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.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Ukraine remains the most mined country in the world. Nearly one-third of Ukraine's territory, approximately 174,000 square kilometers, had been mined since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The patches with a white-blue-white flag and the logo of the Free Russia Legion are seen during a briefing in northern Ukraine, not far from the Russian border, on May 24, 2023. (Photo by NurPhoto/Getty Images)
The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion crossed the border into Russia from Ukraine on March 12 to conduct combat operations, according to the Russian anti-Kremlin armed groups.
The Freedom of Russia Legion later said that it had taken control of the village of Tyotkino in Russia's Kursk Oblast. The legion claimed that Russian forces had fled and abandoned equipment in the process.
According to the spokesperson of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Andrii Yusov, the units are comprised of Russian citizens acting as part of Ukraine’s “security and defense forces.”
“(They are) helping to liberate Ukraine from the Russian invaders,” Yusov said. “But these are citizens of the Russian Federation, and at home (in Russia) they have the right to do whatever they think is necessary in this situation to protect their civil rights and free their country from the Russian Putin dictatorship.”
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it “thwarted Kyiv’s attempt to make a breakthrough into the Russian border territory in the Belgorod and Kursk oblasts,” adding that the incursion took place “simultaneously in three directions.”
The ministry did not refer directly to the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion, saying only that the “Ukrainian terrorists who tried to break into Russian territory were struck by aviation, missile forces, and artillery.”
Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Russian parliament and now living in exile in Ukraine, claimed that the Russian militia groups entered Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk oblasts for a “joint operation.”
“The border towns of Lozovaya Rudka in Belgorod Oblast is fully under the control of the liberation forces,” he said on Facebook. “In Tyotkino in Kursk Oblast, a small arms battle is underway at the moment.”
The Freedom of Russia Legion later published a video purporting to show the unit operating in Tyotkino, claiming to have destroyed a Russian armored personnel carrier in the village.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify Ponomarev’s claim or the armed group’s alleged footage.
Both the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion posted videos on their social media platforms purporting to show their respective groups operating in Russia.
“Like all our fellow citizens, in the Legion we dream of a Russia freed from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s dictatorship,” the Freedom of Russia Legion wrote on Twitter.
“But we don’t just dream: we work hard to realize those dreams. We will take back our land centimeter by centimeter from the regime. Russians will sleep well, will not be afraid of the doorbell, and will not be afraid to say what they think. Russians will vote for whom they want, not for whom they have to. Russians will live freely.”
The Siberian Battalion urged Russians via social media to ignore the Russian presidential elections, which are set to take place in mid-March, calling the ballots and polling stations “fiction.”
This is not the first incursion into Russia from Ukraine by Russian anti-Kremlin armed groups.
The Freedom of Russia Legion crossed into Russia’s Belgorod Oblast in May 2023, which Yusov said was to “liberate these territories from Putin’s regime and push back the enemy to create a certain zone for protecting Ukrainian civilians.”
Emmanuelle Chaze
