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.
Members of the Black Tulip organization work to identify Russian soldiers whose remains were found near Bakhmut, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on June 29, 2024. (Pablo Miranzo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mediazona, an independent Russian outlet, together with BBC Russia, has confirmed through open-source research the names of 79,819 Russian soldiers killed since the start of Russia's all-out war.
As Vladimir Putin boasted the new Oreshnik nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, sparking renewed fears of nuclear escalation, Mediazona reported nearly 2,700 additional Russian military deaths in Ukraine over the past two weeks.
The confirmed death toll now includes 17,000 volunteers, 14,500 recruited prisoners, and 9,700 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. The journalists note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities.
The Nov. 22 report comes amid growing evidence of widespread violence within Russian military ranks. Recent incidents include the arrests of two commanders, known by the call signs Bely ("White") and Gvozd ("Nail"), for confining subordinates in dog cages and the death of pro-Kremlin American volunteer Russell Bentley in a military detention facility.
Since Russia began its full-scale on Feb. 22, 2022, over 4,364 Russian officers have been killed in combat in Ukraine.
According to figures released by Kyiv, total Russian losses in Ukraine had exceeded 700,000 as of Nov. 4, marking an increase of 100,000 in just 77 days. The figures do not distinguish between those killed, wounded, missing, or captured, though they are widely understood to encompass all categories. These numbers mostly align with estimates from Western nations.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Chris York
