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.
Soldiers from the 56th Motorized Brigade fire at Russian infantry in the Bakhmut direction from an undisclosed location in Donetsk Oblast on May 30, 2023. (Asami Terajima/The Kyiv Independent)
Ukrainian forces advanced up to 1,400 meters in various sectors of the front over the past day, in spite of Russian counterattacks, Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Command, said on June 27.
"The enemy does not cease its counterattacks, but achieves no success because we know everything about our enemy and work in advance to destroy their manpower and military equipment," Cherevatyi said on television.
Russia further lost one Gvozdika artillery system, three armored vehicles, a D-30 howitzer, an anti-aircraft gun S-60, a drone "Zala," eight ammunition storages, and seven transport vehicles, Cherevatyi said.
Ukraine's military continues to engage Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts during its ongoing counteroffensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the night of June 27 that the troops have "made progress in all areas."
Ukrainian forces have also advanced on both the northern and southern flanks of Bakhmut and liberated the village of Rivnopil in Donetsk Oblast on June 26.
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.
Alexander Query
