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.
Illustrative purposes only: A picture showing Naftogaz workers leaving the Bobrovnytska gas-compressor and gas-holder station in Mryn, Chernihiv Oblast, about 130 kilometers from Kyiv on Dec. 16, 2008. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Naftogaz, Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company, has accumulated 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas reserves for the upcoming winter period, the company said on July 22.
This represents almost 76% of the projected target of 13.2 bcm, which Naftogaz was tasked to accumulate by Nov. 1.
The figure of 13.2 bcm goes beyond the expected consumption and represents a "safety cushion" for the upcoming months, the company's spokesperson, Vladyslava Smolinska, told the Kyiv Independent.
"The last heating season, Ukraine used 6.7 bcm of gas," Smolinska added.
Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said in March that Ukraine went through the winter of 2023-2024 using only its own gas for the first time in history.
Despite Russian attacks against energy infrastructure during the spring, which included strikes against Naftogaz storage facilities, the company continued to accumulate supplies for the upcoming winter season.
In the first half of 2024, Ukraine's largest gas producer, Ukrgasvydobuvannya, pumped 8.8% more gas than in the same period last year, the company announced on July 16.
Naftogaz Group companies, which include Ukrgasvydobuvannya, increased gas production by 8% over the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly
