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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with U.S. congressmen in Kyiv on Oct. 30, 2023. (President Volodymyr Zelensky/Twitter)
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen in Kyiv on Oct. 30, the President's Office reported.
It included Republican James French Hill and Democrats Michael Quigley and Stephen Lynch.
The visit was "a powerful signal of support for our country and the entire Ukrainian people from the United States," Zelensky's statement read.
"We highly appreciate the fact that the Republican and Democratic parties, the administration of President Joseph Biden, as well as the U.S. Congress, are united in supporting Ukraine," he added.
Nonetheless, continued bipartisan support for Ukraine from Congress is far from certain.
Newly elected Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, is seen as a skeptic on U.S. aid for Ukraine. In one of his first major actions as speaker, Johnson said on Oct. 29 that he would support a standalone bill that includes defense funding for Israel but not for Ukraine.
U.S. Republican Party's Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has sought to rally members of his party to keep the $61 billion for Ukraine as part of the White House's $105 billion funding package.
Although continued support for Ukraine is still approved by a majority in Congress, there is a significant partisan divide: Democrats are by and large more in favor of supporting Ukraine compared to Republicans.
The gap extends to the electorate as well. A poll released on Sept. 20 by Ukrainian grassroots organization Razom found that 87% of self-reported Democrat respondents articulated their support for the continuation of aid, compared to 48% of Republican respondents.
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.
Anastasiia Malenko
