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.
Belgorod administration building after an alleged drone attack on March 12, 2024. (Telegram)
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said there are no hostilities on the territory of the region just hours after Ukrainian military intelligence said it was “now an area of active combat actions.”
In a post on Telegram published late on March 14, Gladkov claimed he had taken a tour of villages in the area where several pro-Ukrainian military units comprised of Russian citizens had advanced after crossing the border from Ukraine earlier this week.
Gladkov claimed that the battle is taking place outside the Belgorod Oblast borders. He also said that the village of Kozinka had “suffered greatly, the destruction was very serious.”
Residents in the areas affected had been taken to a “safe place,” according to Gladkov.
The Russian governor’s comments were contradicted by a spokesperson of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), Andrii Yusov, who told national television just a few hours earlier that Kursk and Belgorod regions are “now an area of active combat actions.”
“As stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the (Russian President Vladimir) Putin regime.”
Unconfirmed videos posted to social media on the morning of March 15 appear to show air raid sirens, fires and explosions in the Belgorod region continuing.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Emmanuelle Chaze
