"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.
According to the Verkhovna Rada's website, Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal.
Serhiy Petrovytch Doumenko, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv, Head of Ukraine church, leads an Orthodox Christmas service at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv on Jan. 7, 2023. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian authorities will inspect and seal five buildings of lower part of the historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery in the capital, the Culture Ministry informed on July 4.
The ministry noted that this should not prevent religious activities in the monastery, as access is limited only to areas not serving religious purposes.
According to a Ukrinform correspondent on the scene, the local clergy has blocked the members of the commission from entering the building.
On March 10, the Culture Ministry issued a statement that monks from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) must vacate the premises of Lavra, Ukraine's most important Orthodox monastery.
The clergymen have however refused to leave until the end of the ongoing legal proceedings concerning the monastery and blocked access to the authorities.
The Culture Ministry issued a statement on July 1 that monks must vacate five buildings of Lower Lavra by July 4 and hand over the keys to the National Reserve authorities.
UOC-MP is one of the two main Orthodox churches in Ukraine and its members are suspected of close ties and sympathies to the Kremlin even amid the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Martin Fornusek
