News Feed
 (Updated:  )

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.

Video

The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York sat down with author, historian, and Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of the country’s biggest public events of the year. President of the Ukrainian Society of Switzerland Andrej Lushnycky who sheds some light on the things Putin would rather you didn’t know about World War II.

Show More
News Feed

UK’s Lammy sees no Russian willingness for peace at G20 meeting

2 min read
UK’s Lammy sees no Russian willingness for peace at G20 meeting
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks on the first full day of the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 22, 2024. (Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images)

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the Kremlin shows no interest in pursuing peace in Ukraine, following a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a closed-door session of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Johannesburg on Feb. 20.

Speaking to reporters after the session, Lammy criticized Lavrov’s remarks, saying they did not indicate any willingness to negotiate a settlement, according to the Associated Press. He also noted that Lavrov left the room before Lammy had the chance to deliver his own speech.

The G20 meeting, taking place in South Africa, follows recent U.S.-Russia bilateral talks over ending the war in Ukraine—talks that excluded both Ukraine and its European allies.

‘We cannot survive’ without foreign weapons, say Ukrainian soldiers fearing looming Trump cuts
A looming dropoff in U.S. weapons deliveries is threatening to strain Ukraine’s budding domestic arms production to the breaking point. As U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration prepares negotiations with their Russian counterparts, Ukrainians fear being cut out of negotiations — and cut off…

Tensions have been further heightened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments blaming Ukraine for the war and his criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In his speech, released by the U.K. Foreign Office, Lammy accused Russia of engaging in "Tsarist imperialism" and failing to learn from historical colonial wars. He expressed disappointment in Lavrov’s speech, saying he had hoped for acknowledgment of civilian suffering and a commitment to a durable peace, but instead heard what he described as "the logic of imperialism." Lammy dismissed Lavrov’s remarks as "tired fabrications" and urged G20 members not to be misled by Russia’s justifications for its actions.

The G20, which includes major global economies alongside the EU and African Union, has struggled to find common ground on key geopolitical issues, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his opening address, urged member states to engage in constructive dialogue amid ongoing global crises, including war, climate change, and economic instability.

However, U.S. disengagement from the summit signals the Trump administration’s continued prioritization of its "America First" agenda over multilateral cooperation.

Exploitation or opportunity? Ukrainian business sees potential in Trump resource deal — if done right
Within weeks of U.S. President Donald Trump saying he wanted to do a deal with Kyiv on its “rare earths and other things,” it became clear the U.S. wasn’t just interested in Ukraine’s critical minerals and rare earth elements. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited
Avatar
Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

Read more