Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that the new pontiff had a phone call with Zelensky on Monday, during which the pope expressed willingness to facilitate meetings between global leaders and vowed to support efforts for "a just and lasting peace."
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.
Ukrainian militaries supervise an M142 HIMARS launching a rocket in the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast. (Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian HIMARS strike hit a temporary Russian command post in the occupied territory of Kherson Oblast during a meeting of Russian officers, Hromadske media outlet reported, citing its source in Ukraine's Security Service (SBU).
Eight officers from Russia's 70th Motorized Rifle Division were killed, and seven more were injured, Hromadske wrote on Sept. 26. The media outlet's source said the attack occurred recently but didn't specify the date.
Hromadske wrote the targeted command post was located near Kherson, referring to the Russian-held east bank of the Dnipro River, but didn't provide further details.
Schemes, an investigative project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, later wrote it has geolocated a video of the strike provided by the SBU sources. According to Schemes, the HIMARS attack occurred in occupied Radensk, some 30 kilometers southeast of Kherson.
The SBU has not publicly commented on the attack.
According to another Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing its source in the SBU, Ukrainian forces struck the command post on Sept. 18.
Ukraine's Armed Forces liberated Kherson and other settlements on the river's west bank in November 2022, pushing Russian forces to the east bank, from where they have been regularly firing at the liberated areas.
Since June 2022, the Ukrainian military has been using U.S.-provided HIMARS, short for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, for precise strikes on Russia's military targets in occupied territories of Ukraine.
The GPS-guided rockets of the HIMARS system, able to hit targets at long range with pinpoint accuracy, have been credited with turning the tide of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, the HIMARS missiles that Ukraine currently uses have a range of 80 kilometers and cannot reach many Russian-occupied areas.
After Kyiv's months-long lobbying campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly pledged to provide Ukraine with a small number of long-range ATACMS missiles with a range of roughly 300 kilometers.
Illia Ponomarenko
