Zelensky on May 12 removed Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk from the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the top command and control body for all branches of Ukraine's defense apparatus.
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.
Lukyanivska Prison in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 19, 2016. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Vitaliy Holovin/Corbis via Getty Images)
A court in Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi Oblast ruled on May 22 to release two prisoners who have volunteered to join the army, marking the first instance in which prisoners were freed from detention on the condition they enter military service.
Ukraine's parliament passed a bill on May 8 that permits those convicted of certain offenses to serve in the military, paving the way for the voluntary mobilization of prisoners. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into law on May 17.
The proposal was first submitted to the parliament in March as part of Ukraine's efforts to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces amid the ongoing war with Russia.
The court said that the two men had been convicted of theft in 2022 and sentenced to four years and nine months and five years and five months in prison, respectively.
The parolees must be placed under the supervision of the military units they enroll in, and are unable to leave their units without the permission of their commanders.
The court will also consider the cases of 50 other convicts who have expressed an interest in joining the army.
Justice Minister Denys Maliuska said earlier in May that Ukraine could fill its ranks with as many as 20,000 convicts in a move that would also help ease overcrowding in Ukrainian prisons.
Under the new rules, the list of convicted citizens who were allowed to be drafted does not include those convicted of premeditated murder, sexual violence, drug trafficking and production, or crimes against national security.
Based on suggestions of the anti-corruption parliamentary committee, the measure will also exclude lawmakers and top officials imprisoned for corruption, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said.
Kateryna Hodunova
