Ukraine has won the Panorama section of the Berlinale for the first time — the film Traces received the Audience Award at the 76th festival, according to Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture of Ukraine Tetiana Berezhna.
Ukraine won the Berlinale Panorama award for the first time — the film “Traces” received the audience award at the 76th festival.
“The world has heard Ukrainian women. Thank you to them for their strength and courage to talk about the most painful things,” Berezhna wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
According to her, the film “Traces” by directors Alisa Kovalenko and Marisa Nikityuk received the award in the Panorama Dokumente category based on the results of a vote by 26,500 viewers.
“Traces” tells the stories of Ukrainian women who survived sexual violence during the Russian aggression and decided to testify. Therefore, it is especially valuable that the award is the choice of the audience, a living response to the truth that cannot be ignored.
According to the UN, more than 90% of Ukrainian military and civilians who were held captive by Russia reported torture and inhumane treatment. Sexual violence is used as a weapon of war and remains one of the most silenced crimes. Traces breaks this silence, the deputy prime minister noted.
Director Alisa Kovalenko personally experienced sexual violence while in captivity in Donbas at the beginning of the war. She was one of the first women in Ukraine to speak publicly about this experience, and her story was the impetus for the film, Berezhnaya said.
According to Serbian Economist, Serbian Prime Minister Džuro Mačut stated at a meeting with the new Ukrainian ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Litvinenko, that Serbia will continue to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups in Ukraine within the limits of its capabilities.
According to a statement on the Serbian government’s website, this assistance will take the form of financial support and supplies of medical and electrical equipment. Matuz also noted that Belgrade is closely monitoring developments in Ukraine, especially the impact on the civilian population and the humanitarian situation.
The ambassador, in turn, expressed his gratitude for the assistance that Serbia has already provided to Ukraine.
Litvinenko is the new head of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Serbia and presented his credentials on February 3, 2026.
The State Border Service has announced that traffic will be restricted from 5:00 a.m. on February 18 at border crossing points located on the border with Moldova due to difficult weather conditions.
“Attention international carriers! Traffic through border crossing points located on the border with Moldova will be restricted,” the State Border Service said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
It is reported that the temporary restriction will be imposed on the M-15 Odessa-Reni (to Bucharest) public highway, km 11+920 – km 308+000, from 5:00 a.m. on February 18, 2026. The restriction applies to trucks and passenger vehicles (buses, minibuses).
The reason for the traffic restrictions is difficult weather conditions, which create an increased danger for all road users, as well as to ensure the timely elimination of the consequences of bad weather and prevent accidents.
In this regard, traffic to and from the checkpoints “Palanka-Mayaki-Udobnoe,” “Starokozachye,” “Serpnevoe,” “Maloyaroslavets,” “Lesnoye,” “Reni,” “Dolinskoe,” “Orlovka,” “Vinogradovka,” “Tabaki,” “Novye Trojany” for the specified category of vehicles will be suspended. This has been communicated to our Moldovan colleagues.
EU enlargement is a geopolitical decision, and changes need to be made to the process of accepting new members, but EU member states are not yet ready to name a specific date for Ukraine’s accession, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
“We really need to work on this. But I think I have the feeling that the member states are not ready to name a specific date,” she said in response to questions at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, according to a correspondent from the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Kallas recalled that, in addition to Ukraine, Montenegro and Albania have also been on the list of candidates for accession for a long time.
“I think that the priority, the urgent need to move forward and show that Ukraine is part of Europe, exists,” the head of European diplomacy noted.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs also agreed with the EU’s unwillingness to set a date for Ukraine’s accession today.
“When I spoke with many heads of state and government of the European Union, I got the impression that at this stage, as we speak here in Munich in February, there is no readiness to set a date,” he said.
In his opinion, there is a desire to see Ukraine become part of the EU as soon as possible.
“The EU has always been very creative when it was really necessary. And we can find a formula that will probably suit us,” the Latvian president believes.
According to him, two other issues need to be resolved as part of this decision: the admission of candidate countries from the Western Balkans, which have long been promised this, and Moldova.
“When talking about Ukraine, don’t forget about Moldova. If Ukraine joins, we cannot exclude Moldova from this. So it’s not just about Ukraine anymore. We are talking about perhaps the largest unifying expansion, but probably under different rules,” Rinkēvičs explained.
In his opinion, it will then be necessary to return to a very serious discussion of what the entire structure of European Union decision-making will look like.
The Latvian president also stressed that the date of Ukraine’s possible accession to the EU, whether we like it or not, is now very much linked to a peace agreement with Russia — will there be a peace agreement or not?
“To be honest, I don’t see Russia being ready for an agreement. And if Russia doesn’t move, we won’t have an agreement,” he explained.
According to Rinkevics, Zelensky’s appeal to set a date for accession should be heard at a meeting of the European Council.
