The convictions mark a significant development in Britain's efforts to counter Russian intelligence operations amid heightened tensions stemming from Moscow's war against Ukraine and repeated Kremlin threats toward Kyiv's allies.
According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
A coal supplies manager walks across the coal storage depot at the Luhansk thermal power station, operated by DTEK, in Schastia, Ukraine on March 5, 2015 (Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Russia must pay $267 million in damages to DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, the company announced on Nov. 2.
The payment is in compensation for assets in Crimea that Russia seized from the company when it illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.
DTEK previously owned the Crimean subsidiary DTEK Krymenergo, which provided more than 80% of the power to Crimea, but it was unlawfully taken over by Russian forces following the annexation.
The legal battle against the Russian government has been ongoing since 2017.
"Today's decision marks another milestone in holding Russia accountable for its expropriation of Ukrainian investments in Crimea," said Marni Cheek, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, who represented DTEK in the case.
The $267 million payment includes interest and court costs.
DTEK said that it plans to immediately begin the process of executing the decision and recouping its award on the "territory where Russian assets are located," but it is unclear how the ruling will be enforced, and how DTEK will receive the award.
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.
Alexander Query
