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.
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.
Screenshot of a video reportedly showing a fire at an ammunition depot in Russia's Voronezh Oblast on June 25, 2024. (Ukraine's military intelligence agency/Telegram)
Satellite imagery obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) shows at least two pockets of fire, consistent with local accounts of two drones attacking the field ammunition depot in the region's Olkhovatsky district overnight on June 25.
The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) claimed responsibility for the attack. They shared a video in the morning on June 25 showing plumes of smoke rising into the sky and reported that the blaze covered approximately 3,500 square meters, with the depot still burning. It is located about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast.
Local authorities declated a state of emergency in the district. Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev explained that it was introduced "to quickly eliminate the consequences of the detonation." He had earlier said that "explosive objects" detonated following a Ukrainian drone strike. Nobody was injured in the attack, according to the governor.
Ukrainian forces frequently carry out drone strikes and sabotage operations on Russian territory, targeting military assets, oil refineries, and industrial facilities.
A few days earlier, a drone strike in Russia's southern Krasnodar Krai targeted a Russian base for Shahed kamikaze drones.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
