Turkish officials told Bloomberg that while they don't expect Trump to visit Istanbul, they are not ruling it out, and preparations for any scenario are underway.
Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023 in connection with the activities of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which was co-founded by Golos's legal predecessor, the Golos association.
Ukraine's underground storage facilities are currently using 19.4% of their capacity. Almost 32%, or 2.79 bcm, less gas is available in the storages than in the previous year, according to the estimates.
The majority of Ukrainians, 71%, do not support holding elections before a full peace deal, even in the case of a ceasefire and security guarantees, according to a poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on May 14.
"He'd like me to be there, and that's a possibility. ... I don't know that he would be there if I'm not there. We're going to find out," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Qatar, Reuters reported.
Trump has long demanded that NATO allies increase their military spending, previously calling for the alliance to raise its benchmark from 2% to 5% of GDP.
More than 1,000 Russian government entities and 1,200 private companies are involved in the economy of occupied Mariupol, a major southeastern city occupied by Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, according to a research paper published on May 14.
The measures target almost 200 ships of Russia's "shadow fleet," 30 companies involved in sanctions evasion, 75 sanctions on entities and individuals linked to the Russian military-industrial complex, and more.
The government has approved "reform roadmaps in the rule of law, public administration, and democratic institutions, as well as Ukraine’s negotiation position," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
The statement did not name the ex-official by name, but details of the case indicate it relates to Oleh Hladkovsky, a former deputy secretary of Ukraine's top security body who has been wanted since mid-April.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrives at the 2018 NATO Summit at NATO headquarters on July 12, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Editor's note: The article was updated with additional comments from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Russia must admit responsibility for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane after it was hit by fire from the ground over Russian territory, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a television interview on Dec. 29.
Flight J2-8243 was flying from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Grozny in Chechnya before changing course and crashing in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25, killing 38 people. Multiple reports and official statements indicated that Russian air defense fire was responsible for the disaster.
"We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia... We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done," Aliyev said in the interview with the state-run Azerbaijan Television, accusing Russia of attempting to "hush up" the incident.
"Of course, the final version will be known after the black boxes are opened. But the initial versions are also well-founded and based on facts," the head of state added.
"And the facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian aircraft was damaged from the outside, over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and practically lost control.
"We also know that our aircraft was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare," the Azerbaijani president said, adding that the tail section was seriously damaged as a result of fire from the ground.
Aliyev further said that on Dec. 27, Baku delivered its list of demands to Russia, including an apology, an admission of responsibility, holding the perpetrators criminally responsible, and paying compensation to the Azerbaijani state and the affected passengers and crew members.
"These are our conditions. The first of them was already fulfilled yesterday. I hope that our other conditions will be accepted as well," Aliyev said in the interview, according to the Azerbaijan State News Agency.
Putin, who has fostered close economic and political ties with Azerbaijan, called Aliyev on Dec. 28 to apologize "for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace" without commenting on whether the plane was hit by Russian air defenses.
The Kremlin said that the plane made multiple attempts to land at Grozny airport during a Ukrainian drone attack, which was reportedly repelled by Russian air defenses.
Western countries said the disaster was a result of Russia's "reckless" behavior and called for a transparent investigation.
Putin and Aliyev held another phone call about the plane crash on Dec. 29, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, without revealing details.
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.
Oleg Sukhov
