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.
Ukrainian border protection and law enforcement agencies have launched a joint program to prepare for a potential storming of the country's border by Middle Eastern refugees from Belarus on Nov. 24, 2021. (State Border Service of Ukraine)
A dispute between Ukraine and Belarus flared up over the weekend after Belarus’s State Border Service accused a Ukrainian military helicopter of breaching Belarus’ airspace on Dec. 4, which Kyiv denied.
The State Border Service of Belarus told state-owned media outlet BELTA that a Ukrainian Mi-8 military helicopter, flying at a height of 100 meters, went a kilometer deep into Belarusian airspace.
On Dec. 5, Belarus officially handed a note of protest to Ukraine’s military attaché in Minsk. The same day, the Belarusian Border Service publicly warned about “extremely harsh” consequences if its border were violated again.
The accusations come as Ukraine is facing Russia's looming large-scale invasion, which Ukraine's military intelligence says might escalate in early 2022. German newspaper Bild quoted NATO sources saying that the invasion might involve Belarus to surround Kyiv.
Russia and Belarus held a massive military exercise in September. On Dec. 2, Belarus said it would hold another round of military drills with Russia but didn't specify the date.
To support their claim about border violation, Belarusian officials shared a video of a Mi-8 helicopter flying over what appears to be a border crossing checkpoint. It is not clear from the video what markings are on the helicopter, or whether it indeed crossed the border.
Belarus' claims “do not reflect reality,” Andrii Demchenko, an assistant to the head of Ukraine's State Border Service, told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
He said that while military aviation was being used in the border area as part of Operation Polissya, no aircraft crossed the boundary between the two countries.
Operation Polissya is a joint training exercise held by several Ukrainian border protection and law enforcement agencies to prepare for a potential storming of the country’s border by Middle Eastern refugees from Belarus.
Since July, Belarusian authorities have allowed thousands of people from the Middle East to come to Belarus and cross the country’s borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Many of them have tried to break through by force. NATO countries believe it’s a form of hybrid warfare aimed at provoking chaos in Europe and blackmailing the European Union into lifting existing sanctions against Belarus.
Max Hunder is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He previously worked as a business reporter at the Kyiv Post focusing on infrastructure and energy. He is a graduate of Eton College and University College London, and has reported for international publications from London, Kyiv and Yerevan.
