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.
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.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (C) during the third Crimean Platform summit on Aug. 23, 2023. (Source: Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal/Telegram)
Ukraine is looking for ways to confiscate Russian assets frozen in the West and use them to pay for recovery and reconstruction in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Aug. 23.
Damages caused by Russia in the occupied peninsula amount to at least Hr 120 billion ($3.3 billion), although the exact sum will be known only after Crimea's liberation from Russian occupation, the prime minister said during the Crimean Platform summit in Kyiv.
Ukraine wants to create an international mechanism through which the aggressor would be mandated to pay for all the damages it has caused, Shmyhal added.
"While Crimea is occupied, it is impossible to talk about justice, sustainable peace, security in Europe and an international rules-based order," Shmyhal stressed during his address.
"But our flag will rise again over Ukrainian Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, and other cities on Ukraine's peninsula."
Ukrainian assets lost in Crimea include property of state companies who operated on the peninsula prior to the occupation, such as the oil and gas monopoly Naftogaz.
In February, Russian occupation authorities in Crimea seized over 500 more Ukrainian-owned assets, including banks, tourist infrastructure, and private property.
Western countries have frozen around $300 billion of Russia's Central Bank assets since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
While American lawmakers have proposed to transfer the blocked funds to Ukraine to support its post-war recovery, critics have pointed out the legal pitfalls of this move, as sovereign assets are covered by "sovereign immunity" – an understanding that one state will not seize another's property.
In turn, the EU has been exploring options of taxing over $200 billion of frozen Russian Central Bank assets and transferring the profits to Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, windfall profits from these assets could generate up to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in cash and securities.
Kyiv is hosting the third summit of the Crimean Platform, an international consultation and coordination format aimed at ensuring the liberation of the peninsula from the Russian occupation.
Since its inaugural summit on Aug. 23, 2021, it has gathered participants from dozens of countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and elsewhere, as well as non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, including the EU.
Russia has been occupying the peninsula since 2014 after the Euromaidan Revolution ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
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.
Martin Fornusek
