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.
The new tranche brings total recent EU defense support for Ukraine to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), marking a significant expansion of European efforts to boost Kyiv's defense industry.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni prior at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels on March 23, 2023. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is urging Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to unblock 50 billion euros ($55 billion) in EU aid to Ukraine in back-channel talks, Bloomberg reported Jan. 10, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Orban alone opposed the EU's funding package in December, delaying crucial support as Ukraine enters its third year of war. The EU will revisit the four-year funding agreement at an emergency summit on Feb. 1.
According to Bloomberg, Meloni's negotiations with Orban could result in Orban's right-wing Fidesz party joining the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a pan-European coalition of far-right political parties. The ECR includes Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party, and the nationalist Sweden Democrats.
The addition of Fidesz would give the ECR party an advantage going into the summer's European elections.
Meloni is also trying to persuade Orban to improve his relationships with President Volodymyr Zelensky, sources told Bloomberg.
Hungary would have to shift its policy on Ukraine's hopes of EU accession as a condition of Fidesz joining the ECR.
Sources told Bloomberg that negotiations have taken place at various levels, but no decisions have been made.
Politico reported on Jan. 9 that Hungary may support the EU's aid package if the funding is subject to annual renewal. The move would allow Budapest to extract new concessions from the EU each year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Jan. 6 that while she hopes the member states can reach consensus on assisting Ukraine, the Commission is preparing alternative "operational solutions" in the event the proposal fails to win unanimous approval.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
