If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
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.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel speaks about the future of the EU-led special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its role in bringing Russia to justice.
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.
A Russian drone approaches for an attack in Kyiv on Oct. 17, 2022. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia plans to launch at least 500 drones per aerial attack against Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), said in an interview with RBC Ukraine published on March 3.
Both Ukraine and Russia have heavily invested in drone technology throughout the war, significantly altering modern warfare tactics. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has launched thousands of cheap but effective drones at Ukraine.
Russia currently uses 150 to 200 drones per attack against Ukraine which occur on a daily basis, but Russian forces plan to increase their capabilities to 500, Skibitskyi told RBC Ukraine. Russia also plans to increase the number of sites from which drones will be launched.
Russian forces have significantly increased domestic production of various types of drones, according to Skibitskyi. Russia uses combat and reconnaissance drones, as well as so-called "decoys," which are drones without a payload, he added.
"All of this simply overloads our air defense system. It is very difficult to distinguish between a drone flying with a warhead and one without," Skibitskyi said.
"Earlier, in 2023 and early 2024, we knew only a Shahed (drone), then there were Geran-1, Geran-2, and that was it. Today, the range of these unmanned aerial vehicles is so large that it is not even always possible to count them on one hand," Skibitsky added.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Feb. 6. Russia is forming unmanned systems forces and plans to recruit up to 210,000 personnel for the new branch by 2030.
Ukraine, as well as Russia, has continuously expanded its drone capabilities, using aerial, naval, and ground-based systems for reconnaissance, precision strikes, and other operations.
The country's Unmanned Systems Forces announced on Jan. 31 that Ukrainian troops are now employing a long-range drone capable of traveling up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) while carrying a 250-kilogram air bomb.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
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