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.
Russian UAV strikes target in Kyiv in 2022. Russia has used low-cost Iran-designed drones to chip away at Ukraine's sophisticated air defenses provided by the West. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia launched at least 4,300 Shahed-type attack drones and similar UAVs imitating Shaheds against Ukraine between August and October 2024, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
This number represents a sharp rise compared to earlier months, when 1,133 Shahed-type drones were launched over Ukraine from May to July.
October also marked a record-high month for Russia’s drone deployments with over 2,000 drones launched. President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Western allies to apply more sanctions against the providers of components used in Russian drones.
"This volume of 'Shahed' drones means over 170,000 components that should have been blocked from reaching Russia," Zelensky said in his evening address on Nov. 2. "Microchips, microcontrollers, processors, and many other parts are essential for enabling this terror."
"All of these are supplied to Russia from abroad, unfortunately, from companies in China, Europe, and America—a multitude of small but significant contributions to Russia’s ongoing terror," Zelensky added.
Between August and October, Ukrainian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 3,063 of 4,300 drones, achieving a success rate of 71% through coordinated defense efforts. During the same period, the Air Force also reported that 1,052 drones, or 24% of those launched, were "locally lost," vanishing from radar — presumably due to electronic warfare measures or other disruptions.
The General Staff noted that only five percent of Russian drones reached their intended targets during this time frame, although drones shot down by air defenses can still cause damage or destruction upon falling.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Kateryna Hodunova
