Ukraine is considering moving away from the U.S. dollar and closer to the euro as a benchmark for the hryvnia, National Bank Governor Andrii Pyshnyi told Reuters.
The Atesh partisan group claims it disabled communication at several Russian military facilities when it allegedly destroyed equipment at a transformer substation in the village of Mogiltsy in Russia's Moscow Oblast.
"The Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much," U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on May 7, according to Politico.
EU ambassadors began talks this week on a 17th sanctions package that targets Russia’s military-industrial complex, Moscow’s shadow shipping fleet, and related support networks.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the trip is currently being coordinated and emphasized that the European Union must do “everything possible” to help secure a lasting cessation of hostilities beyond the upcoming weekend.
Russia launched 187 drones overnight, including Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones and five Iskander-M ballistic missiles, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
President Volodymyr Zelensky listens during a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the garden at Chequers on May 15, 2023 in Aylesbury, UK. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky said "there is no point" in Kyiv's attendance of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, unless the alliance offers a membership invitation or "some kind of signal."
"If we are not acknowledged and given a signal in Vilnius, I believe there is no point for Ukraine to be at this summit," Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal.
Some NATO allies are "afraid" about how Russia would react to Ukraine's potential NATO membership, and Ukraine acknowledges that it won't be part of NATO or "any powerful security alliance" until the war ends, Zelensky said.
The president said that "it's now too late," adding that "we should have gotten there 15 years ago" – referring to the Bucharest summit in 2008 in which Germany and France blocked Ukraine from joining NATO amid Russia's increased escalation threats.
Zelensky said that he "honestly" doesn't know whether NATO countries would admit Ukraine into the alliance even after the war is over.
"How many lives of Ukrainians are worth the phrase 'Ukraine will be in NATO after this war, after it's safe?'" Zelensky said during the WSJ interview.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Ukraine will be in NATO one day, but he remains to be vague on the timeframe.
Some countries, such as Estonia, support Ukraine's NATO membership, while others fear Russia's reaction to the alliance's further eastward expansion.
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The Kyiv Independent news desk
