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.
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.
An Airbus A321-211 aircraft of Russian airline Aeroflot in long-term parking in Geneva in March 2022. Swiss sanctions banned Aeroflot from using Swiss airspace. (Fabrice/Coffini/ AFP)
Russia's foreign ministry officially filed a complaint with the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Oct. 11, saying that some of its members were acting in a discriminatory fashion towards Russian aircraft.
The ministry called unfair the ban placed by EU countries, as well as the U.S., U.K., and Canada on Russian airlines from operating in their airspace, the export of aviation parts and insurance for Russian airlines, and the sharing of meteorological information.
These actions "jeopardized the safety of international civil aviation and seriously undermined the mutual trust that has been the basis of the international aviation system for almost 80 years," according to the complaint.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the E.U. and other countries named in the complaint swiftly moved to sanction and isolate Russia. Among these policies was a ban on the ability of Russian airlines or Russian-owned airplanes to use E.U. airspace, as well as prohibiting the export of aviation-related technology.
Attempts to circumvent sanctions ran afoul of international safety regulations, effectively preventing a majority of international flights. According to a report on Russia's airlines by the Carnegie Endowment, domestic flights accounted for 90% of all routes flown by Russian airlines in 2022. In 2019, this number was 57%.
The Russian government staved off disaster by propping up the industry and focusing on domestic flights, but sanctions on airplane parts and technology have continued to deplete airline stocks.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Abbey Fenbert
