The blockade ended at 10:30 p.m. local time. Truck traffic in both directions is now moving as usual, according to Ukraine's State Border Guard's statement.
Russia seems to be preparing a significant offensive in Ukraine as it is moving troops toward key positions on the front, the Financial Times reported on May 13, citing undisclosed Ukrainian intelligence officials.
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.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that the new pontiff had a phone call with Zelensky on Monday, during which the pope expressed willingness to facilitate meetings between global leaders and vowed to support efforts for "a just and lasting peace."
In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
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.
Mikhail Fridman attends the plenary session of the Congress of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) on the slidelines of Russian Business Week in Moscow, March 2017 (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
At least 88 Ukrainian companies directly or indirectly owned by Russian oligarchs linked to the country’s military industry have not yet been confiscated, the Trap Aggressor project of the StateWatch think-tank reported on Aug. 10.
According to the report, Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, whose Sens Bank has been recently nationalized, continues to directly or indirectly hold shares in the mobile operator Kyivstar, bottled water producers Morshinska and Myrhorodska, and other companies.
Fridman, the founder of Russia’s Alfa Bank, is currently under international sanctions and was arrested in the U.K. in December 2022. He was released on bail on suspicion of fraud-related offenses.
Investigative reporters discovered in May that his company Alpha Insurance Firm insures the vehicles of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
The company is also reported to provide services to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s Main Office of Special Programs, which guards him. Another company Fridman co-owns, X5 Retail Group, also cooperates with the Russian military through the group’s grocery chains.
Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, the owner of the Ukrainian travel agency Tui, also owns the Russian Severstal company, which has supplied steel to Russian military-industrial plants, the analysts said.
Ivan Savvidi, a Greek Russian businessman who owns the trading company Atlantis-Pak Ukraine and the plastics manufacturer Pentopak, also funds an organization "Greeks in Russia" that has supplied generators and vehicles to Russian occupation authorities in Donetsk Oblast.
The research further identified Vahit Alekperov, Alisher Usmanov, Yuriy Kovalchuk, and others as Russian oligarchs who continue to hold assets in Ukrainian companies. This includes enterprises in energy, logistics, hospitality, industry, and other sectors, Trap Aggressor said.
The analysts reminded that Ukraine has already confiscated at least 23 companies of Russian oligarchs. Among them are Oleg Deripaska's enterprises, Mikhail Shelkov's factories, as well as the "Ocean Plaza" shopping center of the Rotenberg brothers.
Anna Myroniuk
