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.
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.
"Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies," Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv. "And we should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it’s not us that is slowing down the process."
The EU plans to significantly increase tariffs on Ukrainian goods after the current duty-free deal lapses on June 6, the Financial Times reported on May 14, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.
The blockade ended at 10:30 p.m. local time. Truck traffic in both directions is now moving as usual, according to Ukraine's State Border Guard's statement.
Russia seems to be preparing a significant offensive in Ukraine as it is moving troops toward key positions on the front, the Financial Times reported on May 13, citing undisclosed Ukrainian intelligence officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on at a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 3, 2022 (Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde/Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky was said to have "resembled a walking corpse" in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, which he did not believe would happen "until the final hours," the Telegraph reported on Jan. 4 in an excerpt of a book on Zelensky by Time journalist Simon Shuster.
Zelensky and his team reportedly lived in the bunker under the President's Office with little sunlight and with "not much to eat," other than sweets, tinned meat, and stale bread. One minister told Shuster he "survived for days on chocolate."
Some government officials had "packed up their cars and fled" in the early hours of the morning of February 24, 2022, with the "worst defections" affecting the Security Service of Ukraine, according to Shuster.
Those working in the bunker slept for just a few hours every night, and Zelensky would request updates from his team "as early as 4:50 a.m."
"Eventually life in the bunker settled into a more manageable routine," with staff served hot meals and meetings shifted to 7 a.m, Shuster wrote.
A makeshift gym was installed for the president, which he reportedly often used at night, and a ping-pong table for staff.
"Zelensky and his team kept a supply of alcohol even after the government banned its sale, and he would on occasion pour wine for the aides who joined him for a meal," according to Shuster.
Staff would occasionally be invited to watch a film, "often new Hollywood releases," as Zelensky "could no longer stomach Soviet comedies."
The president was also deeply affected by the Russian attack on Kramatorsk station on April 8, 2022, according to Shuster.
The attack coincided with a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Kyiv, but Zelensky struggled to speak at the podium with her as his mind was "on the puddles of blood on the pavement."
Thinking of the images of the 60 bodies of those killed, "it was one of those times when your arms and legs are doing one thing, but your head does not listen," Zelensky told Shuster.
The book excerpt also revealed that Zelensky would prefer to be associated with George Orwell or Charlie Chaplin than British wartime leader Winston Churchill, as they were "artists who helped society" whose influence "was often stronger than artillery."
Zelensky's previous life as a comedian is covered in more depth in an excerpt of the book published in Time on Jan. 4, with Zelensky crediting his hometown of Kryvyi Rih and his Jewish roots as responsible for forging his character.
Zelensky said he avoided the gangs and crime that the city was infamous for in the 1990s due to his family, particularly the fact that his grandfather had been a senior police officer.
Growing up in a Jewish family also affected his early life, with his parents believing that Zelensky had to be better than everyone else in order to achieve in a Soviet system that was "rigged against them," Shuster wrote.
The Holocaust, which killed his great-grandparents, as well as his grandfather's military service in the Second World War "made a profound impression on the young Zelensky."
When he began his comedy career, his parents hoped it was a temporary phase and he would become a lawyer. Contemporaries from his time as a comedian remember him as having "chutzpah" and a "bulletproof belief in himself."
"I think that this confidence of his betrayed him in the end," Alexander Rodnyansky, a Ukrainian television network executive told Shuster, as it led him to believe he could "outmaneuver Putin and negotiate his way out of a full-scale war."
Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independence. She previously worked as a news editor at the Kyiv Independent and was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post. She has a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Elsa is originally from the UK.
Kate Tsurkan
