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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky would not meet any other Russian official apart from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul this week, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on the Breakfast Show program on May 13.
U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
According to Steve Witkoff, the key topics in the peace discussions are the fate of the five partially or fully occupied Ukrainian regions, the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a meeting with the lawmakers of the State of Duma, Russia's lower chamber of parliament in Moscow, Russia on Jan. 26, 2022. (Russian Foreign Ministry)
Russia’s parliament voted on Feb. 15 to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognize Russian-occupied territories in Donbas as independent states.
Altogether, 351 of 450 lawmakers voted for the bill, which was tabled by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2014, the Kremlin has been insisting that the Russian-led militants in the region are independent of Moscow.
The proposal will now be submitted for Putin's approval. He is unlikely to accept it, as such a move would effectively void the Minsk peace agreements signed with Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.
Russia has repeatedly demanded that the Donbas peace process be conducted through the Minsk accords. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of stalling the peace process, largely due to the unclear wording of certain points in the Minsk documents.
Russia has previously demanded a "special status" for the regions it had occupied, while Ukraine had been previously clear that it won't provide additional powers to a region that isn't currently controlled by Kyiv.
On Feb. 14, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz focused on the Minsk Agreements, saying that President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to present a plan to introduce “special status” for occupied Donbas.
The talks came after Zelensky's meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 7 in which the French president said he was seeking “a path to de-escalation,” and said he scheduled the meeting so “everyone’s intentions can be clarified.”
Altogether, the leaders of the Normandy Format countries – Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia – have not met since 2019. The Normandy Format and the so-called Trilateral Contact Group are the two set of talks launched in 2014 to find a peaceful solution to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Both seek to implement the Minsk Agreements signed after a Russian military offensive in February 2015. Russia’s ongoing eight-year-long war has killed over 13,000 people.
Max Hunder is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He previously worked as a business reporter at the Kyiv Post focusing on infrastructure and energy. He is a graduate of Eton College and University College London, and has reported for international publications from London, Kyiv and Yerevan.
