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.
The flags of the European Union and Ukraine outside the EU Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Ksenia Kuleshova/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The EU Council announced on Jan. 29 the prolongation of economic sanctions against Russia, imposed due to its aggression against Ukraine, until July 31.
"These sanctions, first introduced in 2014 in response to Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, were significantly expanded since February 2022 in response to Russia's unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal military aggression against Ukraine," the Council's press service said.
The European bloc first adopted sanctions related to Russian aggression on July 31, 2014, after Moscow occupied Crimea and launched war in Ukraine's Donbas region. The EU has significantly scaled up its sanctions after the full-scale invasion, adopting 12 major sanctions packages since Feb. 24, 2022.
The EU approved its latest sanctions package in December 2023, with the 13th package reportedly already in the works and expected to be unveiled in February.
Sanctions against Moscow encompass a broad array of economic areas, including restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport, and luxury goods.
They further include a ban on Russian seaborne crude oil and certain petroleum products, cutting off Russian banks from the SWIFT international banking system, and suspending Russian propaganda and disinformation channels within the bloc.
Brussels also sought to crack down on Russia's ability to circumvent existing sanctions via third-party countries.
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.
Nate Ostiller
