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.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
During reconnaissance in an unspecified front-line sector, Special Operations Forces' operators detected Buk-M3 and Uragan-1 on combat duty, the unit said.
The suspect quit his job at the Rivne NPP before the full-scale war began. In the spring of 2025, a GRU liaison contacted him and offered cooperation in exchange for money.
President Volodymyr Zelensky would not meet any other Russian official apart from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul this week, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on the Breakfast Show program on May 13.
U.S. and European officials held talks on May 12, during which Washington made it clear that it wanted to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine before increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin, sources told Bloomberg.
According to Steve Witkoff, the key topics in the peace discussions are the fate of the five partially or fully occupied Ukrainian regions, the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine's access to the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 20, 2023. (Sergei Karpukhin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia became China's leading crude oil supplier in January and February, according to Chinese government data cited by Reuters on March 20.
Russia was China's second-largest supplier in 2022, trailing only Saudi Arabia.
During the first two months of 2023, Russia supplied China with 1.94 million barrels per day, a significant increase from the 1.57 million barrels per day recorded during the same period in 2022, Reuters said.
Oil is one of Russia's main exports. The economic relationship between Russia and China has been a source of concern, particularly after most Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that their countries have "similar goals."
Putin said during their meeting that the trade turnover between Russia and China "has more than doubled" over the past 10 years, rising from $87 billion to $185 billion.
China also has yet to condemn Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.
In response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, numerous countries put an end to Russian oil imports. The U.S. announced its ban in March 2022, having previously imported 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil and refined petroleum products from Russia in 2021.
Canada, which has not imported Russian crude oil since 2019, announced shortly after the start of the invasion that it would continue this policy.
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