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.
Donald Tusk following the vote on his election as Prime Minister of Poland in the Sejm on Dec. 11, 2023. (Donald Tusk / X)
Polish President Andrzej Duda had sworn in Poland's new government under Donald Tusk almost two months after the elections, the Polish Press Agency reported on Dec. 13.
The Polish parliament elected Tusk as the prime minister on Dec. 11, ending the eight-year rule of the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS).
Returning to his third term in office, Tusk pledged to restore relations with the EU and to calm ties with Ukraine following several rocky months.
While Warsaw has been a steadfast ally to Ukraine even under the previous PiS government, several issues have put a strain on mutual ties, including grain import disputes and the ongoing border blockade.
Polish carriers have been blocking trucks at several border crossings since November in protest of the EU's liberalization of permits for Ukrainian carriers.
Tusk has pledged to put an end to the blockade and to address the demands of Polish protesters.
Experts also believe that the appointment of Radoslaw Sikorski, the country's former foreign minister, back to the top diplomatic post can help stabilize Warsaw's relations with Kyiv.
At the same time, the Polish People's Party (PSL), which entered the government as part of the Third Way coalition, is close to Polish farmers and signaled a tough stance on the grain import issue.
With the PSL's Czeslaw Siekierski as Poland's new agriculture minister, the party indicated it intends to maintain the ban on Ukrainian grain imports and even expand the list of banned products.
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.
Michael Richter
