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.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gives his first international press conference after his Fidesz party won the parliamentary election, in the Karmelita monastery housing the prime minister's office in Budapest, Hungary, on April 6, 2022. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski expressed doubt about Hungary's membership in the EU and NATO after controversial remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's about Poland, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on July 28.
Giving a speech at the Tuscanos Summer University on July 27, Orban had criticized Poland's "hypocrisy," as well as what he called the misguided policies of the EU and the West.
Orban also accused Poland of changing the balance of power in Europe by weakening the Berlin-Paris axis in favor of a new configuration: London, Warsaw, Kyiv, the Baltic States, and Scandinavia.
"We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orban, who is on the margins of international society, in the EU and NATO," Bartoszewski said, adding that the U.S. ambassador to Budapest commented very negatively on Orban's speech.
Bartoszewski described Orban's speech as "an attack on Poland, the U.S., the EU, and NATO."
"I do not understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations that they dislike so much and that supposedly mistreat them. Why does he (Orban) not form a union with (Vladimir) Putin and with some authoritarian states of this type?" Bartoszewski said.
"It is the principle that if you do not want to be a member of some club, you can always withdraw. Certainly, this is an anti-EU, anti-Ukrainian, anti-Polish policy at the moment."
The deputy minister also brought up that Budapest is currently blocking 2 billion zlotys ($509 million) owed to Poland from the EU for reimbursement for the military equipment Poland has given to Ukraine.
During his speech, Orban claimed peace can "only be brought from the outside." He said that both Ukraine and Russia believe they can win and are unwilling to negotiate.
Orban's visits sparked criticism from the EU and President Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter said that NATO and the EU can resolve the war without Orban.
Kateryna Hodunova
