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.
European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano speaks during a conference in Brussels, Belgium, on March 5, 2020. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said on Aug. 7 that "Ukraine has the legal right to defend itself, including striking an aggressor on its territory," in comments to Suspilne in reference to the ongoing battles in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
"The EU continues to fully support Ukraine's legitimate right to defense against Russian aggression and its efforts to restore sovereignty and territorial integrity," Stano said.
Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, resulting in clashes on Russian soil that were described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a large-scale provocation." Kyiv has not commented on the fighting in the area.
Russian pro-war Telegram channels claimed that fighting was ongoing in the region's towns of Sudzha and Korenevo, writing that the Russian military has retreated from the Sudzha gas metering station, which transits gas to Europe through Ukraine.
In response to the ongoing situation, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Washington hasn't changed its policy of allowing Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons "to target imminent threats just across the border."
When Russia launched its intensified offensive against Kharkiv Oblast in May, a number of countries said they had lifted restrictions on the use of Western-provided weapons against military targets inside Russia.
Kirby added that the U.S. was reaching out to its Ukrainian counterparts "to get a little better understanding" of the fighting in Kursk Oblast.
Kursk Oblast shares a 245-kilometer (152-mile) border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, which has been experiencing daily Russian attacks since the liberation of parts of its territory in April 2022.
Since the beginning of the reported incursion in Kursk Oblast, Sumy has also faced an uptick in Russian attacks. Ukraine's General Staff said that Russian warplanes had dropped about 30 guided aerial bombs on towns in the area over the past day.
Kateryna Denisova
