Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is reportedly offering a deal that would give U.S. companies access to Syria's natural wealth, reminiscent of the minerals agreement Washington recently signed with Kyiv.
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.
People walk down an avenue of Mariupol on April 12, 2022 as Russian troops intensified a campaign to take the strategic port city. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia used a "deliberate pattern" of starvation tactics during its three-month siege of the city of Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, in early 2022, which could amount to war crime, according to a lawyers' analysis submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Guardian reported on June 13.
The report, submitted to the ICC by Global Rights Compliance lawyers working jointly with the Ukrainian government, says that Russia and its leaders intended to kill and harm large number of civilians.
The city 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 could have been killed during the siege of Mariupol. The exact number remains unknown and could be much higher.
Catriona Murdoch, a partner at Global Rights Compliance, said that the purpose of the research was to "to see if there was a broader narrative" that the Russian military and its leadership deliberately denied food and other necessary services for life.
Lawyers concluded that there were four phases to the Russian assault in Mariupol, Murdoch said, including attacks on civilian infrastructure, cutting out the supply of electricity, heating and water, refusal of humanitarian evacuation, and strikes on critical infrastructure.
"Finally, in phase four, Russia engaged in strategic attacks to destroy or capture any remaining infrastructure," she said
The phased attacks on the city demonstrated that Russia planned to capture Mariupol without mercy for its civilian population, according to Murdoch.
Given the importance of Mariupol and the centralization of decision-making in Russia, responsibility for the deaths of thousands of civilians lies upon the country's leadership, she said.
"(Russian President) Vladimir Putin is to blame, and so are echelons of the Russian military leadership," Murdoch added.
The ICC issued arrest warrants on March 17, 2023, for Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the forced deportations of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash and Admiral Viktor Sokolov "are each allegedly responsible" for a number of war crimes, including "directing attacks at civilian sites," the ICC said.
Irynka Hromotska
