Ukrainian midfielder Viktor Kovalenko, who emulated the likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero when he won the Golden Boot at the 2015 U-20 FIFA World Cup, appears to have landed himself in hot water with his club Shakhtar Donetsk:
A tweet from Ukrainian deputy Andriy Parubiy:
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry:
Interfax reports ex-President Viktor Yanukovych may testify in Kyiv trial:
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax) - The Kyiv Svyatoshinsky District Court on Wednesday received a notice from the Rostov region's court on the possibility of Ukraine's ex-president Viktor Yanukovych being questioned via a video link on November 25 as a witness in the case involving former members of the special task force unit Berkut accused of killing Kyiv Maidan activists, his lawyer Vitaly Serdyuk told Interfax.
"The Svyatoshinsky Court has received this notice and it is now up to the Svyatoshinsky Court to organize this video linkup properly," the lawyer said.
Russia withdraws signature from ICC's founding statute:
Russia says it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a decree signed on November 16, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Foreign Ministry to inform the United Nations of the decision.
"The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it and did not become truly independent," the ministry said, describing the court's work as "one-sided and inefficient."
The move comes after the lead prosecutor for the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, for the first time said on November 14 that the simmering conflict in Ukraine should be considered an international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The United Nations says at least 9,600 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
In 2000, Russia signed the Rome Statute of the ICC, which was established to prosecute war crimes, but the country did not ratify an agreement to join. (dpa, Reuters, TASS, AFP)
Crimea's Russia-installed leader could be in trouble, former minister says: