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.
The aftermath of a Russian airstrike against Velykyi Burluk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksii Kuleba/Telegram)
Russia attacked the village of Velykyi Burluk in Kharkiv Oblast with guided aerial bombs on Feb. 28, killing a man and a six-year-old girl, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksii Kuleba said.
The child's mother was also reportedly injured. She is being provided medical care but is in serious condition, according to Kuleba.
Russian forces carried out the airstrike at around 5 p.m. local time, hitting a local railway station.
Velykyi Burluk lies around 80 kilometers east of Kharkiv and over 20 kilometers west of the Russian border.
The village was temporarily occupied by Russian forces in 2022 until its liberation in Ukraine's surprise counteroffensive in the autumn of that year.
It came under another deadly attack on Feb. 14, resulting in the death of four people.
Velykyi Burluk lies in the Kupiansk district, which faces a heavy onslaught by Russian troops. Earlier on Feb. 28, a Russian attack against Kupiansk killed two people and injured five.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
