Overview

• European Union foreign ministers will meet in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 9 to finalize a EUR 1 billion defense fund for Ukraine's defense industry.
• The ministers will provide political endorsement for a special tribunal to prosecute top political and military leaders of Russia, Belarus, and North Korea for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
• The tribunal’s statute and founding documents were finalized by a coalition of over 40 nations, with operational preparations to be led by the Council of Europe starting this month.
• The tribunal aims to address the ‘impunity gap’ left by the International Criminal Court, which cannot prosecute aggression without specific agreements between nations.
• The tribunal is expected to begin operations next year, with judges, a secretariat, and prosecutors to be appointed in the coming months by the Council of Europe.