Ukraine

The United Nations has declared the vegetable soup borscht an endangered Ukrainian World Heritage Site.   The UN culture organization UNESCO fears negative consequences for the tradition in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion on 24 February. The Ukrainian government in Kyiv welcomes UNESCO's decision as a victory in the "borsht war" with Russia. Because the Russians also claim the beetroot soup as a national dish. Moscow is therefore strongly against the move by UNESCO. "The victory is ours," said the Ukrainian culture minister. And according to him, Ukraine will also win the other war against Russia. Borscht, also written for example as borscht or borscht, is popular in many Eastern European countries.

The European Commission is likely to issue an opinion next Friday on Ukraine's application to join the European Union. The leaders of the EU countries can then discuss it at their summit in Brussels a week later, the committee spokesman said.   Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kyiv government's desire to become an EU member has only become more fervent. A large number of EU countries now want to grant this wish as soon as possible. They are aiming for the EU summit on 23 and 24 June to give Ukraine so-called candidate status, starting the arduous and time-consuming accession procedure. But countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and France are on the brakes. Rushing is at the expense of carefulness, they warn. At the beginning of March, the 27 member states decided to immediat...

Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia join an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the war in Ukraine.   The joint investigation team (JIT) already includes Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The cooperation should help to prosecute suspects. Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine in late February. Since then, reports have emerged of mass graves, summary executions and rapes by Russian soldiers. Ukraine has registered 15,000 war crimes since the start of the war. More than 600 suspects are in the picture for this, Ukrainian chief prosecutor Irina Venediktova said on Tuesday during the announcement of the new cooperation in The Hague. Last week, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was sentenced to life in prison in Ukraine f...