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 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.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, on April 05, 2023, in Warsaw, Poland. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
During a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's claims about Ukraine's leader's legitimacy.
His response comes days after Putin falsely claimed that presidential power should be shifted to the speaker of Ukraine's parliament because Zelensky's term has allegedly ended.
"The legitimacy of President Zelensky is recognized only by the people of Ukraine," Zelensky said. "It is the people of Ukraine who elect him, and I am very grateful for their support. Our people are free. This is what we are fighting for."
If martial law had not been imposed, the next presidential election would have been held on March 31, 2024, and Zelensky’s term would have ended on May 20. But Ukraine introduced martial law after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. The Martial Law Act explicitly bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections.
Zelensky said that Putin is recognized only by Putin himself. The Russian leader recently won another six-year term in an election that was widely considered to be rigged.
"Putin is elected by Putin. The Russian people are the scenery, and they have only one actor," Ukraine's president added.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, also dismissed Putin's claims about the Zelensky's legitimacy in late May, saying that, according to Ukraine's Constitution, the president fulfills his powers until a newly elected president takes office.
“Therefore, Volodymyr Zelensky remains and will remain Ukraine's president until the end of martial law. All this is in accordance with Ukraine's Constitution and laws,” he said.
Some of Zelensky's critics, including Russian propagandists, claim that the Constitution does not authorize extending his presidential term under martial law.
They argue that he ceased to be a legitimate president on May 20. However, leading constitutional lawyers dispute this claim, arguing that the Constitution allows such an extension.
Oleg Sukhov
