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.
Soldiers with Kyiv’s 130th Territorial Defense Brigade practice during urban warfare drills on March 30, 2021. (Kyiv’s 130th Territorial Defense Brigade)
More than half of Ukrainians will actively resist in the event of an all-out Russian invasion, according to a new survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology published on Dec. 17.
The Kremlin has amassed nearly 100,000 troops surrounding Ukraine in November in what Ukrainian and Western intelligence see as a threat of invasion in early 2022.
The poll showed that 33.3% of Ukrainians will put up armed resistance if Russia starts large-scale military actions. Another 21.7% said they will participate in civil resistance like protests, strikes, demonstrations, boycotts, marches and public disobedience. In total, 50.2% of respondents chose one or both of the above options.
The survey allowed participants to select multiple answers to the question "In the event of an armed intervention by Russia in your city or village, would you take any action and if so, which ones?"
Among the remainder of the surveyed people, 18.1% would do nothing, 14.8% would go to a safer region of Ukraine, 9.3% would seek refuge abroad, and 13.2% did not know how to respond or refused to answer.
The survey was conducted between Dec. 3-11 and interviewed 2,000 people in all regions of Ukraine except for occupied territories of Donetsk and Crimea. The survey allowed participants to select multiple answers to the question.
Ukrainians have been vocal in the face of looming Russian aggression. There was a social media campaign #UkrainiansWillResist that people joined to show that they will not accept ultimatums from the Kremlin.
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.
