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.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
First-graders go to school in Kyiv on Sept. 1, 2023. (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Amid Russia's ongoing war, around 340,000 children in the country entered first grade on Sep. 1, the first official year of school for children in Ukraine, Deputy Education Minister Andrii Vitrenko said on Aug. 31.
The figure is a 4.6% increase from 2022 when 325,000 children started school. Ukraine begins the new school year on Sep. 1, known as Knowledge Day.
This is the second year students are starting school the school year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, which has destroyed or damaged thousands of schools and prevented over two million students from attending school as normal.
Only a third of children in Ukraine go to school in-person, according to UNICEF, citing the latest school enrollment data. Continued Russian attacks mean that a third learn fully online, and another third learn in a hybrid approach.
Educational institutions in areas that are close to hostilities remain shut as schools are often a target for Russian forces.
In August, school buildings were hit in strikes on Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, and Kharkiv oblasts.
On Aug. 23, a Russian attack drone struck a school in Romny, Sumy Oblast, killing four people and injuring four others.
The bodies of the school principal, deputy principal, secretary, and librarian were retrieved from under the rubble. They were in the building to prepare for the start of the school year.
The government has allocated Hr 1.5 billion (about $40 million) to provide bomb shelters in schools. Currently, 76% of educational institutions have access to them.
Kyiv has shelters in 417 out of its 420 schools, with most educational institutions in the capital opting for in-person teaching this year, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sep. 1.
According to the city council, 240,000 children will attend school in Kyiv in-person, a huge increase from 94,000 in September 2022. At that time, 26% of Kyiv's students were either abroad or living in other regions of Ukraine.
In Kyiv, 25,000 children will enter school on Sep. 1, a number close to pre-war levels, officials said.
Martin Fornusek
