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.
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.
Emmanuel Macron, France's president, during an official welcoming ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
French President Emmanuel Macron called upon Europe to "rediscover taste for risk, ambition, and power" and reject dependence on the U.S., the French news channel BFM TV reported on Feb. 28.
The comments come amid seismic geopolitical shifts as U.S. President Donald Trump upends Washington's long-standing policy on Ukraine and Russia while casting doubt on his commitments to transatlantic security.
Speaking during his two-day visit to Portugal, Macron said that Europe must be "more united and stronger than ever" and take decisive steps in "technological, industrial, (and) defense matters."
"I see a lot of people in Europe saying, 'we'll have to be nice to the Americans, it'll pass, we have to bend our backs,'" Macron said in comments quoted by BFM TV.
But "submission is not an answer," the French president added, warning Europe against entering into a "happy vassalage." The statement follows discussions within Europe on boosting defense spending to strengthen its own capabilities and Ukraine's.
Macron's trip to Portugal came after he visited Washington, where he sought to convince Trump to commit to post-war security guarantees for Ukraine.
The French president has reportedly failed to receive any clear commitments from Trump, with an undisclosed EU official describing the trip as a "waste of time" in comments for Politico.
While made in an unprecedented geopolitical context, Macron's views on Europe's autonomy are not new. He has long called on Europe to forge its strategic independence and cast off reliance on the U.S.
As the continued U.S. support for Ukraine against Russian aggression grows uncertain, Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who visited Trump shortly after the French president, have spearheaded a plan to deploy European peacekeepers in the country to monitor a potential ceasefire.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to discuss the U.S.'s possible security guarantees with Trump during his visit to Washington on Feb. 28. The two leaders are also expected to sign a framework agreement on Ukrainian minerals and other resources.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Kate Tsurkan
