The ministry’s website says the Ukrainian president is wanted under an article of Russia’s Criminal Code and contains his full name and photograph, as well as his date and place of birth. No data has been released about criminal proceedings against him.

The development comes a day after the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Aleksandr Litvinenko, was also put on Russia’s wanted list. He took the position over from his predecessor Aleksey Danilov in March. In this instance, too, no charge details have been specified.

In April, Litvinenko claimed it was necessary to launch drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, to exert “pressure” on Moscow. He described this tactic as a key element of Kiev’s strategy.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of employing terrorist methods throughout the ongoing conflict between the two neighbors. Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said threats by Zelensky to destroy Russian civilian infrastructure were proof of his government’s terrorist intentions.

Peskov was responding to the president’s statements concerning the Crimean Bridge, which has already been targeted in two major bomb attacks, each leading to several civilian deaths.

Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko was also placed on the wanted list on Saturday. Again, no details about a case against him have been made public so far.

Poroshenko took office in June 2014, as the post-Maidan coup Ukrainian government was using military force in its attempt to quash a rebellion in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions. He was also the one to sign the Minsk Agreements, aimed at reconciling Kiev with the two Donbass republics that refused to recognize the post-coup government.

In 2023, Poroshenko claimed that the accords were used to buy extra time to arm Ukraine. The former president said that he turned to NATO to prepare for a conflict instead of following the Minsk Agreements’ peace roadmap.

On Friday, Ukraine’s former finance minister, Aleksandr Shlapak, and the nation’s former central bank head, Stepan Kubiv, were also put on Russia’s list of wanted persons. Although details about their criminal cases remain unclear, the Russian Investigative Committee had earlier charged both former officials with financing Kiev’s military crackdown on Donbass back in 2014. The operation marked the beginning of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ shelling of populated areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

At the same time, Sullivan said that in 2025, Ukraine intends to launch another offensive, the report said on Saturday.

“Sullivan said that he still expects ‘Russian advances in the coming period’ on the battlefield, despite the new US funding package approved last month,” the daily reported.

US President Joe Biden signed last week a supplemental package passed by Congress that provides $61 billion in additional aid for Ukraine.

News outlet admits that “resolving Ukraine’s personnel shortages is crucial to its chances against Russia”.

Russian forces are steadily advancing in the Ukraine conflict, the US Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, told senators on Thursday. She also accused China of providing Russia with dual-use components, which has “tilted the momentum on the battlefield in Moscow’s favor”.

During a hearing at the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Global Threats on Thursday, Haines stated Russia “is making incremental progress on the battlefield with the potential for tactical breakthroughs along the front lines in areas such as Donetsk and Kharkiv”.

The intelligence official added that Moscow’s economic position and rearmament efforts have led Russian President Vladimir Putin to believe that “domestic and international trends are in his favor”.

“Putin has for months indicated a willingness to enter into talks with Ukraine and the United States about the future for Ukraine but without any indication that he is willing to make significant concessions.”

She further claimed that an intensifying campaign of Russian airstrikes is designed to break Kiev’s will and demonstrate there is no “plausible path to victory” for Ukraine.

This strategy is also disrupting Kiev’s military logistics and defense industry capabilities, Haines explained, adding that aerial bombardments are “likely to continue, and the war is unlikely to end any time soon”.

The US intelligence chief told senators that President Putin continues to see NATO enlargement and Western support to Ukraine as proof that the US and its European allies “seek to restrict Russian power”. This perception supposedly translates into an ever-growing military budget for Moscow.

Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated that Moscow’s forces had seized the initiative on the battlefield and had been making territorial gains in Donbass.

Around the same time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that the recently approved $61 billion US aid package for Ukraine “won’t change the dynamics on the front line”.

In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, predicted that Russia would launch a major offensive by the end of May or the beginning of June, with Kiev still suffering from weapons shortages. He also acknowledged that the fall of Chasov Yar, a major Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk Region, was only a matter of time.