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.
Ukraine's government building in Kyiv. (Wikipedia)
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers approved a ban on the use of software and websites from Russia and other sanctioned countries, the government announced on Aug. 16.
Kyiv had already begun blocking Russian services years before Russia's full-scale invasion. Since 2017, platforms like VKontakte, Mail.ru, Yandex, and many websites with the .ru domain have been banned in Ukraine.
The new draft law aims to introduce additional types of sanctions into Ukraine's legislation.
"Ukrainian companies will not be able to use programs created in Russia or by companies affiliated with Russia. Websites and services that threaten national security will also be blocked," Digital Transformations Minister Mykhailo Fedorovsaid.
The ban will extend to software developed by individuals or companies from sanctioned states, as well as companies with partial ownership by sanctioned countries or those controlled by foreign entities involved in "terrorist activities" or under sanctions, regardless of their country of origin.
The draft law also proposes banning access to websites owned by sanctioned individuals or organizations. The bill still requires approval by Ukraine's parliament.
"(We) are strengthening digital security and protecting Ukraine from cyberattacks," Fedorov added.
Russia has reportedly launched thousands of cyberattacks against Ukrainian organizations since the start of its full-scale invasion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is gathering evidence on Russian intelligence hackers who were behind last December's attack on Kyivstar, the country's leading telecommunications provider, and will pass the materials to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Abbey Fenbert
