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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) visit a construction site of the Angara rocket launch complex on Sept. 13, 2023, in Tsiolkovsky, Russia. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told Russian officials during his visit that he is confident in Russia's victory over Ukraine, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Sept. 13.
"I am strongly convinced that the heroic Russian army and people will follow excellently the tradition of Victory, and will confidently demonstrate virtue and honor on the front of the (Russo-Ukrainian War) and in building a strong state," Kim said in the footage of the speech, surrounded by North Korean and Russian officials.
The North Korean leader also claimed "the Russian army and people will achieve a great victory in the sacred battle against the great evil."
Delivering a toast to the Kremlin leader's health, Kim said he appreciated the role of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in "building a strong, modern Russia."
Kim said that he wants to continue developing relations with Russia, which are now Pyongyang's first priority: "I hope that we will always be together in the fight against imperialism."
According to Russian news agencies, the two leaders concluded talks that lasted for four to five hours.
The North Korean leader arrived in Russia's far-eastern Amur Oblast earlier on Sept. 13 for expected arms sales talks.
Meeting his guest at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Putin claimed that the two leaders would discuss cooperation in missile and space technology.
Citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the TASS news agency said that Russia sees prospects in cooperating with North Korea in space and that Pyongyang is interested in developing cooperation in aviation and transport.
However, Washington believes that the talks also concerned possible arms sales and North Korean military aid to support Russia's war in Ukraine.
North Korea provided infantry rockets and missiles to Russia in 2022, and Moscow has since been seeking further arms supplies since then to bolster its war efforts in Ukraine.
In the spring of 2023, Moscow reportedlyapproached Pyongyang with the offer of food supplies in exchange for weapons. North Korea has been heavily militarized since the end of the war with its Southern Korean neighbors in 1953 but suffers from chronic food shortages.
Earlier in August, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea's capital to convince the country's leadership to provide artillery ammunition that Russian forces could use in its war against Ukraine.
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.
Martin Fornusek
