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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. A Ukrainian "Leleka" reconnaissance drone unit from the 80th Air Assault Brigade operates at a position in Donbas. Drones have been an essential part of warfare since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb, 24, 2022. (Laurel Chor/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
During an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Oct. 6, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans announced that the Netherlands will invest 400 million euros ($440 million) in a joint advanced drone development initiative with Ukraine.
Brekelmans also officially confirmed for the first time that the first Dutch F-16s are already in Ukraine, promising that the rest of the 24 promised jets will be delivered in the coming months.
As Ukraine faces continued pressure from Russian forces in the east and increased attacks on critical infrastructure ahead of winter, this support comes at a crucial time, more than two and a half years into the war.
The initiative will focus on a range of drones, including surveillance, defensive, and offensive types. "We will focus on different types of drones, so both surveillance drones, more defensive drones, but also the attack drones, because we see that Ukraine needs those more offensive drones also to target military facilities," Brekelmans explained, according to Reuters.
About half of the investment will remain in the Netherlands, with the remainder distributed between Ukraine and other countries. If the project proves successful, additional funds could be allocated to scale up production.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Netherlands has committed 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) in military aid to Ukraine, with four billion already spent.
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.
Kateryna Denisova
