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.
"I myself have heard relatives talking: our village is being attacked, let's roll the car out of the garage, maybe they will shell it — at least we will get money. The car is old, we can't sell it," Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
F-16 aircrafts during a military parade on Polish Armed Forces Day in Warsaw, Poland on Aug. 15, 2023. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Belgium may ship the first F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine later this year, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder confirmed on April 26, according to the Belgian news outlet RTBF.
Belgium was among the first countries to join the F-16 training coalition established in the summer of 2023 to bolster Ukraine's Air Force. The initiative was spearheaded by the U.S., Denmark, and the Netherlands.
"In coordination with our partners in the F-16 coalition, our country will make every effort to speed up deliveries, if possible, by the end of this year," Dedonder said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also announced at the Ramstein-format summit on April 26 that "more than a squadron" of donated F-16s will start to arrive in Ukraine this year, along with trained pilots and maintainers, thanks to the work of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
The announcement accompanies news that the U.S. has prepared an immediate military aid package worth $1 billion to send to Ukraine, and a $6 billion weapons package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) that will provide arms to Kyiv in the next few years.
Last October, Belgium said that it would provide Ukraine with several F-16 fighter jets, without specifying a number, and help with the training for Ukrainian pilots in EU countries. In October 2023, Dedonder said that the first batch of F-16s from Brussels were expected to arrive to Ukraine in 2025.
The Belgian government approved in late March the 25th assistance package for Ukraine, which contains 100 million euros ($107 million) for the maintenance and support of F-16 fighter jets.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said that the United States and Belgium were sending F-16s to Ukraine in 2024. The U.S. announced that F-16s from allies would arrive this year, not that it is sending the planes. The error has been corrected.
Dinara Khalilova
