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.
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi at the funeral of a Ukrainian soldier in early March 2023 in Kyiv. (Photo: Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces are advancing "at least 500 meters" every day in the counteroffensive despite the lack of crucial hardware like F-16 fighter jets, the Ukrainian armed forces' commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in an interview the Washington Post published on June 30.
Zaluzhnyi criticized those who complain of "slow progress," adding the counteroffensive is "not a show." President Volodymyr Zelensky also noted that the advance is "slower than desired" but that the campaign is not a movie.
Zaluzhnyi compared advancing without modern fighter jets to fighting with "bows and arrows." Russian artillery fire sometimes outnumbers Ukraine's by ten times, he added.
The Ukrainian commander pointed to NATO's own doctrine, which calls for air superiority before launching an offensive. In spite of that, Western leaders are slow to supply the jets, Zaluzhnyi complained.
Denmark and the Netherlands said they may provide the coveted aircraft to Ukraine with U.S. consent, and Washington supported the plan to supply Kyiv with F-16s. It is not yet clear when will the Ukrainian Air Force receive them, however.
The general said he shared his concerns with his U.S. counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who is helpful and sympathetic to Ukraine's needs. However, the decision on crucial hardware such as the F-16s does not lie with Milley, Zaluzhnyi noted.
Referring to the Wagner rebellion between June 23-24, Zaluzhnyi said it made no impact on the situation on the battlefield, as the private military company exited the front after the capture of Bakhmut in late May.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on June 29 that despite some Wagner presence in southern Ukraine and occupied Luhansk Oblast, the mercenaries will no longer take part in hostilities against Ukraine. According to the Kremlin and Minsk, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and part of the group's fighters are being transferred to Belarus.
Zaluzhnyi emphasized that despite being undersupplied, Ukrainian troops are carrying out their given tasks and advancing at least 500 meters every day, even though the progress is slower than some observers would hope for.
The long-awaited counteroffensive is underway across the front line in the east and south of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have successfully liberated nine settlements in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, though, according to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, the main attack is yet to come.
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.
Igor Kossov
