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.
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.
Illia Vitiuk, the chief of the cyber security department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). (Ukrainian Security Service)
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention began monitoring Illia Vitiuk, the suspended cybersecurity chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), following an investigation by Slidstvo.Info, the outlet reported on April 16, citing a statement from the agency.
Slidstvo.Info wrote on April 4 that Vitiuk's family had purchased real estate worth at least Hr 25.5 million (roughly $645,000) in market value. In particular, Vitiuk's wife reportedly started making big earnings after her husband was appointed to the job and bought an apartment in a premium residential complex in Kyiv below the market price.
The outlet said that its journalist who led the investigation, Yevhenii Shulhat, was later targeted by enlistment officers in retaliation. The officers were allegedly accompanied by an SBU officer from Vitiuk's department.
The SBU announced days later that Vitiuk had been suspended and sent to the front while the inquiry into Slidstvo.Info's revelations was underway.
The Prosecutor General's Office announced on April 8 that it had opened a criminal investigation into possible abuse of office and obstruction of a journalist's professional activities by the SBU employees and military enlistment officers following the incident.
This was only the latest incident in what the Ukrainian media view as mounting pressure against the press. In January, Bihus.Info published an investigation that revealed months of surveillance of its team by an SBU department.
Dinara Khalilova
