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.
The Romanian national flag in front of the parliament building during parliamentary elections, in Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (Andrei Pungovschi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A 34-year-old Colombian man has been arrested in Romania for allegedly planning to sabotage critical infrastructure under the direction of a Russian citizen.
The suspect, who was detained on Nov. 13 and is now in pre-trial detention, is accused of targeting sites that could jeopardize national security, according to local media outlet Adevarul.
The case is being heard by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, and if convicted, the man faces 10 to 20 years in prison under Article 403 of Romania’s Penal Code, which covers acts of destruction endangering national security.
Prosecutors allege that in July 2024, the man acted on instructions from a Russian citizen residing in Russia to prepare an attack on strategic Romanian infrastructure. The suspect reportedly carried out reconnaissance missions, photographing and recording potential targets he intended to destroy with explosives or fire. Authorities intervened before the plan could be finalized, according to the outlet.
The suspect, described as having military training and expertise in intelligence-gathering from his home country, was arrested in a coordinated operation involving the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, Romanian police, and local intelligence service. Investigators believe his actions were part of a broader effort to destabilize Romanian security interests.
The arrest took place during a period of heightened concerns over Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Romania. Around the same time, the Ministry of National Defense reported multiple attempts by Russian entities to spread false information about similar acts of sabotage, exacerbating regional tensions.
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.
Martin Fornusek
