Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and guided bombs during the night, targeting multiple regions after the May 12 deadline for an unconditional ceasefire expired.
"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
Ukraine remains the most mined country in the world. Nearly one-third of Ukraine's territory, approximately 174,000 square kilometers, had been mined since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
The phone call comes as Moscow once again rejected a 30-day ceasefire, with Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claiming that a ceasefire would give "Kyiv a break to restore its military potential and continue its confrontation with Russia."
Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport en-route to Kuala Lumpur International Airport on July 17, 2014. Three hours into the flight, the Boeing-777 was shot down by Russian proxy forces using a Buk surface-to-air missile above Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
"I am grateful for the support and the readiness at the highest level to promote diplomacy," President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the phone conservation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We share the same view on the need for a ceasefire."
The convictions mark a significant development in Britain's efforts to counter Russian intelligence operations amid heightened tensions stemming from Moscow's war against Ukraine and repeated Kremlin threats toward Kyiv's allies.
Remains of a Shahed drone downed by Ukrainian forces. Illustrative purposes only. (Oleksii Samsonov /Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukrainian troops downed all 21 Shahed-136/131 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported in the morning of Nov. 29. The drones were launched from around Russia's port city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk in southern Krasnodar Krai.
Two out of three Kh-59 cruise missiles launched from the occupied part of Kherson Oblast were destroyed as well, according to the Ukrainian military. Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, and units of mobile fire groups were used to down the weapons, according to the post.
The attack was mainly targeted against western Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi Oblast as well as southern regions. The attack drones were downed over Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Khmelnytskyi obalsts.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhii Lysak said via his official Telegram channel that at least eight drones were destroyed over the region. There was no information on casualties or damages.
Ukraine's air defense intercepted two missiles over southern Mykolaiv Oblast. The third missile reportedly didn't reach its target. The Kyiv Independent can't immediately verify the information.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Olena Goncharova
