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.
The measures target almost 200 ships of Russia's "shadow fleet," 30 companies involved in sanctions evasion, 75 sanctions on entities and individuals linked to the Russian military-industrial complex, and more.
The government has approved "reform roadmaps in the rule of law, public administration, and democratic institutions, as well as Ukraine’s negotiation position," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
The statement did not name the ex-official by name, but details of the case indicate it relates to Oleh Hladkovsky, a former deputy secretary of Ukraine's top security body who has been wanted since mid-April.
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.
The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. (Wikimedia Commons)
Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he would visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia due to safety risks associated with Ukraine's ongoing incursion, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Aug. 22.
Russia has already begun fortifying the nuclear plant, which is located roughly 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the Kyiv-held Russian town of Sudzha.
Grossi said that he is taking the risk that the atomic facility can be damaged during hostilities in Kursk Oblast very seriously. He noted that the Kursk plant is located "technically within artillery range" of Ukrainian positions.
"And since there is combat, I’m very concerned," he added.
The IAEA chief said he would visit the power station next week to gather information from its managers on whether it had already been targeted. Kyiv has rejected Russian accusations of planning to attack the nuclear plant.
Grossi added that he also wanted to assess the external power supply and routes to the plant.
Earlier, Russia claimed that Ukraine was planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, without providing evidence.
"We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies," Heorhii Tykhyi, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, said on Aug. 16.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of using the plant for nuclear blackmail and endangering its safety.
Kyiv said on Aug. 11 that Russian forces set fire to "a large number of automobile tires in cooling towers" at the nuclear plant in an effort to "create panic in the settlements on the right bank of the former reservoir."
The IAEA said that nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia power plant had not been affected.
Daria is a newsroom intern at the Kyiv Independent. She is a Media and Communication BSc student at the University of Surrey, U.K. She also studied Journalism and Social Communications at Kyiv's National University of Taras Shevchenko. Daria previously worked as a freelance copywriter and volunteered at a local town newspaper in Guildford, U.K.
Oleg Sukhov
