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.
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 footage showing the city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast after the explosions on July 12, 2024. (Petro Andriushchenko/Telegram)
There was a series of explosions in Russian-occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast on July 12, said Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city's exiled mayor.
Andriushchenko shared photos and videos showing plumes of smoke rising over Mariupol. Explosions near a city's airport were captured in videos shared on Telegram, with another detonation reported later by Telegram channels.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims. Russia and the Ukrainian military have not yet commented on the reports.
Mariupol came under siege by Russian forces between February and May 2022, leaving thousands dead and reducing Mariupol to rubble.
According to authorities' rough estimates, at least 25,000 people may have been killed during the siege of Mariupol. The exact number remains unknown and could be much higher.
In early July, the Atesh partisan group claimed it had sabotaged a key railway connection between Russia's Rostov-on-Don and the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol used by the Russian military.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Kateryna Denisova
