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.
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.
The Kriti King, a crude oil tanker entering the Bosphorus on Nov. 22, 2023, heading towards the Black Sea and the port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Photo for illustrative purposes. (John Wreford/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Russia's "shadow fleet" of old and poorly insured tankers transports 70% of the country's seaborne oil exports, according to an analysis published by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Insititute on Oct. 14.
The report's conclusions underscore how Moscow is successfully evading the West's attempts to stifle its oil revenues through the $60-per-barrel price cap imposed two years ago.
The G7 unveiled the cap in late 2022 in an effort to undermine Russian fossil fuel profits, which feed Moscow's war against Ukraine, while minimizing impacts on the global oil market.
In the first half of 2024, almost 75% of Russian seaborne oil was reportedly shipped through northern European waters—including the Danish Straits and the English Channel—with roughly 60% of that carried by shadow tankers that are, on average, 18 years old.
The Ukraine-based think tank underscored the environmental risks posed by the shadow tankers, as these often uninsured and aging vessels increase the danger of oil spills.
Bloomberg reported in September that tankers also often reject the services of experienced Danish pilots when navigating the country's dangerous shipping straits, further increasing the risks.
The KSE Institute called for a coordinated approach to tackle Russia's shadow fleet to "protect the environment and ensure overall maritime safety in coalition waters." The report proposed several concrete steps, including mandatory insurance disclosure for vessels in the price cap coalition's waters.
The coalition should also work with the "flag states" — the nations under whose flags the vessels choose to sail — through diplomatic channels and commercial incentives to ensure their compliance with international regulations.
Tankers that do not adhere to these regulations should be sanctioned, and "coalition countries should have the authority to stop vessels posing immediate environmental or safety risks," the KSE Institute recommended.
The U.S., the EU, and other Western partners have been imposing additional sanctions against tankers and companies evading the price cap since late 2023.
The think tank noted that sanctions imposed against the shadow fleet have not impacted global oil prices and that Russia is unlikely to cut production. This means that the proposed steps would cause only minimal disruptions to global markets, the report concluded.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Nate Ostiller
