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.
Ukrainian soldiers of the anti-aircraft mobile division stand with guns during night training on March 2, 2024. (Oleg Pereverzev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Russia is now launching a new type of cheaply-made drone to identify air defense systems and act as decoys, Andrii Cherniak, a spokesperson of Ukraine's military intelligence, told Reuters in an interview published on July 26.
Russia has launched thousands of cheap but effective Shahed-type drones against Ukraine since the fall of 2022. First used on the battlefield, they are now typically deployed to target energy infrastructure and cities far from the front line, such as Kyiv.
According to Cherniak, Russia is now using not only Shahed-type drones but also a new type of drone made of plywood and plastic foam in long-range attacks against Ukraine.
The new drones can reveal the location of air defense systems and film damage, with one type able to carry a camera and Ukrainian sim card to send footage back to Russia.
"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them," Cherniak told Reuters.
Russian forces are trying "to get a picture of where all our air defenses are located," he added.
The drones have been used in five attacks in July, including an overnight strike on July 25-26, Cherniak said.
Cherniak's comments follow a report by the Ukrainian Air Force on July 20 that a new unidentified drone had targeted Kyiv overnight.
Images of the downed drone circulating on social media indicate that the new weapon does not resemble a Shahed-type drone. The drone was reportedly flying at a low altitude of 20-30 meters.
The news outlet Defense Express obtained additional photographs and details about the unidentified drone. The drone has "a possible wingspan of more than 4 meters, beam plumage, a push rotor, and a square fuselage," Defense Express reported, citing its sources.
Images of the drone show some similarities to the Russian ZALA 421-20 reconnaissance drone, but these types are not widespread and no longer appear in ZALA's current catalog, Defense Express reported.
Alexander Khrebet
