Zoriana Stepanenko is a correspondent for Current Time and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
If Aleksei Navalny "was a threat to the Russian state," it means that its rulers are weak and insecure, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 17, after Navalny's team confirmed his death in jail.
Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the front-runner to be the next secretary-general of NATO, has said EU countries are "working with our partners all over the globe" to meet Ukraine's military needs, especially supplying Kyiv with ammunition and air-defense systems.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko believes that the death of jailed Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny represents "Russia's true face." Klitschko mentioned other slain Kremlin critics -- journalist Anna Politkovskaya and politician Boris Nemtsov.
The wars in Ukraine and in Gaza are set to dominate the 2024 Munich Security Conference. Dozens of world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, are expected to attend the event in the southern German city. RFE/RL correspondent Zoriana Stepanenko reports.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he is trying to “put some urgency” into providing ammunition and defense systems to avoid a “too little, too late” scenario as Ukraine fights off Russa’s full-scale invasion.
As the EU prepares to consider beginning membership talks with Ukraine, a group of Ukrainian students visit the European Parliament in Brussels. In an interactive game, they play at being their country's first MEPs.
European Council President Charles Michel says work is going on "day and night" to convince Hungary to back opening accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova and granting Georgia EU candidate status this week. Michel spoke with RFE/RL's Zoriana Stepanenko in Brussels on December 12.
European Council President Charles Michel said he is still working on "Plan A" when it comes to giving the green light to opening accession talks with Ukraine at a crucial EU summit in Brussels this week despite a repeated threat by Hungary to block the process.
Ukraine’s largest energy companies are fortifying their infrastructure to protect against Russian attacks. Kyiv anticipates that Moscow will once again intensify strikes on its energy sector as temperatures fall.
After suffering serious injuries in battle against Russian forces, a Ukrainian soldier being treated in Brussels has found love -- in the form of a Belgian-raised Ukrainian speaker named Lidia Zubrytska. After she volunteered as a translator, she Serhiy Antonenko became almost inseparable.
Despite failing to receive a detailed plan or timeline to join NATO, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the military alliance's members have made the country's path to joining the alliance "shorter" and "absolutely irreversible" at a summit in Vilnius.
NATO member states are "ramping up" production of military supplies to ensure the Western alliance can continue to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told RFE/RL in an interview.
While familiar with Soviet-era T-72 tanks, Ukrainian forces are keen to take newly acquired Leopard 2 tanks into battle against Russian invaders. Crews are undergoing accelerated training in Poland, mastering the advanced targeting systems, speed, and maneuverability of the German-made Leopards.
NATO reconnaissance planes patrol the airspace near the alliance's eastern borders almost daily, watching for activity by Russian military aircraft. RFE/RL correspondent Zoriana Stepanenko and cameraman Marek Hajduk joined the crew of a NATO jet on July 25 for flights over Romania and Poland.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith, commenting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has said that "Russia could stop the war tomorrow if it wanted to." Speaking to RFE/RL, she continued: "We are trying to apply all the pressure that we can on Moscow to change Putin's strategic calculus."
Polish and Lithuanian leaders have expressed support for Ukraine and stressed the need for additional military assistance to Kyiv in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion. Andrzej Duda and Gitanas Nauseda talked to RFE/RL on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid on June 29.
Despite a new plea from Kyiv, Washington is not prepared to support a no-fly zone over Ukraine as it would escalate the conflict with Russia “to a whole new level,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price says.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she had been "extremely surprised" by the news of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent phone call to Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka over the migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border.
