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.
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.
Two Patriot air defense systems in Zamosc, Poland, on July 3, 2023. (Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images)
U.S. plans to produce more Patriot air defense missiles — critical for Ukraine's defense against Russia — at Japanese factories is delayed by shortages of a crucial component made by Boeing, four unnamed sources told Reuters.
The U.S. is looking to increase production of the missiles from 500 annually to more than 750 globally as fast as possible, one source told Reuters.
No expansion in Japan will be possible at all without additional missile seekers, the part that guides them in the final stages of the flight, sources said.
Under a contract from the defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) currently produces around 30 PAC-3 missiles annually. MHI could up that figure to around 60, Japanese government officials and industry sources said.
But "it could take several years before MHI is able to raise output" as a result of the shortage, an industry source said.
"The production snag in Japan shows the challenges Washington faces in plugging industrial help from its global allies into its complex supply chains," Reuters wrote.
Ukraine has struggled to obtain the adequate number of Patriot missiles systems it needs to protect itself from Russia as the number of the systems in existence is limited and some partners are hesitant to give theirs up to Ukraine.
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Chris York
