Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Saakashvili Asks Zelenskiy To Reinstate His Ukrainian Citizenship
By RFE/RL
Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who served as governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, has asked Ukraine's new president to reinstate his Ukrainian citizenship.
Saakashvili's lawyer, Ruslan Chornolutskiy, announced on Facebook on May 22 that he has formally filed a request with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration for the restoration of Saakashvili's citizenship.
Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship and appointed to the Odesa governor's post in 2015 by Zelenskiy's predecessor, President Petro Poroshenko.
Authorities in Tbilisi stripped Saakashvili of his Georgian citizenship in December 2015 on the grounds that Georgia does not allow dual citizenship.
Then, when relations between Poroshenko and Saakashvili had soured over corruption allegations, Poroshenko in November 2016 sacked Saakashvili from the Odesa governor's post.
In July 2017, after Saakashvili created an opposition party called Movement of New Forces, Poroshenko issued a decree that stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Chornolutskiy on May 22 also posted Saakashvili's letter to Zelenskiy online.
In it, Saakashvili says Poroshenko's decision to strip him of his Ukrainian citizenship was "illegal" because it violated the Ukrainian Constitution and international laws by leaving him stateless.
Saakashvili's letter also referred to Zelenskiy's May 20 inaugural speech in which the new Ukrainian president said he was ready to grant citizenship to anyone who was ready to work for Ukraine’s future.
"I would like to remind you that I not only consider myself a Ukrainian, I am a person who is ready to lay my life down to make Ukraine successful and strong," Saakashvili wrote, adding that he does not require an official government post in Ukraine.
Saakashvili's letter also asks Zelenskiy to at least lift a ban on his entry into Ukraine so he can defend himself in court if the new president does not consider it appropriate to reinstate his Ukrainian citizenship.
Saakashvili currently resides in the Netherlands, his wife's native country.
Zelenskiy's Decree On Disbanding Ukrainian Parliament Enters Into Force
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV – A decree issued by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy on disbanding parliament and holding snap elections in July has taken effect.
The decree was published on May 23 in the Uryadoviy Kuryer (Government's Courier) newspaper, which under Ukrainian law means the decree has entered into force.
After announcing in his May 20 inaugural address that he would dissolve parliament, Zelenskiy made it official with the decree the following day and declared that a new parliament will be elected on July 21.
He has called for that election to be held based entirely on voting for parties, rather than single candidates, arguing that the current system in which some seats are filled in contests between individual candidates favors corruption.
But at an emergency session of the Verkhovna Rada on May 22, only 92 lawmakers voted to discuss that proposal -- far short of the majority, 226 votes, needed to put it on the agenda.
Lawmakers also voted not to put another proposal from Zelenskiy, which would change the rules for state purchases during election campaigns, on the agenda.
The votes could point to a standoff between lawmakers and Zelenskiy, a political novice who has no formal support in the current parliament. The next parliament session is scheduled for May 28.
The next parliamentary elections were scheduled for October 27.