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.
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).
An airport expressway is decorated with the national flags of Russia and China to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, China on May 15, 2024. (Chen Boyuan/VCG via Getty Images)
China is supplying Russia with materials that directly boost Russia's war machine, and in return is receiving military technology support from Russia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told journalists on Sept. 10.
China has positioned itself as neutral in the ongoing war but has deepened economic ties with Russia and become Moscow's leading source of dual-use goods, feeding the Russian defense industry.
China is making a "very substantial effort" to help "sustain, build, and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine," Campbell said, as quoted by Politico.
According to the U.S., Beijing and Moscow are making significant efforts to "both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration."
The latest materials China has supplied Russia "are not dual-use capabilities," Campbell said. "These are basically being applied directly to the Russian war machine."
The U.S. is also concerned by a "number of military arenas" where Russia appears to be providing China with greater support, such as submarine operations, aeronautical design, and missile capabilities, Campbell said.
A growing collaboration between China and Russia in terms of strengthening military technologies could pose a danger to India, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the U.S., Campbell said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also singled out China during a press conference with his British counterpart David Lammy on Sept. 10, following the news that Russia had received shipments of Iranian ballistic missiles.
"Anyone who is providing assistance to Russia, whether it is direct assistance like Iran or North Korea, whether it is assistance to their defense industrial base, like China, is perpetuating the war," Blinken said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in July that alliance members agree that China is a "decisive enabler" of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing described the statement as "provocative" and claimed to have never provided lethal weapons.
Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independence. She previously worked as a news editor at the Kyiv Independent and was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post. She has a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Elsa is originally from the UK.
Oleg Sukhov
