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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Russia on Sept. 13, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes (Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP)
Russia has used around 50 North Korean missiles to attack six Ukrainian oblasts since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr Filchakov, the head of the Kharkiv Oblast prosecutor's office, said on March 14 during a press conference.
North Korea has been shaping up as Russia's leading weapons supplier, reportedly providing Moscow with extensive military packages, including ballistic missilesand over 3 million artillery shells.
In Kharkiv Oblast, only one case of Russia using North Korean Hwasong 11 (KN-23/24) missile was officially confirmed, Filchakov said, referring to Russia's attack on Kharkiv on Jan. 2.
Filchakov added there are two other cases of Russia reportedly launching North Korean missiles against the region that are currently being investigated, namely during an attack on Kharkiv's Slobidskyi city district on Feb. 7.
"We are waiting for the results of the expertise, after which we will be able to confirm it (the use of North Korean missiles)," Filchakov said.
The prosecutor also said that North Korean missiles used by Russia are of poor quality, and "several cases" were recorded of the Hwasong missile "exploding in the air."
"It (Hwasong 11) differs from the Iskander-M: it has an imperfect control system, its flight range is up to 700 kilometers when Iskander-M could strike for a distance up to 250 kilometers," Filchakov said.
One of the first cases of Russia using North Korean ballistic missiles was recorded on Dec. 30, 2023, during an attack on Zaporizhzhia, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) wrote.
Later on, Russia hit an apartment building in Kyiv with a North Korean missile in early January, killing four people and wounding over 50, according to the SBU.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Katie Marie Davies
