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.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley speaks during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on March 28, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Russia has well over 200,000 troops stationed in the occupied parts of Ukraine, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in an interview with CNN on Sept. 18.
While acknowledging that Ukraine's counteroffensive has moved at a relatively slow pace, the general stressed that the Ukrainian military "is not a spent force" and is making steady gains.
According to Milley, Kyiv's ongoing military campaign cannot be described as a failure since Ukraine broke through several Russian defensive belts and still has time to achieve more results.
The general, who is expected to retire as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by the end of the month, said earlier on Sept. 10 that Ukraine has about 30-45 days remaining for the offensive before the weather worsens.
Milley nevertheless noted that even if the counteroffensive achieves all its goals, it would not be enough to push out Russian forces completely from Ukraine.
Ejecting all the 200,000 occupying troops will take a "considerable length of time," well beyond the scope of the ongoing campaign, the general said.
Ukraine's counteroffensive which has been ongoing in the country's southeast at least since June has attracted criticism for its slow pace and limited gains.
However, the past few weeks saw several notable successes by Ukraine as the military broke through the first line of Russian defenses in the southand began fighting at the supposedly weaker second line.
Earlier on Sept. 18, General Oleksandr Syrskyi who heads the military operations in the east said that Ukrainian troops had broken through one of the Russian defensive lines also near Bakhmut on the eastern front.
The recent liberation of the Klishchiivka village south of the occupied city reportedly created a bridgehead for further counteroffensive operations in the area, Ukrainian military spokesperson Illia Yevlash said.
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.
Asami Terajima
