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.
The level of water in the Kakhovka reservoir continues to decrease after the Khakhovka dam was blown up by Russian forces, as seen from Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on June 9, 2023. (Photo: Dmytro Smolienko /Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Four Ukrainian oblasts will have problems with water supply and water will not flow to Crimea from the Kakhovka reservoir for "at least a year" due to the Kakhovka dam's destruction, head of Ukrainian state-owned energy company Ukrhydroenergo Ihor Syrota told Radio Svoboda on June 12.
"There is no water supply to Crimea because the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir is already much lower than what is needed to go along the Crimean Canal. Therefore, most likely, water will not flow to Crimea for at least a year," Syrota explained.
The North Crimean Canal, blocked by Ukraine following Russia's 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea and reopened last year when Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the canal, supplied around 85% of the peninsula's water before 2014.
The Kakhovka dam collapsed early on June 6, resulting in a mass-scale humanitarian and ecological disaster in Kherson Oblast and other parts of southern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities say the dam was blown up by Russian forces to prevent a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
The effects of the dam's destruction will likely be felt for years to come.
According to Syrota, the ongoing Russian occupation of Crimea complicates the possibility of supplying the peninsula with water by other possible means.
Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts will also have problems with water supply. Alternatives are being considered to circumvent the issue, especially regarding the supply of clean drinking water, Syrota added.
The Infrastructure Ministry said on June 7 that it had allocated Hr 1.5 billion ($40 million) to construct water pipelines and restore centralized water supply to areas impacted by the Kakhovka dam disaster.
Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent. The U.S. publisher Deep Vellum published her co-translation of Ukrainian author Oleh Sentsov’s Diary of a Hunger Striker in 2024. Some of her other writing and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine.
Agatha Gorski
