Zelenskyy in the Netherlands, evacuation from Avdiivka, scuffle at the PABSEC summit: today’s highlights
After Finland, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the Netherlands. Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused the “Kyiv regime” of the drone attack on the Kremlin building. At the summit of the PABSEC in Ankara, a verbal altercation between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place. We have collected the key news of May 4.
Zelenskyy's visit to the Netherlands
On May 4, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a working visit to the Netherlands for the first time in his term.
He met with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The Head of State also met with the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Peter Hofmann, and the Court's Registrar, Osvaldo Zavala Aguilera.
Zelenskyy emphasized that bringing to justice all those responsible for war crimes against humanity and genocide of the Ukrainian people was a matter of principle for Ukraine.
The Head of State then spoke at the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, as well as to representatives of the public, political and expert circles of the Kingdom, and international institutions.
“If we look at any aggressive war in history, we will see one thing in common – those who started the war did not believe that they would ever have to take responsibility for what they did. But war must be condemned. Impunity for aggression means that we must fight it,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that Ukraine opposes the hybrid formats of the tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression.
At the base of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Zelenskyy met with members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Attack on the Kremlin
Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused the “Kyiv regime” of the drone attack on the Kremlin building on the night of May 3. They threaten to respond according to the threat assessment.
At the same time, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the United States was behind the alleged drone strike on the Kremlin and that the decision to do so was “made in Washington”. The White House called Peskov's claims absurd.
Evacuation from Avdiivka
The head of the Joint Center of the Defense Forces in the Tauria sector, Serhii Teliatytskyi, said that in the near future, they will try to evacuate all civilians from Avdiivka. However, the head of the Avdiivka city military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, doubts that this is possible.
“It is impossible and unrealistic to evacuate everyone, even from a legal point of view. That is, there is no way to evacuate everyone. There is no legal mechanism for this. Families with children - yes, no problem,” Barabash told us in a comment.
According to him, there is currently one child left in the city. The authorities are looking for her parents, who are in hiding.
Russian to be removed from Ukrainian passports
Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, will recommend to the Verkhovna Rada to amend the old-style passport, where information about a Ukrainian citizen is written in two languages: Ukrainian and Russian.
Currently, there are two forms of passports in Ukraine: biometric passports and old-style passports, where information about a citizen, their place of registration, and the place of issue of the document are written in both Ukrainian and Russian.
In total, in 2022, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language received 2,846 complaints about violations of the language law. Most complaints came from Kyiv.
Scuffle at the PABSEC summit
At the summit of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Ankara, a verbal altercation with pushing between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place.
During the speech of the deputy head of the Russian delegation, Olha Tymofieieva, members of the Ukrainian delegation unfurled flags and chanted slogans behind her.
On the sidelines, a Russian tried to steal a Ukrainian flag.
Other news for the day:
- A Ukrainian startup is training a free neural network to recognize the Crimean Tatar language and is collecting 1,000 voices from Crimeans;
- Ukraine has created a 50-kilogram book about Russia's crimes in Ukraine, including the deportation of Ukrainian children. It has already been presented to various European institutions.
- The Center for Energy Studies predicts that Ukraine may experience a significant electricity shortage in the summer. In particular, it can be observed in July and August;
- Activist and volunteer Demian Hanul said that three men attacked him in Odesa on May 3. Police opened an investigation;
- An attempt was made to smuggle an airplane from Romania to Ukraine, which was partially dismantled;
- Kostiantyn Ushchapovskyi, the head of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities, said that Ukraine loses about 20 million hryvnias a day due to Ukrenergo;
- Without the participation of MPs from the former Opposition Party – For Life, the Verkhovna Rada would not have been able to pass 9.1% or 257 decisions. Among them is the scandalous urban planning reform.
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