If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
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.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
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.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel speaks about the future of the EU-led special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its role in bringing Russia to justice.
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.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks to the media prior to talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery on Jan. 24, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Slovakia's Ukraine-skeptic Prime Minister Robert Fico accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to attend the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow next May, Fico announced on Nov. 27.
Fico is known for inflammatory statements on Ukraine and the war that often echo Moscow's talking points. He has repeatedly criticized military aid for Ukraine and called for restoring relations with Russia after the war.
"The Red Army and the nations of the former Soviet Union played an irreplaceable role in defeating fascism and the victory in World War II," Fico said on Facebook.
"The Slovak government values the legacy of the struggle against fascism, the historical truth about World War II, and the role played by the Red Army... That is why I was happy to accept the official invitation by Russian Presiden Vladimir Putin to attend these important celebrations, which I will."
Fico's planned visit comes as another jab at the Western efforts to internationally isolate Putin over Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. Slovakia is a member state of both NATO and the EU.
The Kremlin uses the annual victory celebrations for propaganda purposes and to showcase its military might, while Russian propaganda leans heavily on the Soviet victory in World War II.
Putin has repeatedly hurled false accusations of fascist and Nazi tendencies against the Ukrainian government after the EuroMaidan Revolution, presenting the full-scale invasion as an effort to "de-Nazify" the country.
Echoing the Kremlin's propaganda talking points, Fico said in 2023 that the war in Ukraine began in 2014 because of "Ukrainian fascists" killing "ethnic Russian civilians." He also said this year in September that some of Ukraine's units have links to fascism and Nazism, leading to a rebuke from Kyiv.
Last month, Fico appeared in an online interview with sanctioned Russian propagandist Olga Skabeyeva, claiming that the West grows tired of supporting Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
