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.
The measures target almost 200 ships of Russia's "shadow fleet," 30 companies involved in sanctions evasion, 75 sanctions on entities and individuals linked to the Russian military-industrial complex, and more.
The government has approved "reform roadmaps in the rule of law, public administration, and democratic institutions, as well as Ukraine’s negotiation position," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
The statement did not name the ex-official by name, but details of the case indicate it relates to Oleh Hladkovsky, a former deputy secretary of Ukraine's top security body who has been wanted since mid-April.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Council of the Federation Speaker Valentina Matviyenko (R) during the Council on National Projects at the Kremlin on May 8, 2019, in Moscow, Russia. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) notified Valentina Matviyenko, Russia's Federation Council Chairwoman, who approved the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of suspicion in absentia.
Matviyenko signed the Russian Parliament's decision on the deployment of troops to Ukraine.
The chairwoman also approved the ratification of the agreements on illegal accession of partially Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts to Russia, according to the SBU.
Matviyenko regularly calls for the total invasion of Ukraine and claims it does not exist as a sovereign state on Russian propagandistic TV channels.
The Russian official continues to spread fakes about the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the situation throughout the entire front line, the SBU statement reads.
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Ukrainian law enforcement services reported that Matviyenko is currently coordinating the spread of the Kremlin regime on Russian-held territories of Ukraine. Matviyenko also works to illegally introduce Russian law into these territories.
Matviyenko is suspected of "encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine," as well as "justification, recognition of the legitimate armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants."
The Russian official was previously notified of two other suspicions in absentia, including "the incitement to the outbreak and the waging of an aggressive war."
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.
Roman Sulzhyk
