Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that the new pontiff had a phone call with Zelensky on Monday, during which the pope expressed willingness to facilitate meetings between global leaders and vowed to support efforts for "a just and lasting peace."
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.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets during the "Ukraine. Year 2024" forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2024. (Dmytro Larin/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Aug. 16 he had appealed to the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over a video of Russian troops allegedly displaying the head of a decapitated Ukrainian soldier.
The video surfaced on social media earlier this week. It shows a man in Russian military fatigues with a covered face with what appears to be a severed head put upon a spike in the background.
The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified.
Ukrainska Pravda's undisclosed source said that Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office is still investigating the footage. The outlet also claimed it had obtained an intercepted audio of a Russian soldier ordering the decapitation of four dead Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainska Pravda did not publish the recording.
"(Russia) uses such videos to intimidate and demoralize Ukrainians. However, this only strengthens our desire to bring everyone who commits such inhuman atrocities to justice!" Lubinets said on his Telegram channel.
The ombudsman called it "another violation of international humanitarian law by Russia."
DeepState, a Ukrainian crowd-sourced monitoring site, claimed the video was shot at the Kolotilovka border checkpoint in Russia's Belgorod Oblast following an unsuccessful Ukrainian attack on Aug. 12.
Ukraine's cross-border incursions have been ongoing since Aug. 6, focusing on Kursk Oblast but with hostilities reported also in neighboring Belgorod Oblast.
Kolotilovka lies on the Russian side of the Russia-Ukraine border crossing, roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Ukraine's Sumy, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Russia's Belgorod, and 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of the administrative border with Kursk Oblast.
The perpetrators were soldiers of Russia's 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, which has suffered heavy losses in Ukraine and had to restore its ranks with mobilized conscripts, DeepState said.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.
Back in June, a similar case surfaced after what appeared to be footage of a severed head of a Ukrainian soldier displayed on an armored vehicle appeared online.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said at the time that he had received information that Russian commanders had given orders "not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty - by beheading."
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.
Alexander Khrebet
