trump 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.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a major industrial and logistical hub, remains untouched by ground incursions but is under growing threat.
Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak said Ukraine is "ready to discuss anything," but "only if a ceasefire is achieved."
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.
Blinken says he spoke with Paul Whelan, US citizen held in Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Feb. 13 said he spoke by phone with Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine and businessman imprisoned in Russia.
Whelan was detained in Moscow in December 2018 and later sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, which both he and the U.S. government deny. The Marine veteran maintains he was visiting Russia to attend a friend's wedding.
Speaking at a forum about hostage diplomacy, Blinken said he spoke with Whelan on Feb. 12 but provided no further details about the call.
The secretary of state reaffirmed that Washington works every day to bring back home both Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter also detained in Russia on espionage charges.
"Our intensive efforts to bring Paul home continue every single day. And they will until he and Evan Gershkovich and every other American wrongfully detained is back with their loved ones," Blinken said.
Gershkovich has been reporting on Russia at the Journal's Moscow bureau since 2017. He was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg.
The Wall Street Journal reporter was covering the attitude of Russians to the war against Ukraine and the recruitment of residents in Russia's state-backed private mercenary Wagner Group.
Moscow has previously rejected deals to swap Whelan and Gershkovich with Washington. WNBA star Brittney Griner and another Marine veteran, Trevor Reed, were exchanged for Russian prisoners in the U.S. in 2022.

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