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.
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.
Unused pipes for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany are being stored at the port of the German municipality of Sassnitz. (Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images)
German investigators have identified a boat allegedly used to sabotage Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines, suggesting it had been rented from a company owned by Ukrainians, according to a joint investigation by the German publications ARD, Kontraste, SWR, and Die Zeit published on March 7.
The Ukrainian authorities have denied Ukraine's alleged involvement in the explosions at the pipelines, which took place in September 2022.
According to the report, the attack in the Baltic Sea was conducted by a group of six people who are said to have brought explosives to the crime scene and planted them there.
The citizenship of the alleged saboteurs is unclear as they likely used forged documents. German investigators have not yet managed to find out who had ordered the attack, Die Zeit wrote.
Western intelligence services do not rule out that it could have been a false-flag operation to present Ukraine as the perpetrator, but German investigators have not found any evidence to support such a scenario, reads the report.
In September last year, four leaks were discovered in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, which had been built to supply natural gas from Russia to Europe. Following the leaks, several Western officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, called them a "deliberate act of sabotage."
Ukraine and Poland blamed Russia for the attack, while Moscow accused the West of conducting the operation. Neither side has provided evidence to support the claims.
The sites of the explosions are located in the international waters of Denmark and Sweden, which are conducting separate investigations, as well as Germany.
On the same day, the New York Times reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials who reviewed new intelligence, that a "pro-Ukrainian group" likely consisting of Russian or/and Ukrainian nationals might have carried out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
The intelligence suggests that the group included opponents of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, but there is no evidence of any government's involvement in the sabotage.
The explosives were allegedly planted on the Nord Stream pipelines by experienced divers who did not work for the military or intelligence services, "but it is possible that the perpetrators received specialized government training in the past," the publication wrote.
The NYT sources refused to disclose the nature of the intelligence, the methods of obtaining it, or any details regarding the weight of the evidence they contain, adding they didn't have firm conclusions regarding sabotage at Nord Stream pipelines.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to Ukraine's presidential administration, responded to the New York Times report, saying that the country was not involved in the explosions on the Russian gas pipelines and didn't have information about any pro-Ukrainian agents who could have done it.
Germany and the United States called for waiting for the official results of the investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage, Reuters reported.
"We do believe, and the president has said this, that it is an act of sabotage. But we need to let these investigations conclude, and only then should we be looking at what follow-on actions might or may not be appropriate," said White House spokesperson John Kirby.
Dinara Khalilova is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a news editor. In the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she worked as a fixer and local producer for Sky News’ team in Ukraine. Dinara holds a BA in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master’s degree in media and communication from the U.K.’s Bournemouth University.
