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.
Polish truckers plan to restrict freight traffic at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's State Border Guard said on May 12.
"If the Russians are using this level of specialists in urban combat, they are probably facing some difficulties," Ivan Petrychak, spokesperson for the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said.
Vsevolod Kniaziev, the former head of the Supreme Court, has been charged with bribery. Critics argue that the Kniazev case shows the failure of judicial reform. (Supreme Court press service)
Vsevolod Kniaziev, the former head of Ukraine's Supreme Court, was found guilty by a court in Kyiv of illegally accepting a gift after it was revealed he was renting an apartment in an elite neighborhood of Kyiv for Hr 1,000 ($26) a month, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) reported on Dec. 27.
Kniaziev was charged with accepting a $2.7 million bribe in May 2023. He was dismissed from his position through a vote of no confidence.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced in August that Ukrainian oligarch Kostyantyn Zhevago is suspected of having bribed Kniaziev and other Supreme Court judges in exchange for a decision in his favor.
As a result of the Dec. 27 court ruling, Kniaziev was found guilty of surpassing the monetary limit of gifts while holding the position of a judge. According to anti-corruption laws, offering property for below-market-rate value can constitute a gift.
According to the apartment rental app Bird, listings of similar size to the 133-square-meter apartment in Kyiv's upscale Pechersk neighborhood that Kniaziev rented cost around $2,000 per month.
As punishment, the court in Kyiv confiscated a gift of Hr 906,600 ($24,000) from Kniaziev and issued a fine of Hr 2,550 ($68).
Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court ordered on Dec. 21 that Kniaziev remain in custody on the bribery charges and lowered his bail from Hr 27 million ($716,000) to Hr 20 million ($530,000). His bail was originally set at Hr 107.3 million ($2.9 million) in May but has since been reduced several times.
Oleg Sukhov
