"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.
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.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a welcoming ceremony upon Putin's arrival in Pyongyang, early on June 19, 2024 (Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP)
North Korea has dispatched pilots who can fly Russian warplanes to join the war in Ukraine, Newsweek reported on Oct. 22, citing South Korean television network TV Chosun.
Moscow is planning to involve Pyongyang in the full-scale war against Ukraine in the coming months, with around 10,000 North Korean soldiers being prepared to join the Russian army, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said earlier in October that the first group of 2,600 soldiers would be deployed to Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine began a cross-border incursion in August and still holds significant swathes of territory.
North Korea denied sending troops to join Russia's war in Ukraine, calling the recent reports "groundless rumors."
A government official in South Korea claimed that North Korea had sent fighter pilots to Vladivostok, a city in Russia's Far East, ahead of the first deployment of its ground troops on Oct. 8, according to TV Chosun.
The report said that this move could mean further training of pilots on Russian combat aircraft.
If the report is confirmed, Russia will become the first country where North Korean pilots will be stationed outside their country since the Vietnam War. They also previously participated in combat operations in Syria and Egypt during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
A Western official told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 15 that 10,000 North Korean soldiers had already been sent to Russia. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence service, put the number at 11,000 and said they would be "ready to fight" by Nov. 1.
A video purportedly showing them at a military training camp inside Russia has also surfaced online.
Moscow and Pyongyang have deepened military cooperation as Russia seeks arms and other support in its full-scale war against Ukraine.
North Korea has also been supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and vast quantities of artillery shells.
Chris York
