In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for the grand final on May 17.
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.
MEDYKA, POLAND - FEBRUARY 17: A woman carries a suitcase as she crosses the Polish Ukrainian border on February 17, 2023 in Medyka, Poland. Since Russia's large scale military attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 more than 9.7 million refugees from Ukraine crossed the Polish borders to escape the conflict, with 1.4 million registering in Poland whilst others moved on to other countries. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
Companies in Poland are seeing increasing shortages of workers as the influx of Ukrainians into the country slows, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on Aug. 5, citing data from Credit Agricole bank.
In total, 1.16 million foreigners work in Poland, 11 times more than 10 years ago, Rzeczpospolita said. Poland is home to the highest number of Ukrainians of all EU countries.
At the end of 2021, around 650,000 Ukrainians had Polish residency permits. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine meant that by the end of 2023, around 955,000 Ukrainians were living in Poland as refugees, many of them children.
Sectors that tend to employ immigrants, such as logistics, manufacturing, transport, and construction, are now increasingly seeing staff shortages, and "the situation may get worse," according to Rzeczpospolita.
"The space for further inflow of workers from abroad is already limited," as the potential for immigration from Ukraine "is slowly being exhausted," Rzeczpospolita said.
Poland's government is also expected to tighten its immigration policy for workers from outside Europe, which will further compound the issue, Rzeczpospolita added.
Polish Ambassador to Kyiv Jaroslaw Guzy said in March that although Warsaw is "absolutely neutral" on whether Ukrainians should stay or return home, "Ukrainians are very important from the point of view of the Polish labor market."
Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independence. She previously worked as a news editor at the Kyiv Independent and was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post. She has a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Elsa is originally from the UK.
Dinara Khalilova
