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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. A DTEK emergency crew fixes a powerline on top of an electric pylon in the summer of 2022 in an unknown village still bearing the marks of Russia's war. (DTEK)
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, lost 50% of its generating capacity due to Russia’s March 22 mass attack on the country’s energy system, the CEO of one of its subsidiaries said on March 24.
Speaking on national television, Serhii Kovalenko of Yasno said it will take “months” for the network to recover, and the full extent of the damage and what will be required to fix it is still being assessed.
"DTEK Group has lost 50% of its generating capacity. We can officially say this information," he said.
The Hydroelectric Power Station-2 (HPS-2), one of the two stations of Zaporizhzhia's Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant, was in critical condition following the attack.
The dam itself suffered damage as well, but officials said already on March 22 that there was no risk of a breach.
Kovalenko said the Russian attack was particularly damaging as it targeted both generating and distribution parts of the Ukrainian energy system.
"Several types of generating capacities were hit, a large number of thermal power plants were hit, and a hydrogen-generating facility was hit," he said.
"The second part is that the enemy hit a lot of Ukrenergo network nodes, transformers, etc... This attack simultaneously destroys the system's ability to transmit electricity and undermines our generation capabilities."
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have continued in the days since – parts of the city of Odesa were left without electricity after being targeted by drones overnight on March 25.
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Igor Kossov
