The President of the Ukrainian Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniazev has been arrested and detained in a corruption case involving 2.7 million dollars (2.5 million euros), anti-corruption structures announced on Tuesday May 16. of the country at war.
“The president of the Supreme Court has been taken into custody,” an official of the Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, Oleksandre Omeltchenko, told a press conference. Another person was arrested, he said without revealing his identity.
“This is the biggest case” affecting the judicial branch of the state, said the head of the national anti-corruption office Semen Kryvonos, referring to a “criminal group” formed by judges of the Supreme Court. Anti-corruption officials say Ukrainian billionaire Kostiantin Jevago, whom Ukraine is seeking to extradite from France, has agreed with a law firm to pay a bribe to the Supreme Court so that it “adopts a necessary decision” concerning this ex-MP. According to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Kostiantin Jevago transferred 2.7 million dollars to the lawyers. Of this amount, $1.8 million was to be paid to Supreme Court justices and $900,000 to lawyers for their “services as intermediaries”.
Ukraine says it recaptured 20 square kilometers from the Russians near Bakhmout
Ukraine claimed on Tuesday to have taken back 20 square kilometers from Russian forces north and south of Bakhmout, while troops from Moscow continue to advance in the city itself, the epicenter of the fighting.
“In recent days, our troops have liberated about 20 square kilometers north and south of the outskirts of Bakhmout. At the same time, the enemy is advancing in Bakhmout itself, completely destroying the city with the help of artillery” , Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on Telegram.
Ukraine claims to have shot down six Russian Kinjal hypersonic missiles
The attack is considered “exceptional”. On the night of May 15 to 16, kyiv was targeted by a new salvo of Russian drones and missiles. “It was exceptional in its density, a maximum number of missiles in a very tight time frame,” said the Kiev military authority in a statement posted on Telegram. But “according to initial information, the vast majority of enemy targets […] have been detected and destroyed!”
“Another incredible achievement for the Ukrainian Air Force! Last night, the defenders of our skies shot down six Russian Kinjal hypersonic missiles and 12 other missiles,” Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said. on Twitter. Three people were injured, according to the mayor of kyiv.
These strikes come the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s return to the capital, after his European tour which took him to Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Africa tries a peace mission between Ukraine and Russia
A peace mission led by six African leaders will leave “as soon as possible” in Kiev and Moscow to try to “find a peaceful solution” to the war in Ukraine on which the countries of the continent have not yet displayed a common position.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday the dispatch of this mission, including, in addition to his country, Senegal, Zambia, Congo, Uganda and Egypt.
African countries have denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 less unanimously than the major Western powers. Senegal and South Africa notably abstained last year at the UN during the vote of a resolution condemning Moscow. Eritrea voted against, while Kenya and Rwanda sided with the West.
European leaders gathered in Iceland to show their unity against Russia
A year after having excluded Russia, the leaders of 46 member states of the Council of Europe meet on May 16 at a summit in Iceland to show their unity against Moscow. The summit, only the fourth for the pan-European organization in nearly 75 years of existence, aims to increase the means to hold Russia criminally responsible for the destruction and crimes caused by its invasion of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, who have all received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Saturday, will lead the European family to Reykjavik. The latter is invited as head of state of a member country, but his presence remains uncertain.
The United States reveals its nuclear arsenal and asks Moscow to do the same
Washington unveiled the figures for its strategic nuclear deterrent arsenal on May 15, saying it wanted to respect the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty. They asked Russia, which suspended its participation, to do the same. As of March 1, the United States has deployed a total of 662 intercontinental ballistic missiles – a figure including missiles aboard submarines and bombers – with 1,419 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers, according to a statement from the Department of State.
“The United States calls on Russia to respect its legal obligations by rejoining the New Start agreement and the stabilization, transparency and verification measures contained therein,” the statement said. Russia suspended its participation in the New Start treaty in February, in retaliation for Western aid in the war in Ukraine. This decision was denounced in unison by the Western powers.
The CIA encourages the Russians to give it intelligence
The American CIA on Monday urged the Russians to provide intelligence on their country, in a video posted on Telegram. This mainly targets those dissatisfied with the policies of President Vladimir Putin.
The video from the main US foreign intelligence service shows a Russian official and his wife in their house with a child, apparently having a difficult life and wondering if it matches their dreams. She suggests that the Russians can act to make things better – by providing intelligence to the CIA – while remaining patriotic in her view. It also shows how to do this, using the Tor browser to access the “dark web”. “The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who can tell us that truth,” the agency wrote in its video. “Your information may be more valuable than you think,” she says.
Emmanuel Macron announces that he has “opened the door” to train Ukrainian pilots
Emmanuel Macron announced on May 15 that he had “opened the door to train” Ukrainian fighter pilots “from now on”, the day after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris. “And this with several other European countries which are ready for it. I believe that discussions are underway with the Americans”, declared the French president during an interview with TF1. He did not provide further details on the training process.
Emmanuel Macron also felt that talking about a delivery of fighter jets to kyiv “would be a theoretical debate”. Paris had so far rejected this idea, explaining in particular that it would take long months to train pilots. The start of this training could therefore, in the long term, also pave the way for the delivery of devices.