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.
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.
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.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
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.
Latvian Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze talks to media prior the start of an EU Agriculture Ministers meeting on Feb. 26, 2024 (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Latvia's Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze called on the European Union to add Russian foodstuffs to sanctions lists on Feb. 26, ahead of an EU Agriculture Ministers meeting in Brussels.
Latvia is the first EU country to decide to ban imports of grain and other foodstuffs from Russia and Belarus. The ban will come into force in March.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said in January that he supported the ban, as agricultural exports support the Russian economy, and what is labeled as Russian grain may in fact be Ukrainian grain stolen from Russian-occupied territories.
Krauze said the law is "not effective" without an EU-wide ban, as it does not apply to goods transiting to other EU member states or third countries.
Krauze also appeared to imply that the ban would not necessarily mean that overall supply would be impacted, as "everything that is imported from Russia can be imported from Ukraine."
"This way we are helping Ukraine and not helping Russia to support its war machine."
A Latvian official said in December 2023 that over 380,000 metric tons of Russian grain had been imported into the EU through Latvia in 2023, an increase of about 80,000 tons of grain compared to 2022.
This figure did not include the grain transported from Russia to non-EU countries via Latvia.
Martin Fornusek
