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.
U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
According to Steve Witkoff, the key topics in the peace discussions are the fate of the five partially or fully occupied Ukrainian regions, the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Ukraine remains the most mined country in the world. Nearly one-third of Ukraine's territory, approximately 174,000 square kilometers, had been mined since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko greets the troops during a military drill outside Brest, on Sept. 12, 2021. - (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
As Russia fails to inflict quick defeat upon Ukraine after four days of fierce hostilities, Vladimir Putin is about to pull his Belarusian ally, dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko into his war of occupation.
Amid many speculations, multiple sources say the decision has been made — and as soon as on Feb. 28 at 5 a.m. local time, the first Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft is very likely to take off carrying Belarusian paratroopers to be deployed against Ukraine.
It’s not clear whether the local time the messages refer to is Belarusian or Ukrainian; 5 a.m. in Minsk is 4 a.m. in Kyiv.
Rumors regarding the official Belarusian involvement in the war started circulating on Feb. 27, the fourth day of Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, following a report presented to diplomatic circles by unnamed Belarusian opposition journalists.
The message suggested that Belarusian troops might be deployed to the Kyiv or the Zhytomyr areas in assistance to the Russian invading force.
The report couldn’t be verified, but there have been other indications of Belarusian military activity. A media campaign was launched, particularly by Belarusian opposition media, to warn off the Belarusian involvement.
As part of the endeavor, former high-ranking Belarusian airborne commander Valeriy Sakhashik, in a video address, urged all Belarusian paratroopers not to obey unlawful orders that would throw them into a war against a friendly nation.
Several thousand Belarusian citizens rallied against the war across the country on Feb. 27.
Besides, as Ukraine’s presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Feb. 27, numerous indications suggested that the Belarusian military was being put on alert.
It is known from Belarusian media that the country’s armed forces include nearly 45,000 military personnel and 20,000 civilian employees. In Arestovych’s opinion, just 17,000 Belarusian military personnel are of considerable combat efficacy, so their involvement would likely not be that significant for Russia, which amassed at least 150,000 troops for the invasion of Ukraine.
On Feb. 27, Lukashenko said that Belarusians started facing violence in Ukraine and that Kyiv is threatening Belarus with terror activities. It echoed the pretext that Putin gave for launching the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Amid concerns, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone call with Lukashenko on Feb. 27, following which the Ukrainian leader said Lukashenko reassured him of his non-involvement in Russia’s war.
However, according to former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, in reality, the Belarusian dictator, whose existence highly depends on Putin, has no choice other than to join.
From the expert’s perspective, Belarus's involvement would be an escalating factor, though it would not have a dramatic escalation effect in the war. In particular, Lukashenko might invade Ukraine’s northwestern regions on which Russia is not currently focused.
“But the Belarusian military has no combat experience, at all,” Zagorodnyuk said. “It really matters. And they are not motivated, they do not really understand what they will be doing in Ukraine.”
The media campaign to warn off Belarusian soldiers from joining the Ukrainian invasion has just started, and it needs to be continued, Zagorodnyuk said.
“If god forbid, Lukashenko gives an order to go in, I hope many would refuse to shoot at Ukrainians,” he said. “Otherwise, this will be a historic tragedy between the two peoples.”
Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023. He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. Besides, he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
