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.
"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.
Ukrainian hryvnia, seen Aug. 12, 2023. (Adrien Fillon/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian government said on April 24 that it has failed to reach an agreement with its debtholders to restructure some $2.6 billion of debt.
This means Kyiv might have to default on paying some $600 million ahead of the deadline in late May.
"Ukraine indicated that it could not accept the Restricted Holders’ Proposal and declined to make any further proposal to the Restricted Holders before the end of the Restricted Period," the Ukrainian government said in a statement after April 15-23 talks in Washington.
Kyiv nevertheless pledged to continue to engage with its debtholders and seek other options for restructuring the debt.
The $2.6 billion sum concerns the so-called GDP warrants, a financial instrument that gives the debtholder the right to additional payments based on the country's economic performance.
"The GDP warrants were designed for a world that no longer exists. Ukraine's modest economic growth in 2023 was not a sign of surging prosperity but a fragile rebound from a nearly 30% downturn caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion," Ukraine's Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said in a statement.
"These financial instruments must not become an obstacle to our recovery. Our objective is to reach a fair and comprehensive solution to this issue."
The warrants were not part of last year's deal to restructure some $20 billion in national debt. That agreement, concluded with some creditors in July 2024, allowed Ukraine to avoid default and continue financing its defense against Russia's full-scale war.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that failure to resolve the warrant issue could threaten further debt restructuring, as well as its ongoing $15.6 billion bailout program, the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Dominic Culverwell
