"Only member states can take out loans within the 150 billion euros instrument, but they can use these funds for joint procurement with Ukraine," EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
"We agreed to pursue ambitious measures to reduce Russia's ability to wage war by limiting Kremlin revenues, disrupting the shadow fleet, tightening the Oil Price Cap, and reducing our remaining imports of Russian energy."
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.
Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, speaks at a Multilateral Development Bank roundtable during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2023. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Any plan to seize or monetize frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine can not be considered a substitute for emergency Ukraine aid that has been stalled in Congress, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview, as reported by Bloomberg on March 1.
A $95 billion supplemental funding bill that includes around $60 billion for Ukraine has been held up for months due to U.S. domestic political turmoil.
The U.S. Senate passed the foreign aid bill on Feb. 13, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has not yet put it to a vote in Congress's lower chamber, despite the pressure from the Senate and the White House.
“I don’t see a real substitute for Congress providing Ukraine the aid it needs this year,” Yellen said, as cited by Bloomberg. “I don’t think anyone can fill that gap.”
Western countries and other partners immobilized around $300 billion of the Russian Central Bank's assets at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Yellen said on Feb. 27 that unlocking frozen Russian Central Bank assets and diverting those funds to aid Ukraine is "necessary and urgent."
Debates over the legality of channeling these funds into Ukraine's reconstruction have prevented allies from transferring the money, but ongoing delays in U.S. military aid have prompted heightened urgency.
Ten international legal experts recently signed a letter echoing Yellen's sentiments, arguing that the seizure of frozen Russian central bank assets to aid Ukraine would be lawful given Russia's "ongoing breach of the most fundamental rules of international law."
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill on Jan. 25 that would allow Washington to confiscate and transfer frozen Russian assets. The White House is reportedly behind the bill, which could potentially provide a novel solution to the current funding impasse in Congress.
Francis Farrell
