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.
"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.
A shopper working for Zakaz.ua puts together a grocery order in a supermarket in Kyiv. The order will then be packed and delivered to the clientю (Photo: Zakaz.ua)
Spanish food delivery service Glovo has signed an acquisition deal with the Ukraine-based grocery delivery service Zakaz.ua, Ukrainian tech media Ain.ua reported on Jan. 21.
The companies didn't disclose the acquisition cost, but according to experts' estimates, the negotiations could have started at $15-20 million and shouldn't have exceeded $50 million.
According to Ain, Glovo paid owners of the Ukrainian startup in shares and cash. Zakaz.ua's main shareholder Chernovetskyi Investment Group (CIG), reportedly, got 20% in cash and 80% in shares.
CIG is owned by Stepan Chernovetskyi, a Ukrainian investor best known for being the son of infamous former Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi, alleged by Ukraine's Security Service of abuse of office. Leonid Chernovetskyi allegedly resides in Georgia.
Since 2010, CIG poured nearly $15 million in Zakaz.ua, according to Ain.
For the Spanish tech giant with over $1,2 billion in funding, Zakaz.ua is a small deal. Zakaz.ua delivers food from supermarkets in Ukraine, Moldova and Uzbekistan, while Glovo operates in nearly 25 countries.
According to Chernovetskyi, Zakaz.ua was expected to receive nearly $130 million in revenue in 2021. The same year, Glovo earned over $900 million. In January 2022, German firm Delivery Hero acquired 80% of Glovo's shares valuing the company at $2,6 billion.
Despite high revenue, both Zakaz.ua and Glovo aren't profitable businesses. Oleksandr Matsuk, senior investment associate at SocialTech, told Forbes Ukraine that Glovo losses over $40 million a month. Both companies are private and don't publish financial results.
It's not unusual in the food delivery industry for companies to attract investments while losing money. Popular services like Glovo, DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats attract billions of dollars from investors without making profit.
Food delivery services spend money on advertising, couriers' salaries, refunds to customers and logistics, ending up receiving only 2,5% of a customer’s overall bill, according to a Deutsche Bank analysis.
The only way they can survive the growing competition is by increasing the number of deliveries per day. The reason behind Glovo's success is the ability to rapidly expand into new markets, because of the support from big investors.
Ukrainian Zakaz.ua couldn't repeat this success. The small startup was created 10 years ago by Ukrainian tech entrepreneur Yegor Anchishkin, who left the company after it failed to enter the U.S. market.
It's not the first acquisition by Glovo.
Glovo started to acquire small delivery businesses in May 2021. Among the first purchases were local Spanish delivery Lola Market and Portuguese Mercadão.
By swallowing small companies, Glovo strengthened its position on the market and dived into the new business niche – the launch of the so-called dark stores, warehouses, or kitchens owned by delivery services that aim to replace the delivery from traditional groceries and cafes.
Daryna Antoniuk is a tech reporter at the Kyiv Independent. She worked in the same role at the Kyiv Post and has focused on Ukrainian startups, investment and the fintech market. Antoniuk previously was a tech reporter for Forbes Ukraine. Her work has also been published at Sifted and The Record. She graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv with BA in journalism and communications.
