The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
European foreign ministers approved the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine during a meeting in Lviv on May 9. The tribunal, which will operate under the auspices of the Council of Europe, aims to prosecute Russia's top political and military leadership, including President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine expects the tribunal to start work in 2026. The Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Hodunova spoke with Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel about the future tribunal and its role in bringing justice for Ukraine.
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.
Flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 28, 2023. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The government approved a draft of the Ukraine Facility plan for submission to the European Commission, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 29.
"Today, we are approving the project of the Ukraine Facility plan for submission to the European Commission. Together with businesses, the public sector, the deputies' corps, and (Ukraine's) regions, we have done a lot of work to create it," Shmyhal said.
The Ukraine Facility (The Facility) is designed to support Ukraine, its recovery, and its path to European Union accession, allocating up to 50 billion euros ($55.3 billion) from 2024 to 2027.
The Facility is comprised of three pillars: It will give Ukraine direct financial support through grants and loans, mobilize private investment in Ukraine through guarantees and blended finance, and finance assistance and capacity-building programs for Ukraine's national, regional, and municipal levels of government and civil society to help them achieve EU standards.
To unlock the support, Kyiv was required to prepare a "Ukraine Plan," detailing its vision for Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, and modernization, in cooperation with the European Commission.
The program's final conditions will be announced once the European Council approves the Ukraine Facility regulation, Shmyhal said. The meeting is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2024.
According to Shmyhal, around $43 billion of the total $55.3 billion will be targeted at "ensuring (Ukraine's) macro-financial stability."
"Currently, there are ongoing developments, to which the European Commission will still provide its comments and suggestions," Shmyhal said.
According to a joint assessment by the World Bank, the Ukrainian government, the European Commission, and the UN in March, Ukraine's reconstruction needs over the next 10 years amount to 384 billion euros ($411 billion) and 142 billion euros ($152 billion) for the 2023-2027 period.
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Daria Shulzhenko
