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.
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.
North Korean Military Choir sings a Russian song during a concert after Russian-North Korean talks in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024 (Contributor/Getty Images)
North Korea has dispatched additional troops to Russia, an official for South Korea's National Intelligence Agency (NIS) claimed on Feb. 27.
An official from Seoul's spy agency told AFPthat "some additional troop deployments (are) appearing to have taken place" in Russia's Kursk Oblast, adding that other troops had been "redeployed" within the region.
South Korean military officials said that Pyongyang may be sending more than 1,000 troops to Russia this year, Yonhap news agency reported.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.
Up to 12,000 North Korean troops were deployed to Kursk Oblast last fall to support Russian forces in countering a Ukrainian incursion launched in August 2024.
The New York Times reported on Jan. 30 that North Korean troops had been pulled from the front, a Special Operations Forces spokesperson confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine's special forces had not faced Pyongyang's soldiers for three weeks.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov deniedreports that North Korean soldiers have not been seen on the front line for weeks. However, Budanov noted that the number of North Korean troops has decreased, and Ukraine is trying to establish why.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 14 that North Korean troops fighting for Russia against Ukraine have suffered 4,000 casualties, two-thirds of whom have been killed.
Zelensky's claim of the number killed is significantly higher than a Jan. 13 estimate from the NIS, which said at least 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded.
The heavy losses of the North Korean army may be related to its lack of combat experience and the tactic of human waves attacks with a limited amount of equipment, Budanov said in an interview with The War Zone magazine published on Feb. 4.
Amid the gruelling offensive, Ukraine has continued to lose territory initially gained in the surprise Kursk incursion. Russia has claimed to have regainedcontrol of about 64% of the territory captured by Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has not commented on the claims, which could not be independently verified.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
