The State Investigation Bureau has opened a criminal probe over a social media video in which journalist Yuriy Butusov is seen firing a 152mm artillery piece.
The bureau wants to check whether Butusov was “mishandling weapons and endangering others” as well as “planning, preparing, launching and waging war,” according to the bureau’s statement published on Nov. 29. Whoever allowed Butusov, a civilian, to fire the weapon will also be investigated, the bureau said.
Butusov, the chief editor of the Censor.net media outlet, believes the investigation was opened in retaliation for his heated argument with President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference on Nov. 26.
Sergiy Slipchenko is a staff writer at the Kyiv Independent. He studied at York University in Toronto, Canada and worked as a reporter at the Kyiv Post.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as "ultimatums and blackmail" from Hungary and Slovakia after the two countries threatened to halt emergency electricity supplies.
The Votkinsk Plant is a strategic, state-owned defense enterprise and one of the most important missile factories in Russia. It produces Iskander ballistic missiles — used in attacks against Ukraine — and nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"I won't go into too many details, but today I can congratulate our army first and foremost —all the defense forces — because as of today, 300 (square) kilometers have been liberated," Zelensky told Agence France-Presse.
The children were returned under the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, which finds and returns Ukrainian children from occupied territories and Russia, alongside the Save Ukraine organization.
The main target was Odesa Oblast, where two people were injured after drones tore into houses and a four-storey apartment block, the emergency services reported on Feb. 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Feb. 20, framed by authorities as a measure to counter security threats and potential attacks, granting Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) broad authority to order the disconnection of individuals from mobile and home internet services.
"We are blocking the €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline resumes," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Feb. 20.
The Moldovan Police and Ukrainian law enforcement agencies announced a day earlier that they had launched a criminal investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate several public figures in Ukraine. The probe is being carried out by a joint investigative team formed by the two countries.
The Kyiv Independent’s separate analytical unit, KI Insights, is excited to announce the launch of its podcast, Ukraine Insights — a show dedicated to unpacking Ukraine’s politics, security, economy, and international relations through in-depth, expert-driven conversations.
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