Vlada Toporkova

What is the Special Tribunal Ukraine and the Council of Europe just signed, and why could it change international law and bring Vladimir Putin to justice?

As dawn broke over Kyiv on June 17, the city awoke to the aftermath of Russia’s grueling overnight missile and drone strike that killed at least 15 people and injured over 100. This is what the city lived through, told in photos from the ground.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian port workers have operated under constant threat. Every departing vessel carries the risk of being struck, and every container and grain truck moves under the wail of air raid sirens. And yet, grain continues to leave the ports of Odesa.

What could have been a pause to build toward peace negotiations became yet another chapter in Russia’s campaign of mass missile and drone strikes on civilians in Ukraine.

What would a tribunal for Vladimir Putin look like? It wouldn’t be just about him. It would be about hundreds of Russian commanders, soldiers, propagandists, and officials who enabled and committed atrocities across Ukraine.

Russia turned the skies over Kyiv into a killing field overnight on May 7, 2025, launching a wave of missiles and suicide drones that killed at least two people—a mother and her son—and injured eight others, including four children, reducing civilian homes to smoking wreckage.