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.
A captive named Umit allegedly agreed to serve in the Russian army in exchange for Russian citizenship and a monetary reward of 2 million rubles ($25,000).
Russia's Buryatia Republic declared a state of emergency on May 13 over massive forest fires that have engulfed multiple regions in the Russian Far East.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
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.
The photo published by Ukrainian prosecutors purportedly shows Russian troops who shot Ukrainian prisoners of war near the village of Novopil in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 3, 2025. (Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office)
Russian troops shot three unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) on May 3 near the village of Novopil in Donetsk Oblast, the regional prosecutor's office reported on May 6.
The execution of prisoners of war is a breach of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as an international crime.
Russian soldiers captured three Ukrainian servicemen during the assaults near Novopil and forced them to lay down their arms. The Russian military then shot the Ukrainian soldiers, according to Ukrainian prosecutors.
The case is being investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.N. for a response.
"The international community should immediately respond to the following systemic gross violations by Russia," Lubinets wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine has previously documented widespread violations of the Geneva Conventions by Russian forces, including the execution of 177 captured Ukrainian soldiers as of mid-December 2024.
Visual evidence of such atrocities continues to emerge, reinforcing concerns over Moscow’s systematic violations of international law.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Asami Terajima
