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 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.
Trucks stand in line in Medyka, Poland, amid an ongoing blockade by Polish truckers on Nov. 23, 2023. (Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski is expected to sign an agreement with farmers blocking the Shehyni-Medyka crossing with Ukraine on Jan. 6 in a bid to lift the blockade, Rzeczpospolita reported.
Since November, Polish truckers have been blocking three crossings with Ukraine in protest of the EU's liberalization of transit rules for Ukrainian truckers.
Polish farmers also launched a blockade at a fourth crossing near Medyka, first between Nov. 23 and Dec. 24 and then again between Jan. 4 and Feb. 3.
The minister, who should arrive in Rzeszow to finalize the deal with the "Betrayed Countryside" group organizing the protest, agreed to three of the farmers' demands: corn subsidies, higher loans for the agricultural sector, and no tax increase, the Polish newspaper said.
Farmers have also asked to expand the import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products to items like sugar, eggs, and poultry. Rzeczpospolita did not say whether Warsaw plans to accommodate this demand as well.
Imports of Ukrainian sugar, eggs, and poultry sparked worries among European farmers, and a Polish EU Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, said he would demand a bloc-wide restriction on these products.
The border crisis that enters its third month continues to put pressure on Ukrainian-Polish relations, already strained by disputes over grain imports last fall.
Protests organized by Polish truckers and farmers caused huge lines on the border and negatively impacted Ukraine's economy amid an all-out war with Russia.
According to Rzeczpospolita, lifting the Shehyni-Medyka blockade could create a positive dynamic and help to unblock other crossings as well.
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.
