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.
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).
Chernihiv District Court in Chernihiv Oblast. (Chernihiv District Court)
A Russian soldier who kidnapped a 15-year-old Ukrainian boy near Chernihiv in March 2022 was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a court in Chernihiv Oblast, the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Dec. 7.
The press release did not indicate whether the soldier was sentenced in absentia.
Ukrainian investigators have continuously sought to identify and prosecute Russian soldiers who committed war crimes, whether or not they are physically located in Ukraine.
According to the prosecutors, the soldier kidnapped the boy during the Russian offensive near Chernihiv and held him hostage for four days to try and force his mother, a Ukrainian soldier, to divulge the location of Ukrainian troops in the area.
A Russian soldier who kidnapped a 15-year-old Ukrainian boy was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Ukrainian court. (Prosecutor General's Office/Telegram)
Along with other accomplices, the soldier held the boy in unsanitary conditions, threatened him with violence, and repeatedly contacted his mother, saying they would harm him if she did not tell them what they wanted to know.
Abducting or holding children hostage is a violation of the Geneva Convention, which Russia is a party to.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
