Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for Saturday's grand final.
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.
The Sofia City Court approved the issuance of European Arrest Warrants for six Russian citizens suspected in connection to four ammunition warehouse explosions in Bulgaria between 2011 and 2020, the Sofia Globe reported on Jan. 30.
The six suspects, whose name was not mentioned, are accused of involvement in the 2011 explosion at Emilian Gebrev's EMCO facility Lovnidol, two successive blasts at the VMZ Sopot facility in Iganovo in 2015, and another one at the Arsenal plant near Muglizh in 2020.
The four cases are examined as part of one general investigation, announced by Bulgarian prosecutors back in April 2021.
The investigation examines the "suspected activity of Bulgarian citizens and their complicity in these criminal acts."
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) insider information, three of the accused are also suspects in the poisoning of Emilian Gebrev, a Bulgarian arms magnate whose EMCO warehouse was targeted in the 2011 blast. The suspects in Gerbev's attempted assassination case are Russian nationals known by the names Sergei Pavlov, Georgy Gorshkov, and Sergei Fedotov.
The independent investigative group Bellingcat and the Russian independent outlet The Insider linked Gebrev's attempted poisoning to Russia's military intelligence (GRU) unit 29155, which the investigators also connected to the 2014 ammunition blast in the Czech town of Vrbetice.
The ammunition, stored in Czechia, was to be transported to Gebrev's company and then later supplied to either Ukraine or Syria, reportedly for the Syrian opposition battling the regime of Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia.
Last year's investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider also connected Unit 29155 to the Lovnidol explosion in 2011.
In a separate case, two operatives of the GRU unit, Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, were linked to the attempted poisoning of ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, U.K., in 2018.
Denis Sergeev, using the cover name of "Sergei Fedotov," was reportedly involved in the attempted assassinations of both Skripal and Gebrev, Bellingcat said.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Asami Terajima
