In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for the grand final on May 17.
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.
Three Ukrainian soldiers walk through the forest at dawn, which has been covered with smoke after artillery fire during combat manoeuvers in the Kreminna Forest in Luhansk Oblast on Sept. 24, 2023. (Photo by Libkos/Getty Images)
Russian drones drop caustic and flammable gas on Ukrainian lines to sow panic ahead of conventional shelling, CNN wrote on Dec. 19 in its report on trench warfare on the southern front.
International conventions prohibit the use of chemical agents in warfare, including riot control substances. Ukraine has previously accused Russia of using banned chemical weapons in its full-scale invasion.
Nine gas attacks were reported near Zaporizhzhia Oblast's Orikhiv in recent weeks, resulting in one death, a Ukrainian medic deployed in the sector told CNN.
A Ukrainian intelligence official told the news outlet the substance used was a form of CS gas, a defining component of tear gas, commonly used as a riot control agent.
The substance causes significant irritation of the eyes, mouth, lungs, and skin, and its use in warfare is prohibited under the United Nations' Chemical Weapons Convention.
Two Ukrainian soldiers who survived the gas attack told CNN the substance ignited in their trench.
"The trench was in flames. This gas burns, blinds you, you can't breathe, shoots down your throat immediately. We didn't even have a second."
The two servicemen reportedly suffered burns and welts to their face, mouth, and throat as a result of the exposure.
Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria group of forces, said in August that Russian forces fired artillery barrages with munitions containing a chemical substance, presumably chloropicrin.
Contact with chloropicrin, commonly used during World War I, causes severe irritation to the skin, eyes, and if inhaled, to internal organs.
The Ukrainian military also said in June that Russian forces deployed a gas with suffocating effect near Marinka in Donetsk Oblast, but the wind blew it back in the enemy direction.
A month earlier, Ukraine's Border Service reported that the Russian military had fired munitions with irritant aerosols and chemical grenades near Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast.
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.
