Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
The approval marks a key step in international efforts to hold Moscow accountable for what is considered the gravest violation of international law committed against Ukraine.
Although Moscow declared on April 28 that it would halt all military actions from May 8 to midnight on May 11 to mark Victory Day, strikes on civilian areas have continued.
Under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's rule, millions of Ukrainians died during the Holodomor, a man-made famine in 1932–1933. The dictator also oversaw mass deportations, purges of Ukrainian intellectuals and leaders, and the suppression of the Ukrainian language and culture.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), this marks the first time Ukrainian authorities have exposed a Hungarian military intelligence network conducting activities harmful to Ukraine.
Delegations from 35 countries and the Council of Europe gathered in Lviv as EU officials prepare to approve both new defense aid and steps toward establishing a tribunal for Russian leadership.
The ruling marks a significant victory for RFE/RL amid growing concerns about U.S. funding cuts to independent media countering Russian disinformation.
U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, taking the name Pope Leo XIV, a senior cardinal announced on May 8 to crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, according to Vatican News.
George Simion, leader of Romania's far-right AUR party, who won the first round of the presidential election with nearly 40% of the vote, reiterated that if elected, he would oppose any further assistance to Ukraine and shift Romania’s focus inward.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed their countries' relationship on May 8, vowing to increase cooperation in all areas, including military ties.
"There is Turkey, which maintains channels of communication. And then, above all, there is the People's Republic of China, which, more than anyone else, has the means to make (Russian President Vladimir) Putin come to the negotiating table and soften his demands," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on May 8.
A massive fire broke out on June 22 at the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery in Rostov Oblast in what appeared to be a drone attack.
According to Russia, the attack was carried out by Ukraine. Russian regional authorities said the fragments of two drones were found on the plant's territory.
A video shared on social media, filmed allegedly near the refinery, showed what appeared to be a kamikaze drone crashing on the plant and sparking the fire. Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery, which suspended its operation after the explosion, had a production capacity of up to 7.5 million tons of oil per year.
The plant was well-known in Ukraine after Schemes, a journalist investigation project, found that the plant was owned by Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Ukrainian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, known for his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Russian records, Medvedchuk’s wife sold the plant in April.
Putin is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter, while the lawmaker has been widely seen as Kremlin’s point man in Ukraine.
Medvedchuk is accused of high treason and is currently kept in pretrial detention. Medvedchuk is facing 15 years in jail if proven guilty.
This isn’t the first instance of a Russian oil refinery catching fire near Ukrainian borders. Every time Russian authorities have blamed Ukraine, with footage of military aircraft attacking the sites surfacing the internet.
Ukraine neither confirms nor denies attacks being carried out on Russian territory.
Explosions
The explosion at Novoshakhtinsk took place about 150 kilometers east of Russian-occupied Donetsk, which itself lays a dozen kilometers behind the current front line.
According to local authorities, the fire was extinguished within two hours.
This isn’t the first attack on a Russian fuel plant.
A large fire had erupted on April 25 at a Russian oil depot in Bryansk, a city 150 kilometers north of Ukraine’s borders.
The incident followed another fire at an oil storage depot in Belgorod, also near Ukraine’s border. Russian regional authorities described it as an attack by two Ukrainian helicopters.
A video shared on Twitter showed a blaze near apartment blocks in Belgorod, 40 kilometers from the border, with some clips appearing to show helicopters approaching the oil depot.
Ukraine's top security officials denied that Ukrainian forces were behind the attack.
"For some reason, they are saying we are behind it. This does not correspond with reality," National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said back then.
Alexander Query is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is the former business editor at the Kyiv Post. He worked as a TV correspondent and an anchorman at UATV in Ukraine, and received a BA in modern literature from La Sorbonne, in Paris.
