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.
Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service. (The Wall Street Journal)
Current Time, a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported on March 30 that the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich previously detained by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), was arrested for two months by the Lefortovo court in Moscow.
According to the court's press service, cited by Current Time, Gershkovich was charged with espionage, potentially facing 12 to 20 years in prison.
Russian state-owned news outlet TASS reported that Gershkovich, accused of "espionage in the interests of the American government," has pleaded not guilty, and his case is labeled "top secret."
Earlier the same day, the FSB said it had detained Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg while he was "trying to obtain secret information" regarding "the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."
The Wall Street Journal later commented on the reporter's arrest, saying it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich."
According to the Current Time, Gershkovich spent several weeks in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg before his detention. He was covering the attitude of Russians to the war against Ukraine and the recruitment of residents in Russia's state-backed private mercenary Wagner Group.
Evan Gershkovich has been reporting on Russia at the Journal's Moscow bureau since 2017. He was accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the country's foreign ministry. Gershkovich previously worked for Agence France-Presse, The Moscow Times, and The New York Times.
In its crackdown on domestic media following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia passed a censorship law last March banning the media from publishing information about the war deemed false by the authorities.
As a result, many Russian news outlets went out of business or left the country, while foreign publications restricted reporting within Russia and recalled many employees.
Dinara Khalilova is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a news editor. In the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she worked as a fixer and local producer for Sky News’ team in Ukraine. Dinara holds a BA in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master’s degree in media and communication from the U.K.’s Bournemouth University.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
