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 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.
Freshly dug graves for unidentified civilians killed by the Russian military in the Bucha massacre in February-March 2022, at the city cemetery in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast. (Photo credit: Oleksandra Butova/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Russia seeks to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council after being expelled last year because of its invasion of Ukraine, the BBC reported on Sept. 26, citing a position paper distributed by Russian diplomats to UN members.
The news outlet says that Moscow will seek to return to the human rights body for a new three-year term during a vote in October.
Russia hopes to regain international credibility following its human rights violations in Ukraine and at home, diplomatic sources told the BBC.
Moscow is allegedly attempting to bribe some smaller countries ahead of the vote, offering grain and arms in return for the support. As a result, there is a realistic possibility that Russia can succeed and return to the Human Rights Council, the diplomats believe.
Russia was kicked out of the U.N.'s human rights body during a special session on April 7, 2022, with 93 votes cast in favor, 25 against, and 58 abstentions.
Officials backing the motion said it signaled the "international community's strong censure of Moscow's aggressive actions toward a neighboring state."
Ukraine, its international partners, and human rights groups said that Russia has committed a number of human rights violations during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This includes deliberate murder of civilians, shelling of civilian areas, torture, sexual violence, and abduction, namely of children. Several countries have recognized Russia's crimes against Ukraine as genocide.
A report by the U.N. Watch, the Human Rights Foundation, and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights published earlier in September concluded that Russia is "unqualified" for membership in the Human Rights Council.
The reasons for the conclusion included "aggression against Ukraine, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities, pervasive torture by government law enforcement officers," and a number of other violations.
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.
Martin Fornusek
