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.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that the new pontiff had a phone call with Zelensky on Monday, during which the pope expressed willingness to facilitate meetings between global leaders and vowed to support efforts for "a just and lasting peace."
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.
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 93rd brigade covers his ears while firing a French 120mm rifled towed mortar towards Russian positions in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast on Feb. 15, 2023. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP via Getty Images)
Russia is incurring heavy losses amid its near round-the-clock assault on the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast.
Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wager Group and Russian-backed militant groups active in eastern Ukraine are losing up to 80% of some assault units, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram. "Evacuation of the dead and wounded is limited or not carried out at all," she wrote.
Malyar also said that the situation in the front-line town is very tense and difficult for Ukrainian forces. "You can see for yourself what kind of war the Russian Federation is waging," she said, adding that Ukrainian forces are holding back Russian advances in the area.
Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Ukraine's Armed Forces, also said on Feb. 15 on national TV that Russian troops had lost 119 people killed and 163 wounded near Bakhmut over the last 24 hours.
According to Malyar, Russia's significant losses are partly due to a low level of trust in the Russian military command.
"More and more Russian servicemen realize that their commanders inadequately assess the situation on the battlefield, as evidenced by the intensive use of so-called "death squads" - units staffed by insufficiently trained mobilized personnel, who daily suffer heavy combat and sanitary losses," she wrote.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, claimed on Feb. 15 that Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast could be surrounded in March or April. Prigozhin added, though, that it is "hard to predict," and Russia's success in surrounding the town partially depends on the amount of Western weaponry supplied to Ukraine.
Russian regular forces, along with Kremlin-controlled mercenary group Wagner, have been attempting to capture Bakhmut for months as Russia tries to consolidate its grip over the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast, around half of which it currently controls.
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