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.
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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky would not meet any other Russian official apart from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul this week, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on the Breakfast Show program on May 13.
A general view of the Crimean Bridge which connects Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia's Krasnodar region on July 25, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The raid on Russian-occupied Crimea that took place in the early hours of Aug. 24 is not "the story of one day, but a long-term operation," a source in Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) told Ukrainska Pravda.
Few details can be released as the operation is ongoing, but its success shows that the peninsula is not just within reach of Ukrainian strikes, but also within reach for its military personnel, the source said.
The intelligence reported earlier that Ukrainian forces landed on Crimea with special watercraft and raised the Ukrainian flag near Maiak, a village on the northwestern tip of Crimea, as part of an operation with the Navy.
A radar base and radio engineering troop base for the Russian Aerospace Forces, the air and space branch of the Russian military, are located near Maiak.
Maiak is also less than five kilometers from Olenivka, where Ukraine reported to have destroyed a Russian missile defense system on Aug. 23. The intelligence source confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that this was part of the "set of measures" of the same operation.
Intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said that the Ukrainian forces had already returned from the operation and that they had not suffered any losses. There were losses among Russian personnel, he added.
Krym.Realii, the Crimean media project of the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported explosions at 5 a.m. local time at Maiak.
Ukrainian intelligence said that the Russian proxy administration in Crimea has told local residents the explosions were due to the scheduled detonation of munitions.
The choice to conduct the operation and raise the Ukrainian flag on Crimea in the early hours of Aug. 24 is notable as it is Ukraine's 32nd Independence Day. Crimea has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
Alexander Khrebet
