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.
Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak takes part in a Forum with the participation of heads of state institutions on August 27, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
An invitation to join NATO is part of Ukraine's victory plan, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak said during a visit to the U.S. on Sept. 24.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to present the victory plan to U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. He also plans to discuss it with presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
"Ukraine's invitation to NATO is part of the victory plan," Yermak said in a post on Telegram.
According to the information obtained by the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 22, Ukraine would ask for NATO membership within the months, not years.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Yermak said that the five-point victory plan includes both diplomatic and military components.
"I also urged our partners to ignore Russia's threats of escalation," he said.
Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022, half a year into Russia's full-scale invasion.
The July NATO summit in Washington ended with the launch of the Ukraine Compact, a security framework signed by 32 allies. The countries affirmed Kyiv's "irreversible" path toward membership, though Ukraine did not receive any definitive news about its future accession.
Biden said that peace in Ukraine means a guarantee that Russia will never occupy the country again, but Kyiv's membership in NATO is not necessary for this.
According to Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on partners to issue a membership invitation to Kyiv, Ukraine will join NATO only after Russia's full-scale war ends.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Dinara Khalilova
