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.
Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (R) speaks during a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky after their meeting in Athens on Aug. 21, 2023. (Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are expected to meet in Odesa on March 6, Kathimerini and several other Greek media outlets wrote, citing unnamed sources.
Ukrainian and Greek officials have not publicly confirmed Mitsotakis's visit.
The reports followed the explosions reported in the southern port city of Odesa amid a missile threat and an overnight Russia's large-scale drone attack on Ukraine, including Odesa Oblast.
According to Kathimerini, the meeting of the two leaders will take place before the Greek prime minister's trip to Romania for the two-day conference of the European People's Party (EEP) in Bucharest.
Greece joined the Group of Seven (G7) joint declaration on security commitments for Ukraine in August 2023. Later that month, Zelensky attended the first Ukraine-Balkan summit in Athens, where he met with Balkan leaders to coordinate European and Euro-Atlantic integration, defense cooperation, and security.
In late January, Zelensky said he discussed Ukraine's defense needs with Mitsotakis, "especially in terms of air defense and artillery."
The media reported that Greece had allegedly decided to transfer its outdated weapons systems to Kyiv. The Greek government denied this information.
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.
Elsa Court
