Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for Saturday's grand final.
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.
People relax on a beach on Black Sea in Yalta, Crimea, on June 19, 2023. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian tourists have canceled summer holiday bookings in occupied Crimea en-masse, amid concerns over the "difficult security situation," Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said on July 19.
In a post on Telegram, HUR claimed 80% of trips to Sevastopol had been canceled while the rate across the peninsula as a whole was more than a third.
"The mass refusal of Russians to vacation in Crimea was influenced by the unreliable and deadly work of the invaders' air defense system," HUR said.
Russia has a number of military bases in Crimea, most notably in Sevastopol, home of the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet, though successful Ukrainian strikes forced Moscow to pull out much of its naval forces from the peninsula earlier this month.
Despite often being within sight of active military bases, some Russian tourists continue to vacation at the Black Sea beach resorts.
Last month, three people reportedly died when Russian air defenses intercepted Ukrainian missiles over the peninsula.
While HUR's claims about the cancelation rates could not be verified, earlier news reports paint a picture of a Crimean tourist industry in dire trouble.
In May, it was reported that local health resorts were offering discounts of up to 40% in an attempt to lure tourists to the peninsula.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Chris York
