In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi at a flag-raising ceremony at the Memorial to the Defenders of the Bucha Community in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, on March 31, 2024, the second anniversary of the liberation of Bucha. (Presidential Office)
Russian intelligence services have launched a "huge number" of disinformation and psychological operations against Ukraine's top government and military officials, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) cybersecurity chief Illia Vitiuk said in an interview with Ukrinform published on April 4.
"There was a month when, according to our calculations, Russia launched more than a thousand different information attacks on various platforms," Vitiuk said.
When Valerii Zaluzhnyi was still Ukraine's commander-in-chief, there were many disinformation attacks and attempts to break into his accounts, the SBU official noted.
The SBU cybersecurity chief also said that the security service itself is being regularly targeted and that an attack is being prepared against Vitiuk personally.
Vitiuk explained that the hackers often seek to plant false information about Ukrainian officials, which is then unknowingly used by Ukrainian activists and serves to discredit said officials.
Russia learned to take "5% of facts and dilute it with 95% of interpretation and manipulation," Vitiuk commented.
The Washington Post reported in February that the Kremlin established a task force designed to undermine President Volodymyr Zelensky and drive a wedge between the Ukrainian population and its leadership.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
