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.
"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.
An aerial view of the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, on May 20, 2024. (Libkos/Getty Images)
Some of the Russian forces are withdrawing from the area near Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast for replenishment due to a loss of combat capability, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces, Nazar Voloshyn, said on June 22 on national television.
Russia launched a new offensive on May 10 in northern Kharkiv Oblast, and Vovchansk became the scene of some of the heaviest fighting.
Moscow's forces had advanced as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the region but had been halted by the first line of defense.
Russia was "bogged down" in the embattled town of Vovchansk but was constantly replenishing its forces with units from other directions, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said on June 12.
The withdrawal of Russian units was also seen near the villages of Lyptsi and Tykhe, where the Russian armed forces suffered losses, Voloshyn said.
Voloshin said that the Russian army had lost 60 of its troops, including both killed or wounded, in that direction of the front line.
"This indicates that the enemy has suspended its active hostilities in that area, as they were not conducted over the past day and in the morning," Voloshyn said.
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War Notes
The Russian military yet continues to use guided aerial bombs and missiles against the settlements in the oblast, the spokesperson added.
On June 21, a Russian drone hit an Ukrposhta postal vehicle in the community of Vovchansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast, killing a courier and injuring a driver, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported
The injured individual reportedly walked to the nearby village of Buhaiivka, where he was taken to the hospital by Ukrainian military personnel in the area.
Syniehubov said access is restricted to thesite of the attackdue to constant shelling.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Francis Farrell
