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.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
During reconnaissance in an unspecified front-line sector, Special Operations Forces' operators detected Buk-M3 and Uragan-1 on combat duty, the unit said.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store (L) speaks to President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) at the Ukraine-Nordic Summit on Oct. 28. (President of Ukraine)
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced on Oct. 28 that Norway will provide Ukraine with a new 500-million-euro ($543 million) aid package, allocating over half for military assistance.
Several Nordic countries, including Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, have agreed to provide defense support to Ukraine, including weapons production, assistance in preparing for winter, shelter construction, and support for the victory plan.
The Nordic countries have provided Ukraine with more than 20 billion euros ($21 billion) in military, financial, and humanitarian support since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Norway's Store noted that Northern European leaders received a clear assessment of the front-line situation during their meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the fourth Ukraine-Nordic Summit.
"The Nordic countries will continue to seek new avenues for supporting Ukraine and its people, while it continues to fight off Russia's aggression," reads the joint statement released at the Nordic Summit in Reykjavik on Oct. 28.
Norway is ranked 12th in the world in terms of the amount of aid provided to Ukraine, having so far provided 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in humanitarian, financial, and military support, according to the Kiel Institute's Ukraine Support Tracker.
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 Hodunova
