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.
"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.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses a "Jobturbo" meeting on labour issues in Berlin on Sept. 30, 2024 (SCHWARZ / AFP)
Germany's three-party governing coalition collapsed on Nov. 6 after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he had dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
The decision to fire Lindner over economic disagreements will likely propel the country into a snap election in the near term, as it is unlikely that Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SDP) will have enough votes to pass next year's budget.
In his statement following the dismissal, Scholz partly justified the decision by noting that he had asked Lindner to relax spending rules to allow increased aid for Ukraine, but Lindner refused.
"All too often, Minister Lindner has blocked laws in an inappropriate manner," Scholz said. "Too often he has engaged in petty party-political tactics. Too often he has broken my trust."
German media reported last week that Lindner's proposed policy paper called for significant changes to the country's economic policy, including reducing regulations on climate policy to stimulate economic growth as well as proposing tax cuts — in deep contrast with Scholz.
Political instability in Berlin may spell trouble for Kyiv amid the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — known for its amicable views toward the Kremlin — who has continuously called for cutting funding for Ukraine.
Under the current ruling coalition, Berlin allocated 7.6 billion euros ($8.2 billion) in military assistance for Kyiv in the 2024 budget.
Scholz previously said in June that the decreasing popularity of the SDP is in part connected with voters' opposition to the party's support for Ukraine.
SPD suffered a bruising loss in the elections for the European Parliament earlier in June, coming in third place, behind the center-right Conservative Christian Union-Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and far-right AfD.
Following the vote, Scholz said that many voters do not agree with the government's support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, which is "also reflected by the election results."
Scholz added that a confidence vote will be held on Jan. 15, potentially setting the stage for a early March election.
Lindner, a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), has consistently seen polling that insists that the FDP will not make the five per cent threshold for support needed for the party to make it into the German parliament in the next election, Politico reported. The coalition's collapse marks an opportunity for the FDP to break with the ruling government on a number of key issues.
Initially criticized for its sluggish delivery of military aid to Ukraine following the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Germany has become the second-largest provider of military equipment after the U.S.
In October, Scholz revealed that Germany had delivered a package of aid for Ukraine worth 600 million euros ($660 million), which included a fifth IRIS-T medium-range air defense system, armored vehicles, tanks, howitzers, ammunition, and drones.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Chris York
