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.
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.
A full moon over Russia's Foreign Ministry building and the Prime Minister's office in Moscow on May 24, 2024. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russia's Foreign Ministry and Justice Ministry have proposed that Russian President Vladimir Putin could remove the Taliban from the list of banned organizations, Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported on May 27, citing a Foreign Ministry official.
According to TASS, the step would pave the way for Russia to officially recognize Afghanistan's Taliban government, which seized power in 2021 and has not received de jure recognition from any country in the world.
The Talibanpreviously ruled over Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and enforced strict Sharia, religious law, that brutally persecuted women, political opponents, and religious minorities.
Since returning to power in 2021, the UN estimates that 1,000 civiliansin Afghanistan have been killed.
News emerged in April that a delegation from the Taliban had been invited to the International Economic Forum of Russia and the Islamic World in Kazan in Tatarstan, despite the fact that the Taliban is officially banned in Russia.
Russia designated the Taliban a terrorist group in 2003, along with Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Nouruddin Azizi, the Taliban's acting industry minister, reportedly traveled to Kazan to attend the event, which took place between May 14 and May 19.
TASS quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying that Russia does not plan to mark the upcoming 105th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Afghanistan, but this is "for a purely formal reason," namely the "lack of official recognition" of the Taliban.
Russia's Foreign Ministry and Justice Ministry are now awaiting a formal decision from the Kremlin, TASS said.
Mykola Kolisnyk
