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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (L) pose for a photo with Ukrainian and European Union flags after a meeting in Kyiv on Feb. 2, 2023. (Photo by Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The EU is preparing to open membership talks with Ukraine, with a formal announcement expected as early as December, Politico reported on Oct. 3, citing three diplomats familiar with the matter.
Ukraine officially applied for EU membership in late February 2022 and was granted candidate status in June last year.
The European Commission is expected soon to issue its evaluation of Ukraine's progress toward accession and potentially recommend the start of the membership talks.
According to Politico's sources, the EU's executive arm will publish its "progress report" in November and will make it "very hard for member states not to say let's open negotiations" for Ukraine.
"The political push around that will just be too big for individual member states to resist. The working assumption is indeed that by December, the European Council will decide to open negotiations," one of the diplomatic sources told the news outlet.
Another source said that the announcement will represent only a political agreement, with a legal decision expected to be made by early 2024.
As part of the accession process, Kyiv was presented with seven criteria it needs to fulfill in order to begin the membership talks.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said in September that Ukraine had already "fulfilled the EU recommendations on the necessary legislative work in the judicial and media spheres," adding that the reforms in other areas are ongoing.
Two of the EU's criteria include adopting a media law to tackle the influence of vested interests and implementing legislation reforms on the selection procedure for judges of the Constitutional Court.
Ukraine adopted a law on Constitutional Court reform on Aug. 17, but issues regarding the judiciary persist. The White House sent a working draft listing priority reforms to the Ukrainian government with an emphasis on the judiciary and anti-corruption agencies.
According to a leak published by Politico earlier this week, Washington is particularly worried about the state of corruption in Ukraine, allegedly warning that Western support may depend on Kyiv's anti-graft efforts.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commented that Ukraine has made great strides toward EU membership since June last year, but "hard work" still lies ahead.
When asked how far Ukraine came in fulfilling all the seven criteria, an EU official told Politico that progress has been encouraging, and only the area concerning national minorities seemed problematic in the short term.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
