Russia seems to be preparing a significant offensive in Ukraine as it is moving troops toward key positions on the front, the Financial Times reported on May 13, citing undisclosed Ukrainian intelligence officials.
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.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that the new pontiff had a phone call with Zelensky on Monday, during which the pope expressed willingness to facilitate meetings between global leaders and vowed to support efforts for "a just and lasting peace."
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.
An aerial picture taken at sunrise on September 11, 2023 shows the buildings of the United Nations offices in Geneva ahead of the opening of the 54rd UN Human Rights Council. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia, expelled from the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022, seeks to rejoin the Geneva-based body, defying Western nations’ efforts to isolate the country over its invasion of Ukraine.
Several U.N. diplomats and analysts suggest that Russia aims to leverage its control over wartime grain shipments and arms and energy sales to gain support in a secret vote scheduled for Oct. 10. Alongside Russia, Albania and Bulgaria are competing for two seats representing eastern Europe.
Hillel Neuer, the executive director of U.N. Watch, a nonprofit organization monitoring the U.N., said in a comment to the Wall Street Journal that while some countries might hesitate to publicly vote for Russia, the promise of grain, arms, and oil could influence their decision.
Russian diplomats, on the other hand, accuse the United States of unfairly backing Albania and assert that the U.S. is exerting pressure in Africa to secure votes for the Balkan nation.
Alexander Pchelyakov, a spokesperson for the Russian mission in Geneva, dismisses allegations that Russia is using weapons and grain sales as leverage in the vote, describing them as a "feeble attempt at propaganda aimed at discrediting Russia among left-wing readers."
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
