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.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Leopard 2 A4 tanks at the Swietoszow Tank Training Center in Swietoszow, Poland, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Bartek Sadowki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Switzerland approved the transfer of 25 decommissioned Leopard 2 tanks to Germany under the condition that they must not leave EU or NATO member states, the Swiss Federal Council announced on Nov. 22.
"Germany has assured that the tanks sold will remain in Germany or with NATO or EU partners in order to close its own gaps," the Swiss Federal Council said.
The battle tanks will go to their original manufacturer, the German arms company Rheinmetall.
According to the Swiss Federal Council, the German government sent a request in February 2023, asking the Swiss government to allow the sale to Rheinmetall and assured "that the battle tanks would not be forwarded to Ukraine."
Swiss law does not allow the delivery of Swiss weapons to combat zones, even when supplied by an intermediary country, due to its long-standing neutrality policy.
The Swiss parliament has repeatedly voted against proposals to amend the rules regarding the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine.
The country also blocked the transfer of Swiss-made Leopard 1 tanks from Italy to Ukraine in June.
The parliamentary elections in October resulted in the populist, right-wing Swiss People’s Party winning the most seats.
Members of the party boycotted President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to the Swiss parliament on June 15, claiming it violated the country's tradition of neutrality.
Nate Ostiller
