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.
A patient receives treatment in the emergency room at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine, on May 10, 2024. (Asami Terajima/The Kyiv Independent)
Mechinkov Hospital, a regional medical center in the city of Dnipro that treats front-line soldiers from Donbas, has received around 29,000 injured troops since the start of the full-scale war, hospital director Sergii Ryzhenko told the Kyiv Independent.
The 200-year-old Mechinkov Hospital is known for treating the most complex injuries, and many of the doctors and nurses working there since Russia invaded Donbas in 2014.
The facility receives about 50 soldiers per day, doctors told the Kyiv Independent. Around 82% of the wounded arrive unconscious. According to the hospital's own figures, 95% of these injured soldiers have been kept alive.
The demand for medical care has skyrocketed since the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022.
Only one to five soldiers arrived at Mechnikov Hospital per day between 2014 and 2022, Ryzhenko told the Kyiv Independent. The hospital treated over 3,000 soldiers in the first eight years of the war.
Ryzhenko still performs surgeries himself and said that staffing needs at the hospital are growing increasingly urgent as medical personnel face burnout and exhaustion.
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Asami Terajima
