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.
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.
Belarusian dictator Alexander has reacted to a document, featured in a joint investigation by the Kyiv Independent and a group of U.S. and European media outlets, detailed Russia's future steps to take complete control of Belarusian political, economic, and military spheres by 2030.
Speaking to local journalists at a sporting event on Feb. 25, Lukashenko said the document allegedly detailing Russia's plans to overpower Belarus and dismantle its independence “might have been” written three years ago.
According to one of the sources cited in the investigation, an unnamed Western intelligence officer, the document was created in 2021 by the Kremlin's Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation.
According to the plan outlined in the document, by 2030, Belarus should have a single currency and tax system with Russia, and its military and media space will have come under Russian control.
Lukashenko told state-controlled news agency Belta that Belarus and Russia discussed the formation of integration roadmaps three years ago.
“There were different points of view. Some said this way, and some said that way. Maybe some (in Putin’s administration) officials, a group of people, suggested which way they will go with Belarus,” Lukashenko said on Feb. 25, adding that he sees Belarus as “an independent and sovereign state.”
Lukashenko claimed that the cross-border investigative report aims to divide Belarus and Russia.
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