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.
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not pictured) at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany on Feb. 17, 2024. (Wolfgang Rattay / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
The Democrat-leaning America’s Future Majority Fund super PAC (political action committee) unveiled new ads highlighting VP Kamala Harris' record on Ukraine while criticizing former President Donald Trump's comments on the NATO alliance.
The TV and digital ads, which will be run in battleground swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, are expected to target Eastern European-American voters, including the sizeable Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian diasporas, Politico reportedon Sept. 12.
The new ad buy is in line with Kamala Harris' appeals to target key voter groups ahead of what is expected to be a razor-thin election result. During the presidential debate on Sept. 10, Harris attempted to appeal to the “800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania,” while warning that Poland may be the next victim of Russian attack if Russian President Vladimir Putin is successful in Ukraine.
"If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now, and understand what that would mean, because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine," Harris said during the debate.
Crucial swing state Pennsylvania has a Polish diaspora of 700,000 people and a Ukrainian diaspora of over 120,000 residents - or about a combined six per cent of the state's population. And in Michigan, the large Polish diaspora makes up approximately nine percent of the population, while in Wisconsin, it constitutes about eight percent.
President Joe Biden only defeated Donald Trump by a margin as little as 0.7 percentage points in Wisconsin - or just 20,000 votes - in the 2020 presidential election, with only slightly larger margins in other the swing states.
During the presidential debate on Sept. 10 Harris pledged to support Ukrainewhile Trump refused to answer whether Ukraine being victorious was in the best interests of the U.S., instead insisting that it was "in the U.S.'s best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. Negotiate a deal."
The former president also reiterated previous statements that his primary concern was ending the war but refrained from detailing how he planned to do so.
The new ad buy also points to Trump's previous comments on investments in defense spending. The ads highlight Trump's previous comments that he would urge Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to NATO countries that fail to meet defense spending obligations.
The America’s Future Majority Fund super PAC is led by former New Jersey Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, Maryland Democratic State Senator Jim Rosapepe - who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Romania - and former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Mark Siegel.
Super PACs are considered as independent entities and are legally required to operate independently from political candidates and parties.
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.
Owen Racer
