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.
An aerial view of destroyed buildings following Israeli airstrikes in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Oct. 12, 2023. (Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A missile attack against the Gaza Strip killed two children with Ukrainian citizenship on Oct. 24, Maksym Tokin, an official within Ukraine's Representative Office to the Palestinian National Authority, told Suspilne news outlet.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko confirmed the information to Hromadske, adding that the children were aged six and nine.
"We express condolences to the parents. The representative office of Ukraine in the city of Ramallah is investigating all the circumstances of the tragedy and is in contact with relatives," Nikolenko said.
Earlier, Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniichuk, said that a Ukrainian woman was killed in the embattled Gaza amid the hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
There have been conflicting reports about the number of Ukrainians killed following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Michael Brodsky, Israel's Ambassador to Ukraine, said on Oct. 18 that 23 Ukrainians had been killed, but Korniichuk refuted that number, saying that 18 had been killed.
Over 500 Ukrainians have so far been evacuated from Israel since the start of the conflict. Meanwhile, 337 Ukrainians are waiting for the Rafah border crossing into Egypt to open, which would allow them to evacuate from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave besieged by the Israeli military, according to Korniichuk.
The militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, launched unprecedented attacks on Israeli settlements on Oct. 7. Tel Aviv responded by retaliatory airstrikes against Gaza and a total blockade of the enclave. Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed on both sides.
Anastasiia Lapatina
