The United Kingdom and France blocked a proposal for NATO member states to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to military aid for Ukraine, according to The Telegraph.
Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte acknowledged that his plan would not be implemented because it had not received sufficient support.
“I don’t think this proposal will be put to a vote,” he told reporters, without naming the opponents.
According to The Telegraph, the idea was blocked by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and Canada.
Rutte had hoped to secure approval for this proposal at the upcoming annual NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
This week, ministers began discussing what, in the opinion of the alliance’s civilian chief, should become a concrete manifestation of support for the war-torn country.
“An alliance insider reported that at least seven member states, which spend more than 0.25% of their GDP on military aid to Ukraine, have expressed their support. However, any proposals adopted by NATO require unanimous support from all member capitals,” the report states.
According to publicly available data compiled by the Kiel Institute, the Netherlands, Poland, as well as the Nordic and Baltic countries, provide aid at a level of 0.25% of GDP or higher. The size of the UK’s military contribution—the third largest after the US and Germany—is also uncontroversial, despite the fact that it does not reach the 0.25% of GDP mark.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to allocate at least £3 billion per year—approximately 0.1% of GDP—in the near future.
Most of the criticism is directed at countries such as France, Spain, Italy, and Canada, which have repeatedly been accused of not doing their part. These countries—three of which are Europe’s third, fourth, and fifth-largest economies—lag behind many of their smaller allies in terms of aid levels.
Rutte argues that aid to Ukraine “is not distributed evenly within NATO,” and that many countries “are not spending enough to support Ukraine.”
The NATO chief, who served as the Dutch prime minister for 14 years, has long argued that Europe must take on greater responsibility for supporting Ukraine, in response to Donald Trump’s complaints about the continent “freeloading.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office stated: “The UK continues to work with NATO allies on all proposals to ensure the best possible support for Ukraine from the alliance.”
Representatives from France, Italy, Spain, and Canada did not respond to The Telegraph’s requests for comment.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, Lviv-based sound engineer Volodymyr Punko received a Latin Grammy statuette for his work on the album Y El Canto de Todas, becoming the first Ukrainian sound engineer to win this award. The winner announced this on his Facebook page.
“It is an honor for me to say that I am the first sound engineer in Ukrainian history to receive such an award,” Volodymyr noted.
In the comments on the sound engineer’s post, friends, colleagues, and followers congratulated him on this historic victory, calling the award a well-deserved recognition of his many years of professional work and talent. Users wrote that they were proud of the Ukrainian’s achievement on the international stage, wished him new creative successes, and noted that Ukraine’s first Latin Grammy statuette in the field of sound engineering is a significant milestone for the entire Ukrainian music industry and further proof of its presence on the global cultural map.
The award was given for his participation in the creation of the album by Spanish guitarist Rafael Serrallet, recorded together with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic under the direction of conductor Serhiy Khorovets. The album won in the “Best Instrumental Album” category.
According to the sound engineer, he was responsible for the entire sound production process—from recording to final mastering—working to combine orchestral precision with musical expressiveness.
The project brought together the musical traditions of Latin America, Spain, and academic symphonic performance. The album features orchestral interpretations of works by Latin American female composers, with the guitar playing a central role. The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony took place earlier in Las Vegas, though Punko himself was not present at the ceremony and received his award later.
The Latin Grammy Awards are one of the most prestigious international music awards, presented by The Latin Recording Academy for achievements in Latin American music.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1170688.html?utm_source=telegram
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga has instructed Ukrainian missions to international organizations to demand an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and a joint meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation and the OSCE Permanent Council in connection with Russia’s missile strike on Kyiv.
“I have instructed all our missions to international organizations to make full use of multilateral instruments in response to yesterday’s barbaric Russian missile strike on Kyiv. The UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, and UNESCO must provide an adequate and decisive response to the aggressor, who is attempting to compensate for the lack of military progress on the battlefield with terror against the civilian population,” he wrote on social media.
Sibiga stated that Ukraine is demanding an immediate and urgent convening of a UN Security Council meeting and a joint session of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation and the OSCE Permanent Council.
“Putin is trying to intimidate Ukraine by attacking the civilian population and destroying residential buildings, museums, schools, and critical infrastructure. He is also trying to intimidate the world by launching missiles from a reconnaissance missile system against peaceful cities,” the minister emphasized.
According to him, all of this requires decisive and coordinated action by the international community.
“We call on our partners to take decisive multilateral action aimed at deterring Russia and compelling it to accept a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace,” the foreign minister stressed.
Hungary is reinstating a ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, which had earlier temporarily ceased to be in force due to the expiration of emergency decrees. The new decision is intended to maintain restrictions on Ukrainian goods in the domestic Hungarian market, while the transit of products through the country’s territory, as before, may remain permitted.
According to Hungarian media, the previous ban on the import of more than 20 categories of Ukrainian agricultural products ceased to be in force on May 14 after the expiration of the legal regime on the basis of which it had been introduced. The list of restrictions included grain, oilseeds, flour, poultry meat, eggs and a number of other goods.
After that, Budapest announced its intention to restore the ban, explaining the decision by the need to protect Hungarian farmers and the domestic market. Earlier, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture István Nagy repeatedly stated that the country would not open its market to Ukrainian agricultural products even after the renewal of the trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine.
Hungary’s position remains part of a broader conflict around Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU. After the start of the full-scale war, the European Union abolished duties and quotas for Ukrainian goods in order to support the Ukrainian economy and compensate for problems with maritime logistics. However, EU border countries, including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, have stated that cheap Ukrainian products were putting pressure on local farmers.
The Hungarian ban is not a general ban on all Ukrainian exports. It primarily concerns supplies to Hungary’s domestic market. The transit of Ukrainian products to other EU countries or beyond the union had previously been maintained, since for Ukraine land and Danube routes remain an important part of export logistics.
Hungary explains the restrictions by the need to protect farmers from sharp price fluctuations. In 2022, flows of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds to neighboring countries increased sharply due to the reorientation of exports from the Black Sea to European routes. Reuters noted that before the war Hungary annually imported up to 50,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine, while in 2022 the volume of such supplies rose to 2.5 million tonnes, and in 2023, before the introduction of the ban, amounted to up to 300,000 tonnes.
Corn became the main problematic category for Hungary. According to The Cattle Site, citing customs statistics, during the year after the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine exported 1.7 million tonnes of corn to Hungary, compared with about 30,000 tonnes before the war.
For Ukraine, the Hungarian decision has more political and logistical significance than critical trade significance. The main markets for Ukrainian agricultural exports in the EU are not in Hungary, but in larger consumer and processing countries. However, for border trade and certain commodity groups, the ban limits exporters’ flexibility and increases dependence on licensing, transit routes and agreements with the European Commission.
In 2025, the EU had already revised trade conditions with Ukraine, increasing quotas for a number of goods: for wheat — from 1 million to 1.3 million tonnes, sugar — from 20,000 to 100,000 tonnes, barley — from 350,000 to 450,000 tonnes, and poultry meat — from 90,000 to 120,000 tonnes. These changes were intended to balance support for Ukrainian exports and the interests of farmers in EU countries.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Michael Weinstein as an independent member of the supervisory board of the state-owned Sens Bank; from 2019 to 2023, he served as an independent member of the supervisory board of Oschadbank.
According to the bank’s report in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the government adopted the relevant decision by an order dated May 20, 2026; Weinstein will take office following approval by the National Bank of Ukraine.
His term on Sens Bank’s supervisory board is set to last until the current board’s term expires on October 3, 2028.
In recent years, Weinstein has also worked in financial institutions in Kazakhstan and the Netherlands.
Since 2019, he has been a member of the advisory committee of limited partners of the Kazakhstan Capital Restructuring Fund (Netherlands). In 2023–2024, Weinstein served as an independent member of the board of directors of JSC “Microfinance Organization OnlineKazFinance” (Solva, Kazakhstan), from 2019 to 2023, he served as an independent director of the Export-Credit Agency of Kazakhstan, and from 2019 to 2022, he was an independent member of the board of directors of JSC “National Management Holding ”KazAgro” (Kazakhstan).
As reported, in early May, the Verkhovna Rada’s Special Committee on Economic Security appealed to the Prime Minister, the Head of the National Bank, and the Minister of Finance with a request to investigate possible external influence on the activities of Sens Bank’s management bodies.
The committee also requested that Nikolai Gladyshenko, chairman of the bank’s supervisory board, and Alexei Stupak, chairman of the management board, be suspended from their duties for the duration of the investigation.
Subsequently, on May 6, Gladyshenko voluntarily stepped down from his duties as chairman of the supervisory board while the circumstances were being investigated, and these duties were assigned to independent board member Peter Novak.
SENS Bank was nationalized in 2023. According to the National Bank, as of April 1, 2025, with assets of 159.22 billion UAH, it ranked 9th among Ukraine’s 58 banks.
Ukraine and Serbia have agreed to resume work on a free trade agreement, which could become one of the most important economic steps in relations between the two countries in recent years.
In Belgrade, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, and Serbian Minister of Internal and Foreign Trade Jagoda Lazarević signed a joint statement on the resumption of negotiations on a free trade agreement.
For Serbia, this document is of particular importance, since Ukraine remains the only European country with which Belgrade still has not signed a free trade agreement.
According to Kachka, work on the agreement is an important stage in the development of Ukrainian-Serbian relations and should contribute to deepening trade, industrial cooperation and the creation of new regional production chains.
The possibility of applying diagonal cumulation of origin will have separate importance. This will allow producers in Ukraine and Serbia to use raw materials and components from countries with which free trade agreements have been concluded and which are participants in the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention, without losing the preferential origin of goods. For Serbian industry, this is especially important, since Ukrainian raw materials and semi-finished products have already played a significant role in a number of sectors.
The economic part of the Ukrainian delegation’s visit to Belgrade was accompanied by the Serbian-Ukrainian Business Forum, organized by the chambers of commerce and industry of the two countries. According to the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representatives of 30 companies took part in the event, and the forum took place against the backdrop of the intensification of political and economic dialogue between Kyiv and Belgrade.
The Ukrainian delegation included President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gennadiy Chyzhykov. The forum was opened by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Serbian Minister of Internal and Foreign Trade Jagoda Lazarević, Serbian Ambassador to Ukraine Andon Sapundži, Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia Oleksandr Lytvynenko, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marko Čadež, and President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gennadiy Chyzhykov.
“For us, this forum is a practical working platform. It brings together representatives of the government, diplomatic missions, chambers and companies in one hall. It is precisely this format that helps business move from general interests to specific contacts, contracts and projects,” Chyzhykov said.
He thanked the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and personally Marko Čadež for preparing the meeting, as well as the ambassadors of the two countries for supporting bilateral economic dialogue.
“Your work is important because economic cooperation requires political trust, regular communication and institutional support,” the president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted, addressing the diplomats.
According to Chyzhykov, the business community highly appreciates the fact that bilateral work is advancing at the government level.
“For business, predictability, clear rules and better access to the market are important. When state institutions and business organizations move in the same direction, companies receive a much stronger signal to invest time, resources and trust in bilateral cooperation. Serbia is a strategic partner for us in the Balkans,” he emphasized.
Chyzhykov also noted that Ukraine is interested in pragmatic cooperation with Serbia based on mutual respect, economic logic, reliable partnership and practical results.
“There is a range of groups of goods that is underestimated in the context of cooperation. This visit of our delegation and the forum became an excellent platform for bringing the Ukrainian and Serbian sides closer to a new stage of our relations. We are keeping the agricultural sector, the food sector and the energy sector in focus,” the president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry added.
According to BGNES, in the first quarter of 2026, trade between Serbia and Ukraine amounted to $152.8 million, while Serbia recorded a positive balance of $36.8 million, and export coverage of imports reached 163.4%.
At the end of 2025, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $442.2 million. Serbian exports to Ukraine reached $202.9 million, while imports from Ukraine amounted to $239.3 million. The main goods of Serbian exports are electricity, mineral and chemical fertilizers, tires and other industrial products, while semi-finished rolled products, iron ore and frozen raspberries are named among the goods imported from Ukraine.
President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marko Čadež earlier noted in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency that the chambers of the two countries have “excellent bilateral relations,” secured by a memorandum of cooperation signed three years ago within the framework of a business forum in Belgrade. According to him, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry already have experience in organizing business forums, B2B negotiations, online business missions during the pandemic and joint statements on complex topics.
Čadež also emphasized that he and Chyzhykov are connected by years of joint work in Eurochambres and the World Chambers Federation, mutual understanding, common views on problems and solutions, as well as on the European future of the economies of the two countries.
“I consider him not only a colleague, but also a great friend, with sincere respect for everything that the Ukrainian Chamber and he personally are doing in order, even under impossible conditions, to help Ukrainian entrepreneurs in the country and connect them with international partners,” the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in an interview with the agency.
According to Čadež, the parties will also work on creating a Serbian-Ukrainian Business Council. He expressed confidence that in the future a business forum could also be organized in Ukraine with the support of the foreign ministers of the two countries, Marko Đurić and Andrii Sybiha.
The parties name IT, construction, agriculture and the food industry, energy, logistics and transport as practical areas of cooperation between Ukrainian and Serbian business. Earlier, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that the program of the business mission to Serbia included B2B meetings with Serbian companies, the establishment of new business contacts, visits to enterprises and discussion of potential joint projects.
The Serbian side also sees opportunities for cooperation in Ukraine’s reconstruction projects. This concerns construction materials, energy equipment, agricultural machinery, irrigation systems, seed material, technologies for increasing yields, as well as supplies of products for the energy sector.
For Ukraine, Serbia is important not only as a trading partner, but also as a potential logistics and production hub for access to the markets of the Western Balkans, the EU, Asia and Africa. Čadež noted that Serbia, being located in the center of Southeastern Europe, can use its logistical links with the EU, the East and the South for the development of joint production and the export of Ukrainian and Serbian companies to third markets.
Danube logistics has separate importance. Using the route from the Ukrainian ports of Izmail and Reni toward Serbian ports and intermodal terminals, goods from Ukraine can more efficiently reach Corridor X, the markets of Central Europe and the Adriatic region.
Thus, the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Belgrade, the signing of the statement on the resumption of negotiations on a free trade agreement, and the holding of the Serbian-Ukrainian Business Forum move the bilateral economic agenda from the level of intentions into the practical plane. Against the backdrop of recovering trade, the active role of the chambers of commerce and industry, and the discussion of the Serbian-Ukrainian Business Council, the parties are forming a new infrastructure of cooperation that can strengthen the industrial, logistical and investment link between Ukraine and Serbia.
Interfax-Ukraine is the official media partner for the organisation of the Serbian-Ukrainian Business Forum in Belgrade.
