Cash returned, tribunal backed: Kyiv's 7 May 2026

What did Kyiv gain in the days leading up to 7 May 2026? Two developments, one bilateral and one European, offered an answer, though neither settled the larger questions around the war.

Money returned by Hungary

On 6 May 2026, Ukraine's president announced that Hungary had returned cash and gold seized from Ukraine's Oschadbank. The assets had been held after outgoing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán ordered the government to keep the cash and gold for 60 days. The announcement closed a dispute that had strained Hungary–Ukraine relations, and it came as Orbán's time in office was ending.

Parliament backs a tribunal

A week earlier, on 1 May 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution supporting a special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders for crimes related to the war in Ukraine. The same resolution called for sanctions to remain in place until a peace agreement is fully implemented.

The tribunal idea rests on the concept of the crime of aggression. As the background to these events explains, the body is conceived as an ad hoc international criminal tribunal for individuals responsible for the invasion, complementing the existing International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. The invasion has been described since the outset as violating international law and as a crime of aggression, although procedural obstacles exist to prosecutions under existing laws.

What the two events show

The two items are separate, and the reports do not link them. Together they show two tracks of Ukraine's diplomacy in the first week of May 2026. One was practical: the recovery of seized state-bank assets from a neighbouring government. The other was institutional: political backing in Europe for legal accountability and for keeping sanctions in place.

The parliamentary resolution is an expression of support rather than the creation of a tribunal. The Hungarian return, by contrast, was a concrete outcome, announced by Ukraine's president on 6 May 2026.