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.
Illustrative purposes only: Russia's Black Sea Fleet warships take part in the Navy Day celebrations in the port city of Novorossiysk on July 30, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Naval drones attacked the Russian port city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea coast overnight on July 3, claimed the city's mayor, Andrey Kravchenko.
Russian Telegram channels said that residents heard sounds of explosions at around 3 a.m. local time. Ukraine has not commented on the claims, which could not be independently verified.
Novorossiysk has become a key port for the Russian Black Sea Fleet after successful Ukrainian strikes on occupied Crimea forced Moscow to pull out much of its naval forces from the peninsula.
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Kyiv also carried out several successful attacks against the Novorossiysk port throughout the full-scale war, most notably in August 2023, when the Olenegorskiy Gornyak warship suffered heavy damage.
Kravchenko announced the end of the attack at 4:20 a.m. local time, saying that there was no danger for Novorossiysk inhabitants but without elaborating on possible damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones heading in Novorossiysk's direction.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Oleg Sukhov
