The European Union has allocated an initial €10 million to fund a special tribunal expected to try Russia’s top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced the move during a visit to Kyiv on Monday, October 13. “The evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine is clear. Crimes left unpunished only encourage new atrocities,” Kallas wrote on X. She said the funds would “ensure that those responsible for the crime of aggression do not escape justice.” Kallas also announced €6 million in assistance for Ukraine to support children deported by Russia and survivors of sexualized violence (which occurred during the war). Work to set up the tribunal became public in February this year, and on June 25 Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an agreement in Strasbourg to establish it. Investigators will examine events starting from February 2014, rather than 2024, when the full-scale war began. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said at the time that the tribunal would be the first international judicial body since the end of World War II with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute individuals “regardless of their position.” Such a tribunal can investigate Vladimir Putin but cannot try him, including in absentia, due to the personal immunity that international law affords high-ranking state officials. The same protection applies to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Prosecuting Putin is expected to become possible after he leaves the Russian presidency. Russia does not recognize the war it launched against Ukraine as a crime and refuses to cooperate with Western legal institutions. In March 2022, Moscow also ceased participating in the Council of Europe. That makes extraditing any suspects from Russia virtually impossible. Commenting in May on EU plans for a special tribunal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin “does not react to this.” Alexander Venediktov, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, called the special tribunal “another way to take money from European citizens.”

Panic has gripped the Kremlin over the possible transfer of American Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Oil depots are burning in Russia, explosions are ringing o...

The “special military operation” in Ukraine, launched by President Vladimir Putin three and a half years ago, is taking a toll on ordinary Russians, who are finding it increasingly difficult to buy gasoline — and now diesel. A sweeping gasoline shortage is affecting a growing number of regions across Russia, according to the Telegram channel Istrebin.UA , citing multiple Russian media outlets. Russian fuel traders are reporting shortages not only of gasoline but also of diesel. Sergey Latskikh, head of Sibir-GSM and president of the Association of Independent Oil Traders of the Russian Fuel Union in the Novosibirsk region, said stocks of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline have already run out for the overwhelming majority of the association’s members. “All participants in our association of independent fuel traders, with the exception of Gazoil and Energia, have stopped selling AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline. As for diesel fuel, it’s still available for now, but these are just leftovers: storage tanks are practically empty,” Latskikh said. He added that the market is effectively operating “off the truck” — newly delivered fuel is being dispatched straight to gas stations for immediate sale. Remaining volumes from earlier exchange deliveries are also being sold. New shipments of gasoline and diesel are expected, but prices are forecast to be significantly higher. Residents in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk are also reporting gasoline shortages. According to local drivers, stations owned by the major “25 Hours” chain have been out of fuel for three days, with locations shuttered. Drivers across the Krasnoyarsk region are expressing deep concern about the scarcity, especially amid rising prices. “Last week, gasoline prices jumped sharply at KNP chain stations in the region — a liter of AI-95 rose by 4 rubles. Other chains also raised prices,” the channel’s authors note. On Sakhalin Island, residents of Tomari and Kholmsk have likewise complained of a complete lack of fuel at private gas stations, saying the situation has persisted for a month.

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Russia has finished injecting natural gas into underground storage sites and is preparing for winter, when millions of homes, factories and power plants rely on stable system pressure. Those very facilities could become Ukraine’s most vulnerable targets if Moscow continues hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, according to Serhiy Makogon , a senior energy expert and former CEO of Operator GTS of Ukraine. Makogon argues that as temperatures drop, Russia cannot meet demand with current production and must switch to heavy withdrawals from underground gas storage (UGS). Without those reserves, he says, the country “simply won’t get through the winter.” Russia, he adds, cannot quickly ramp up output, lacks access to imports and does not have flexible infrastructure. Any damage to UGS could trigger a sharp pressure drop across the system, first curbing supplies to industry and then to millions of consumers. He frames potential strikes on UGS as a symbolic and strategic response to Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s gas and power assets. “This is a game two can play,” Makogon said, noting Ukraine has so far refrained from such actions but could deliver an asymmetric, painful answer if escalation continues. “UGS is the heart of Russia’s gas system in winter, and they could become the most vulnerable spot if the Kremlin does not stop its energy terror,” he said. Makogon also points to weather as a force multiplier: winters in Russia are harsher than in Ukraine, and the loss of several strategic storage sites could jeopardize heating in major regions, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, where gas demand is concentrated. Energy, he stressed, “is not just about pipes and pressure—it’s about survival.” If Russia keeps targeting Ukrainian CHP plants and gas facilities, he warned, “the answer could be as cold as Russia’s winter.”

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