The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
European foreign ministers approved the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine during a meeting in Lviv on May 9. The tribunal, which will operate under the auspices of the Council of Europe, aims to prosecute Russia's top political and military leadership, including President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine expects the tribunal to start work in 2026. The Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Hodunova spoke with Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel about the future tribunal and its role in bringing justice for Ukraine.
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.
Former First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky attends a court hearing at the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 18, 2019. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A former first deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, wanted for abuse of office, was detained in Spain, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced on May 14.
The statement did not name the ex-official, but details of the case indicate it relates to Oleh Hladkovsky, a former first deputy secretary of Ukraine's top security body who has been wanted since mid-April.
Hladkovsky was dismissed and charged in 2019 with purchasing military vehicles at artificially inflated prices, allegedly costing the state more than Hr 17 million (now $410,000).
Spanish law enforcement agencies detained the fugitive on May 14. Efforts to extradite him to Ukraine are underway, NABU said.
The ex-official, who was a long-time business partner and associate of former President Petro Poroshenko, was detained in October 2019, but the court released Hladkovsky from detention in March 2022 while the investigation was still ongoing.
NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) said that after his release, Hladkovsky, aged 55, stopped appearing in court and went abroad. Men aged 18-60 are prohibited from leaving the country under martial law, save for some exceptions.
In 2022, pictures of Hladkovsky in Warsaw surfaced, with Ukraine's Border Guard saying he left abroad for humanitarian work.
The High Anti-Corruption Court ordered Hladkovsky's arrest on May 13, this time in absentia.
Hladkovsky was charged with abuse of official position and providing false information on income. According to the investigation, Hladkovsky, along with an ex-deputy defense minister and a director of the ministry's military-technical policy department, purchased MAZ 6317 trucks at inflated prices in 2017.
The car manufacturer was a subsidiary of the Auto Assembly Plant No. 2, which was a part of Hladkovsky's Bohdan Corporation.
In February 2019, an investigation by Bihus.Info connected Hladkovsky's son, Ihor, to an extensive corruption scheme in Ukraine's defense industry.
Martin Fornusek
