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.
The damaged Mariupol Drama Theatre in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, is seen with the word "children" written on the ground. (Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian project DE TY is organizing an international awareness campaign on March 16 in the U.S. and Canada to mark the second anniversary of a Russian strike against the Mariupol Drama Theater and draw attention to children suffering due to Russia's war.
Russian forces hit the theater during the siege of Mariupol on March 16, 2022, while a large number of civilians were taking shelter in the building.
Satellite images showed that there was a Russian word for children ("deti") spelled out on the square near the theater, clearly marking it as a non-military target. The resulting casualty estimates vary between one dozen and 600 people.
The campaign encourages people to join a flash mob on March 16 and spread the words "de ty" (where are you?), "dity" (the Ukrainian word for children), and "deti" (the Russian word for children) in public spaces and on social media.
The event was inspired by Leo Wolansky's song "De ty: Where are you?," which was produced together with the film collective Babylon'13 and Lviv State Academic male choir Dudaryk Choir.
The goals are to spread awareness about Ukrainian children suffering as a result of Russian aggression and to promote global fundraising charities that work with children.
According to Ukraine's Children of War database, over 500 children have been killed and over 1,200 injured as a result of the war. More than 2,000 remain missing.
Russian authorities also forcibly deported over 19,500 children to Russia, Belarus, or other occupied territories of Ukraine, of which only 388 have been safely brought back.
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.
Asami Terajima
