According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
Ukrainian woman protest Russia's illegal deportation of Ukrainian children on International Children's Day in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 1, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Misha Jordaan/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Denys Kostev, a posterchild used by Russian authorities to promote and justify their campaign of deporting Ukrainian children, said he was coached and threatened if he did not comply, according to an investigation by Reuters released on March 19.
Since February 2022, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been identified as abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, Belarus, or to Russia itself, according to a Ukrainian national database.
Ukraine has only been able to return about 400 of these children from Russia.
Kostev, a teenage orphan, was taken from Kherson to occupied Crimea by Russian authorities in fall 2022. He then regularly appeared in pro-Russian videos that appeared online while in Russian captivity.
Kostev said he participated in the videos because he felt intimidated.
"When your life is threatened, you will do anything to keep yourself safe," he told Reuters.
Agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) also questioned Kosten on the whereabouts of Ukrainian troops and ammunition dumps, which he said he did not share.
Despite receiving promises from Russian officials that he would be accepted into a prestigious university or obtain other perks, Kosten said the pledges did not come true.
Kosten moved to Russia from occupied territory but soon sought to be able to reunite with family in Germany and left Russia in February. He told Reuters that Russian authorities did not try to prevent him from leaving.
