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.
A portrait of late head of Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, displayed at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, Russia, on August 27, 2023. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
The Wagner Group has allegedly resumed recruiting in the Russian cities of Perm and Novosibirsk as a unit of Rosgvardia, Russia's National Guard, local news sites 59.ru and ngs.ru reported on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
The group's recruiter told the Perm news outlet 59.ru that the unit is now headed by Pavel Prigozhin, the son of the deceased founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
"We recruit those who already have combat experience, including those who have already been members of the PMC (private military company)," the recruiter reportedly said.
Wagner has, however, abandoned its previous strategy to draw recruits from prisons, 59.ru reported, citing the recruiter.
A source within the mercenary unit reportedly told ngs.ru on Nov. 1 that the recruitment has been ongoing for "two or three days," noting that convicts and sick people are not accepted. Recruits are signing their contracts with Rosgvardia, not with Russia's Defense Ministry, the source emphasized.
The Kyiv Independent cannot currently verify the information.
The Russian independent outlet IStories reported on Oct. 27 that Wagner began to merge with Rosgvardia following negotiations with the Guard led by Pavel Prigozhin and Anton Elizarov, one of Wagner's commanders.
The Russian State Duma recently adopted in first reading a bill allowing Rosgvardia to create its own "volunteer formations."
One of the authors of the bill, lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, claimed that it has "nothing to do" with the reported transfer of Wagner under Rosgvardia, Meduza reported.
The fate of Russia's most notorious mercenary group remained uncertain following Wagner's rebellion against the Kremlin in June and a plane crash that killed Prigozhin and several other senior commanders two months later.
Some Wagner fighters were allowed to leave for Belarus or Africa, while others were offered contracts under the Russian Defense Ministry. Rosgvardia is not under the ministry's jurisdiction and answers directly to the presidential office.
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.
Oleg Sukhov
