U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in Kyiv early on May 10.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days, despite Putin's self-declared Victory Day "truce."
The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
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.
Flag with the logo of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 29, 2022, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo: Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Ukraine has officially become the 125th state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Jan. 1.
A Ukrainian flag was set up among the flags of other state parties at the ICC in the Hague, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported on Jan. 1.
"This means that it (Ukraine) is now a full-fledged state party to this international treaty and has all the rights and obligations assigned to state parties," ICC spokesperson Fadi el-Abdallah told Ukrinform.
The Ukrainian parliament ratified the Roman Statute in August 2024, 24 years since Kyiv first signed it. Ratification is a necessary step for an international agreement to hold sway over a sovereign country’s actions and citizens in specified areas.
Ukraine ratified the statute with a caveat that it would not recognize the court's jurisdiction over Ukrainian citizens in the case of war crimes for seven years following its official adoption.
With Ukraine joining, 125 states have ratified the statute. Russia and the U.S. signed the treaty but later withdrew their signatures.
As a member of the ICC from 2025, Ukraine will have all the rights and obligations assigned to state parties.
“The most important of these is the right to vote when approving the budget, adopting changes and amendments to the Rome Statute, and selecting judges, the future prosecutor and his deputies, which to some extent helps shape the future of international criminal law,” ICC spokesperson told Ukrinform.
In March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for the forced deportations of at least tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian-occupied territories.
The ICC also issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Security Council who formerly served as defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian army, for war crimes against Ukraine.
Boldizsar is a former Reuters correspondent for Hungary, currently based in Kharkiv, reporting for the Kyiv Independent and various other outlets. He holds degrees in political science, philosophy, and development policy.
Boldizsar Gyori
