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 TikTok app displayed on an Apple iPhone on August 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A special unit of Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) recruits individuals to perform sabotage operations inside Europe through Telegram and TikTok, the independent Russian anti-corruption project Dossier Center reported on July 23, 2024.
Western intelligence officials have reportedly warned about increasing Russian sabotage operations across Europe.
According to the Dossier report, the unit is responsible for several acts of sabotage across the region.
Earlier this year, the unit recruited a man in Latvia via Telegram who, on their instructions, threw a Molotov cocktail at the Occupation Museum in Riga.
This GRU unit is also reportedly responsible for inciting acts of antisemitism, including one incident back in 2023 when a group of Moldovan citizens painted stars of David on buildings across Paris amidst tensions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The report says the saboteurs were recruited through TikTok.
The report also found evidence of the unit working to organize left-wing anti-NATO protests throughout European cities under slogans such as "no to drawing our country into war" or "NATO is our common enemy."
Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office announced in April that two German-Russian nationals had been arrested after being suspected of plotting to carry out explosive and arson attacks in the country, including at U.S. military bases.
Over the past six months, Polish authorities have arrested 18 people on suspicions of pursuing hostile activities or sabotage in collaboration with Russia or Belarus, according to the Polish Interior Ministry.
Several other suspects have been arrested over the past year in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, and other countries for allegedly spying for Russia or other forms of collaboration with Russian intelligence.
Rachel Amran is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked on the Europe and Central Asia team of Human Rights Watch investigating war crimes in Ukraine. Rachel holds a master's degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Regional Studies from Columbia University.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
