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.
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.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
"Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provisions on funding the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund," lawmaker Roksolana Pidlasa said.
During reconnaissance in an unspecified front-line sector, Special Operations Forces' operators detected Buk-M3 and Uragan-1 on combat duty, the unit said.
The suspect quit his job at the Rivne NPP before the full-scale war began. In the spring of 2025, a GRU liaison contacted him and offered cooperation in exchange for money.
President Volodymyr Zelensky would not meet any other Russian official apart from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul this week, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on the Breakfast Show program on May 13.
A diamond is held up for examination at a store run by Brilliant Earth, which uses conflict-free diamonds from Canadian mines, in San Francisco, California on June 5, 2009. (Chip Chipman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Feb. 8 imposed a ban on non-industrial diamonds mined in Russia, prohibiting their export regardless of whether they were processed in Russia or substantially transformed in a third country.
The new sanctions bring the U.S. in line with a commitment made by Group of Seven (G7) nations to impose phased restrictions on the import of diamonds mined or extracted in Russia. Included in the ban are the import of diamond jewelry and unsorted diamonds exported from Russia.
The new sanctions will come into effect on March 1 for certain categories of diamonds, and the U.S. will further expand its list to include additional categories of diamonds on Sep. 1, 2024, the OFAC noted.
The United States is the final G7 country to announce their adaption of the international commitment.
The G7 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K., represent 70% of the world's diamond market.
In alignment with the G7, European Union countries also agreed to ban the import of Russian diamonds with the EU's 12 sanction package against Russia in December 2023. The measures took effect on Jan. 1.
Russia is the world's largest diamond producer and earned around $4 billion from the diamond trade last year, helping the country fuel its war against Kyiv.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Martin Fornusek
