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 exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, listens to a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on April 20, 2022. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the appointment of Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, as governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in parliament, said on Jan. 23.
The government also approved the dismissal of Yuriy Malashko, the regional governor since February 2023. The reasons for the reshuffle are unknown.
Both decrees are now awaiting President Volodymyr Zelensky's signature.
Ivan Fedorov became the mayor of Melitopol, a city with a pre-war population of about 150,000 people, after winning the local elections in the fall of 2020. After the beginning of the all-out war, he was abducted by the Russian troops on March 11, 2022. According to the reports, Fedorov refused to cooperate with them and later was tortured, Zelensky said at that time.
Five days later, he was released following a "special operation" conducted by Ukraine. He was awarded the Order for Courage third class soon after.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Dinara Khalilova
