Politics

‘No need to hold referendums’ — Amid US pressure, Ukrainians reject territorial concessions
Politics

‘No need to hold referendums’ — Amid US pressure, Ukrainians reject territorial concessions

by Kateryna Denisova

As U.S. pressure on Kyiv grows, Ukrainians oppose Russian demands. If concessions are put up for a vote, those who spoke with the Kyiv Independent said they would flat out deny the terms. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any territorial concessions to end Russia's all-out war, mentioned in a U.S.-backed peace plan, should be decided by the Ukrainian people, including through a referendum. This idea had been floated before. But like elections, holding a referendum is prohibited

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Lukashenko trades prisoners for sanctions relief — and keeps the upper hand

As dust settles from a historic deal that saw Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko free 123 political prisoners in exchange for a partial U.S. sanctions relief, the main question remains unanswered — what now? Trump’s newly appointed special envoy, John Coale, arrived in Minsk on Dec. 12 and secured the biggest prisoner release so far, with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figures Viktar Babaryka and Maria Kalesnikava walking free the following day. The inc

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Since early December, the Russian ruble has continued to strengthen against global currencies: on Dec. 7, it reached a value of only 76 rubles for one U.S. dollar, a figure unseen since May 2023. It soon dropped to 79 rubles per U.S. dollar, an exchange rate close to one seen on the eve of Russia's full-scale war. Ruble's strength came despite increasing sanction pressure by the Trump administration, which began targeting Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft in October. The measures, which f

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