According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally on Dec. 17. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
As president of the U.S., Donald Trump “made it very clear” that he believed Ukraine “must be part of Russia,” his former advisor Fiona Hill said, The Guardian reported on April 12, citing an excerpt from a book by The New York Times reporter David Sanger.
Trump, a presumptive nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential run, has repeatedly said he could end Russia’s war within 24 hours if elected president, without specifying the steps for reaching a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Hill reportedly alleged that Trump thought "Ukraine, and certainly Crimea, must be part of Russia.”
The book's author wrote that such a view of Trump regarding Ukraine actually coincided with that of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly denied Ukraine's statehood and independence, the Guardian reported.
Hard-line Republican lawmakers close to Trump oppose further assistance for Kyiv, reportedly pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson not to call a vote on the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine in the House of Representatives.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea of ceding the country's territories in exchange for peace. Zelensky nevertheless said that Ukraine is likely to lose the warunless Congress approves additional support.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea and invaded Donbas in 2014. In September 2022, Putin illegally declared the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian oblasts: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Kris Parker
