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.
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) building in Kyiv on Jan. 1, 2012. (Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Ukraine's parliament passed a law creating an electronic registry for the purposes of mobilization, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Jan. 16.
As the military seeks to replenish its ranks amid the full-scale war with Russia, the government submitted a draft law on mobilization and military service to the parliament on Dec. 25, outlining plans for further conscription and tightening restrictions on draft evaders. The bill passed on Jan. 16 does not address the larger issue of mobilization but aims to improve the digitalization of Ukraine's army.
The new legislation will create a single digital registry for conscription purposes that will have all the relevant information easily accessible to those overseeing mobilization.
It will make conscripts' contacts available for military recruiters, make it easier to identify who has already taken part in combat and streamline other processes related to mobilization and services for soldiers.
The bill "is critically important for the defense capability of Ukraine," the Defense Ministry said.
Beyond addressing issues with digitalizing the personal information of soldiers and conscripts, the ministry said that the bill would strengthen cyber security and allow for the placement of its IT systems within the cloud storage of NATO member countries.
Shortly after being appointed in September 2023, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced his intention to digitize the conscription process and create an electronic military ID card.
"The task is to digitalize all processes and launch a single registry of conscripts, which will eliminate any corruption risks. Everything that can be digitalized must be digitalized," said Umerov in September.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Alexander Khrebet
