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.
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.
Illustrative purposes: A man stands by as a fire rages in a livestock market area in al-Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, on Sept. 1, 2023, in the aftermath of bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). (AFP via Getty Images)
Small Ukrainian army teams took part in hostilities in Sudan, helping the country's leader fend off Wagner Group-backed rebel forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on March 6, citing unnamed Ukrainian and Sudanese military officials.
Russia maintains a strong presence in African countries like Sudan through Wagner and other entities, propping up authoritarian governments, fueling destabilization, and extracting resources to fund its war against Ukraine.
Claims have previously appeared in other media publications that Ukrainian special forces took part in operations in Sudan and are responsible for strikes against Wagner-backed militants.
According to the WSJ, Sudan's de facto ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, appealed to Ukraine for assistance in the summer of 2023 while besieged by rebel forces. The civil war in the African country between Burhan's military government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary broke out in April 2023.
Kyiv responded positively in order to curb Russia's influence abroad, but also because "Burhan had been quietly supplying Kyiv with weapons since shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022," the outlet wrote.
Ukrainian commandos allegedly landed in Sudan in mid-August 2023, took part in a fight to push rebel troops out of Khartoum, and provided Burhan's guards with new rifles, equipment, and training. According to the WSJ, no Ukrainian team that was deployed in Sudan suffered any casualties.
Kyiv has not publicly confirmed involvement in the war in Sudan. Participation in the hostilities could threaten to sour relations with major partners like the U.S., who accused both the government and the rebel forces of war crimes and urged against providing military support to the belligerents.
Zelensky held an "unplanned meeting" with Burhan at the Shannon Airport in Ireland in September 2023, discussing security matters and activities of Russian-backed groups in Sudan.
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.
Ray Hartley
