"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
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.
Police and volunteers convince locals to evacuate from Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, on Oct. 30, 2023 (Vlada Liberova / Libkos via Getty Images)
Russian forces continued to attack the embattled city of Avdiivka with a variety of weapons, including multiple-launch-rocket-systems (MLRS) and air strikes, killing two civilians, the Ukrainian army's Tavria group spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said on television on Nov. 10.
The attacks have increasingly focused on the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant but have also bombarded the city.
According to Shtupun, two civilians, a man and a woman, were killed in an airstrike on a residential building in the city.
Russian forces continue to try and encircle the coke plant, a Ukrainian defense stronghold, but have also not given up in their attempts to surround the entire city.
In terms of tactics, Russian forces no longer attack en masse as they did in the earlier stages of the battle, Shtupun said, but instead in small groups of up to 15 soldiers.
Nonetheless, "now the situation is under control, and the coke plant is under our control,” Shtupun said.
It was reported on Nov. 9 that Russian forces were expending a considerable amount of infantry and equipment in the battle for the city, attempting to attack from three different angles.
The remaining 16 workers of the coke plant were evacuated on Nov. 7, but 17 residents of the city, staying in the only warehouse still intact in the factory, refused to leave, according to Ukrainian military authorities.
It was reported on Oct. 24 that around 1,000 civilians remained in Avdiivka, but it is unknown how many are still there at the time of this publication.
Russian forces intensified ground attacks against Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, and surrounding settlements in early October in an effort to encircle the town. The campaign has been supported by heavy shelling and air strikes.
The battle for Avdiivka has inflicted heavy losses on Russian forces. Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade said on Nov. 6 that as many as 7,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded there, and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles have been destroyed.
The battle for Avdiivka illustrates the Russian military command's inability to learn from past mistakes, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote on Nov. 1.
"Avdiivka is a microcosm of the Russian General Staff’s wider failure to internalize and disseminate lessons learned by Russian forces during previous failed offensive efforts in Ukraine," ISW analysts said.
Francis Farrell
