Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
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.
A view of the State Duma building, the lower chamber of Russia's parliament, in central Moscow on October 27, 2022. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Kirill Kudryavtsev /AFP via Getty Images)
Moscow is trying to undermine the U.S. support for Ukraine by using its troll farms and political strategists in the backdrop of Kyiv's critical need for further American assistance, the Washington Post reported on April 8 after reviewing internal Kremlin documents obtained by a European intelligence service.
U.S. aid to Ukraine has been delayed since fall 2023, as various versions of a foreign aid bill have been derailed due to border security disagreements.
In February, a $95 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan passed in the Senate with bipartisan support. House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to bring it to a vote in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
The latest Russian disinformation campaign is part of a 10-year Kremlin strategy aiming to "elevate the voices of populist, anti-establishment politicians opposed to the U.S. global role," the Washington Post said, citing analysts and former American officials.
Political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts, and comments that promote the idea of American isolationism, according to the media outlet.
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Ukraine Weekly By Olga Rudenko
Russia's disinformation campaign also aims to "stir fear over the United States' border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions."
The Washington Post said that one of the political strategists instructed a Russian troll farm employee to post comments of "no more than 200 characters in the name of a resident of a suburb of a major city."
The fictional American also had to describe U.S. President Joe Biden's policies as those that are leading the U.S. "toward collapse" and to oppose further military aid to Ukraine, promoting the message that "the money should be spent on America's border and not Ukraine's."
The accounts emphasized the number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and called for border security to be prioritized over any aid to Ukraine.
The Russian trolls also accused Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky of corruption.
The campaign described "white Americans" as "the principal losers" of foreign aid, according to the document obtained by the Washington Post.
"Russia has been ramping up its propagandaoperations as part of a second front that current and former senior Western officials said has become almost as important for Moscow as the military campaign in Ukraine," the Washington Post's article read.
"Especially as congressional approval for further aid has become critical for Kyiv's ability to continue defending itself."
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Martin Fornusek
