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.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media during a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 08, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, allowing Ukraine to continue exporting its grain amid Russia's full-scale war, was prolonged on May 17, and is due to expire on July 18.
“I’m hopeful for an extension,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on July 8 in a joint speech with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Our hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months. We will make an effort in this regard and try to increase the duration of it to two years,” Erdogan said.
The UN and Turkey-brokered deal, first signed in July 2022, has been paramount in subduing soaring food prices worldwide.
Russia's all-out war prevented Ukraine, one of the world's top grain suppliers, from exporting agricultural products from its Black Sea ports.
The deal has been extended several times since then. The previous extension was agreed upon on March 17, after weeks of Russia threatening to back out of it if certain terms were not met.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to terminate the deal, while sabotaging and delaying the inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian food products under the initiative.
According to Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry, due to Russia's actions, the worldwide exports of Ukrainian grain have been reduced by 15-18 million tons.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities insist that the grain deal be open-ended and automatically extended for 120 days.
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Anastasiya Gordiychuk
