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.
European foreign ministers approved the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine during a meeting in Lviv on May 9. The tribunal, which will operate under the auspices of the Council of Europe, aims to prosecute Russia's top political and military leadership, including President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine expects the tribunal to start work in 2026. The Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Hodunova spoke with Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel about the future tribunal and its role in bringing justice for Ukraine.
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.
More than 1,000 Russian government entities and 1,200 private companies are involved in the economy of occupied Mariupol, a major southeastern city occupied by Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, according to a research paper published on May 14.
Syrians wave flag of Russia and a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad during a rally in support of Russia in the Syrian capital Damascus, on March 25, 2022.(Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia is luring men from Syria to use them as cannon fodder in battles in Ukraine's east, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency (HUR) said on Sept. 17.
Throughout the full-scale war, Moscow has been using various schemes to enlist migrants and foreign nationals to offset the heavy losses it had suffered during the invasion while avoiding full mobilization.
Syria, a country ravaged by civil war and largely ruled by the Kremlin's ally Bashar al-Assad, is one of the key targets of these efforts.
"Russia has established a scheme with travel companies to recruit Syrians for the war against Ukraine. First, poor people are offered jobs as security guards in Russian oil regions, and then they are lured with a higher salary" to fight the war against Ukraine, HUR said on social media. Syrian nationals are also promised Russian passports.
💀 Сирійці зникають на Луганщині ― росіяни посилають іноземних найманців у м’ясні штурми
👉 Держава-агресор росія продовжує практики «жуковщини», використовуючи іноземних найманців у війні проти України як гарматне м’ясо.
Syrian mercenaries are then reportedly used as cannon fodder in mass infantry attacks and are being rejected evacuation when wounded. As an example, HUR presented the stories of Mohammed Mansour and Wahid Mursal Al-Shibli, two Syrian mercenaries fighting for Russia.
As part of a squad of 14 other Syrians, Mansur was deployed in an attack near Svatove in Luhansk Oblast in July. After coming under Ukrainian fire, Russia rejected the mercenaries' request for evacuation and ordered them to press the attack, HUR said.
Mansur allegedly refused to obey the order and fled the battlefield, while the rest of his unit dispersed and is now considered missing.
Al-Shibli was deployed in Luhansk Oblast as a member of a seven-member squad. He was injured in battle and died as he was not evacuated, HUR caimed.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify all the claims.
Some third-party countries have taken steps to prevent their citizens from dying on Ukrainian battlefields. India has reached a deal with Moscow to dischrage its nationals from the Russian Armed Forces, while Nepal stopped issuing work permits for Russia.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
