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.
A member of the Polish AgroUnia farmers' union spects unsold grain storns in Sedziejowo, Poland, April 17, 2023. (Photo credit: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Poland had asked the European Union for an investment of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) so that Warsaw can increase its capacity for transiting Ukrainian grain, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Aug. 4.
As the PAP reminded, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced several months ago that the EU will provide funds for this purpose, but did not reveal specifics. Polish officials presented a detailed description in Brussels of the financial support needed to expand the transit operations, the news agency wrote.
According to a document obtained by the PAP, Poland says it needs around 500 million euros ($550 million) to increase the capacity for truck transport at the Dorohusk-Jagodzin, Hrebenne-Rawa Ruska, and Korczowa-Krakowiec border crossings.
This tranche should also be allocated to expanding the railway infrastructure at the Polish border city of Przemysl.
The other half of the funds should be used for the modernization of railway crossings, building new terminals for trucks, and construction of freight traffic control infrastructure at the border, the PAP reported.
"For a year and a half, we wanted to increase the transit of Ukrainian grain to third countries, especially to Africa," Polish Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sados told the PAP.
"However, this requires investments and we repeated our concrete requests to the (European) Commission to increase the capacity of the infrastructure," he added.
Sados also said that Poland facilitated the transit of record-breaking 260,000 metric tons of wheat and corn in June, which is more than double the volume transited in March (120,000 metric tons).
Following Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and its attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure, Kyiv has been seeking alternative routes for its agricultural exports.
Ukraine's grain exports are vital to the world's food supply. Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally. The grain deal had allowed for nearly 33 million metric tons of food to be exported through Ukrainian ports while it was in force, according to the U.N.
The EU pledged to increase the capacity of its "solidarity lanes," which facilitated the transit of more than 45 million metric tons of Ukrainian agricultural products since May 2022. Several member states, such as Romania and Croatia, have also agreed to use their infrastructure to aid Ukraine's exports.
Both Poland and Romania are among the five EU members who requested the European Commission to ban the domestic sale of Ukrainian grain products in these countries, currently set to expire on Sep. 15. However, this measure did not restrict the transit of Ukrainian produce through their territories.
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.
Anastasiia Lapatina
