36 Nations Agree to Create Special Tribunal for Ukraine

Thirty-six nations, comprising 34 Council of Europe members plus Australia and Costa Rica, have signed on to a future tribunal dedicated to prosecuting crimes arising from Russia's war in Ukraine, an announcement made Friday confirmed. Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset stated in a release that "the moment when Russia will have to answer for its aggression is drawing closer," as reported by AFP.

Russia, meanwhile, reiterated its hardline conditions for ending the conflict on Wednesday, ruling out any ceasefire or comprehensive negotiations unless Kyiv withdraws from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Moscow currently controls roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea—annexed in 2014—most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (which make up the Donbas), and large portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.

Referendums were organized by Moscow in the five areas it now considers part of its own territory, a move the international community has labeled "illegitimate." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the Russian demands, arguing that accepting them would amount to surrender.