The convictions mark a significant development in Britain's efforts to counter Russian intelligence operations amid heightened tensions stemming from Moscow's war against Ukraine and repeated Kremlin threats toward Kyiv's allies.
According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Both men face charges related to terrorism and espionage. Daniil B. was detained in Lithuania, where he is in temporary custody, while Oleksandr V. remains at large in Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies discussed tougher sanctions against Russia's banking sector, central bank, and energy industry.
"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.
The EU plans to unveil on May 14 its next package of sanctions imposed against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, an EU official told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
A banner reading 'Farmers Strike' during a protest by Polish farmers in Poznan, Poland, on Feb. 9, 2024. (Damian Lemaski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Polish farmers resumed their blockade at the Medyka-Shehyni border crossing with Ukraine and additionally blocked the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv and Zosin-Ustyluh crossings, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said on Feb. 12.
After the initial blockade between November 2023 and January, Polish farmers launched a new wave of protests at the Medyka-Shehyni, Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, and Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossings on Feb. 9. Protests at the Medyka checkpoint were briefly suspended over the weekend.
"As Polish colleagues informed the Ukrainian border guards, today at 10:10 a.m., Polish farmers began protests near the Zosyn checkpoint. The protesters intend to allow three trucks weighing more than three and a half tons per hour," Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Ukrainska Pravda.
Cars, buses, vehicles with humanitarian aid, and other vehicles up to three and a half metric tons will be allowed to pass as usual, he added.
At around 10 a.m., about 150 protesters and 20 pieces of agricultural machinery began blocking the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv crossing, according to Demchenko.
Protesters are allowing trucks weighing up to seven and a half metric tons in both directions, as well as trucks below seven and a half tons entering Poland. Two trucks will be allowed per hour in both directions, the spokesperson said.
At the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint, one truck per hour will be allowed, but the movement of cars and buses should not be restricted, Demchenko said.
As of the morning of Feb. 12, 1,050 trucks are reportedly waiting in lines in Poland en route to Ukraine.
Footage appeared online on Feb. 11 showing Polish protesters spilling Ukrainian grain from standing trucks on the road near the Dorohusk crossing. Ukraine's Ambassador in Poland Vasyl Zvarych issued a protest, calling for a "decisive response" by Polish authorities.
The Polish police said they are looking into the incident.
The farmers announced the protests in advance, citing an alleged lack of action by Warsaw and Brussels to address the influx of Ukrainian goods. Earlier, Polish carriers and farmers blocked four crossings between November 2023 and January to protest Ukrainian imports and liberalization of permits for Ukrainian truckers.
The protests center around imports of agricultural goods from Ukraine, which Polish agricultural groups claim present unfair competition to their own businesses. Warsaw has banned the import of grain and several other products from Ukraine in 2023, but other items, such as sugar or poultry, continue to raise worries among Polish farmers.
Polish farmers agreed to suspend their initial blockade on Jan. 6 after Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski agreed to meet some of their demands, including corn subsidies, increasing liquidity loans, and keeping agricultural tax at the 2023 level.
A new wave of protests erupted on Jan. 24, blocking roads across Poland again in connection to imports from Ukraine and other non-EU countries.
The Solidarity trade union announced on Feb. 1 that they would block roads and border crossings with Ukraine between Feb. 9 and March 10 because of the supposed "passivity of the Polish authorities" and of the EU in solving the import issue.
