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 Russian drone attacks against Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 22, 2025. (State Emergency Service)
Editor's note: The article was updated with the latest casualty figures in Kherson.
Russian forces launched drones at the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Kharkiv on April 22, injuring civilians even as Kyiv awaits Moscow's response to a proposed halt on strikes against civilian infrastructure.
A Russian drone attack on a funeral procession in the Kherson city center around noon injured six people and damaged a hospital, local authorities said.
The victims included four funeral service employees born in 1960, 1981, 1984, and 2006. Two of them have been hospitalized, according to the statement. The victims also included two hospital staff members.
The hospital building and service vehicles were damaged.
The attack on the southern city took place shortly before massive drone strikes against Kharkiv, which have so far injured seven people. Four municipal districts were targeted in the attack that lasted less than an hour.
Russian forces also launched an airstrike against Zaporizhzhia, reportedly killing one person and injuring 23, including four children.
In the front-line Kharkiv Oblast town of Kupiansk, a Russian airstrike injured seven people, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. Fifty-five houses were damaged.
Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities come as Kyiv offered a 30-day pause on strikes against civilian areas. Moscow signalled it would take the proposal under consideration, but continued in its strikes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also declared a temporary truce over the Easter holidays, even as Kyiv accused Moscow of nearly 3,000 violations during that period.
Moscow previously rejected a full 30-day truce agreed upon by Kyiv and Washington on March 11 in Jeddah.
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.
Daria Shulzhenko
