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.
Illustrative purpose: President Zelensky holds a call with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Nov. 15, 2023. (Volodymyr Zelenskyy / X)
Ukraine completed the ratification of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement on May 12, according to the Verkhovna Rada's website. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal on May 12.
The finalization caps a months-long, often contentious negotiation process between Kyiv and Washington over critical minerals cooperation.
The deal is aimed at deepening economic ties, boosting Ukraine's reconstruction, and positioning the country as a supplier of strategic resources to the U.S.
The Verkhovna Rada ratified the agreement on May 8, with 338 lawmakers voting in favor, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak.
Signed on April 30, the deal establishes a Reconstruction Investment Fund jointly managed by Kyiv and Washington under an equal partnership model.
The agreement gives the U.S. special access to projects developing Ukraine's vast deposits of critical minerals, including lithium, titanium, and rare earth elements.
A map showing the location of critical raw materials in Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent)
Following the signing, both sides declined to disclose full operational details of the fund. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal previously said future U.S. military aid could be counted as contributions to the fund, but stressed that past assistance would not be included.
The agreement emerged after months of difficult talks that strained relations between the U.S. and Ukraine. Plans to sign the deal in late February collapsed following a heated White House argument between Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The final version excludes controversial provisions from earlier drafts that experts warned could have exploited Ukraine's resources. However, it does not include explicit security guarantees from the U.S., a long-standing priority for Kyiv.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
