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.
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.
Donald Trump speaks during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect comments from the Trump White House transition team distancing itself from Lanza's comments.
A senior advisor to President-elect Donald Trump has said Ukraine needs to be "realistic" in its aims for the war, adding the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea was "gone."
Speaking to the BBC on Nov. 9, Republican party strategist Bryan Lanza said the Trump administration would ask President Volodymyr Zelensky to present a "realistic vision for peace."
"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he said.
Ukraine's leadership has said publicly that it plans to restore the country's 1991 borders, which includes the liberation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas occupied by Russia since 2014.
Lanza did not reference the Donbas during the interview, but said the return of Crimea was "not the goal of the United States."
Despite U.S. troops never being deployed in Ukraine, nor Kyiv ever requesting as much, Lanza added Ukraine would be "on your own" if the goal was "having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back."
Following reports of his comments, a spokesperson for Trump's White House transition team distanced Lanza from Trump, Reuters reported.
"Bryan Lanza was a contractor for the campaign," the unnamed spokesperson told Reuters. "He does not work for President Trump and does not speak for him."
Trump defeated Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election, adding further uncertainty for Ukraine as it struggles to envision its future.
"If we have a win, long before Jan. 20, before I would take the presidency, long before that, I think we could work out something that is good for both sides," Trump said, standing alongside Zelensky in New York in September.
It remains unclear why Russia would want to pause at the current phase since Moscow's forces are currently at the height of their offensive in 2024 and reportedly still have the resources to keep pushing further.
On Nov. 9, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia was "ready to listen" to Trump's proposals but added that there would be no "simple solution."
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
