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.
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.
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.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said 100 armored vehicles pledged by Bulgaria are en route to Ukraine. (Todor Tagarev/Facebook)
Months after approval by Bulgaria's parliament and government, 100 armored vehicles once belonging to the country's Interior Ministry are now en route to Ukraine, Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said on Feb. 2 in a Facebook post.
The suggestion to dispatch the armored personnel carriers, acquired during the final years of Bulgaria's communist regime, was made public on July 13, 2023, and ratified by the National Assembly on July 21. The government granted approval for the transfer agreement on Aug. 4.
Bulgaria's parliament approved two tranches of military aid to Ukraine on Dec. 8, including the delivery of 100 older armored vehicles from the Interior Ministry's stocks together with armaments and spare parts, free of charge. The decision to send the vehicles overrode a veto by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.
Tagarev didn't provide any details to the photos of the armored vehicles he posted online.
Bulgaria has become increasingly supportive of Ukraine as the war has progressed. Almost 65% of Bulgarians polled in June 2023 supported Ukraine's accession to the EU, and 64% were in favor of supplying military aid.
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.
Alexander Query
