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.
U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
President Volodymyr Zelensky commemorating Ukrainian soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces on the Territorial Defense Day of Ukraine in Kyiv on Oct. 7, 2024. (Oleg Palchyk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on Nov. 17 on recent reports that the U.S. eased restrictions on long-range strikes within Russia, saying that "such things are not announced."
The president made the statement shortly after the New York Times reported that the Biden administration had permitted the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles across the border, namely against Russian and North Korean forces amassing in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
The report has not been publicly confirmed by Washington or Kyiv.
"Today, there’s a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions," Zelensky said in his evening address.
"But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves."
The decision would come as a major shift in U.S. policy as President Joe Biden has been long adamant about not allowing Western-supplied weapons to be used on Russian soil, fearing an escalation.
Biden first eased the restrictions in May to allow Ukraine to use certain weaponry like HIMARS to strike at Russian troops just across the border in the wake of the Kharkiv offensive. Restrictions on ATACMS, tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (190 miles), remained in place at the time.
Ukraine will likely initially use the missiles against Russian and North Korean forces in Kursk Oblast, but Washington could also authorize their use elsewhere, the New York Times wrote.
Unnamed U.S. officials, as well as a source familiar with the decision, who spoke to Reuters following the decision, said that Kyiv plans to conduct its first long-range strikes in the coming days.
As the decision came in the last months of Biden's term in office, it remains unclear whether President-elect Donald Trump will uphold the policy after he returns to the White House in January 2025.
Sonya Bandouil
