
Ukraine ratifies strategic minerals deal with US
The Ukrainian parliament ratified a milestone minerals deal with the United States on Thursday, lawmakers said.
A total of 338 parliamentarians voted in favor of ratification, and no one voted against, said Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign affairs committee.
The agreement grants the US preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources and paves a path for possible new military aid for Kyiv, although it lacks clear security guarantees.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Two killed, 28 wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv: Ukraine official
KYIV, Ukraine: Russian strikes on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed two people and wounded 28 early Wednesday, the mayor said. 'Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs were carried out in two districts of the city this night,' Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, later adding: 'There is information about two dead already.'


Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Syria rescuers say two killed in drone strikes on northwest
DAMASCUS: Two people were killed in separate drone strikes Tuesday on a car and a motorcycle in the northwestern bastion of the Islamist former rebels who now head the Syrian government, rescuers said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin drone strikes in the Idlib region but a US-led coalition in Syria has carried out past strikes on terrorists in the area. Earlier this year, the United States said it killed several commanders of Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Hurras Al-Din in the area. The group had recently announced it was breaking up on the orders of the interim government set up by the rebels after their overthrow of Bashar Assad in December. US troops are deployed in Syria as part of a US-led coalition to fight the Daesh group. When contacted by AFP, a US defense official said they were aware of the reports but had 'nothing to provide' at the time. During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh.


Asharq Al-Awsat
8 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Russia, Ukraine Complete Second Round of Prisoner Exchange
Russia and Ukraine said Tuesday they had exchanged captured soldiers, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday's exchange saw "the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity." Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed in the swap -- the second in as many days following another exchange on Monday. The two sides had agreed in Istanbul last week to release all wounded soldiers and all under the age of 25. Russia's defense ministry said: "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned." Zelensky said further exchanges would follow. "The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity." The agreement had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, with both sides trading accusations of attempting to thwart the exchange. Russia says Ukraine has still not agreed to collect the bodies of killed soldiers, after Moscow said more than 1,200 corpses were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border. Russia said it had agreed to hand over the remains of 6,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, while Kyiv said it would be an "exchange". Moscow and Kyiv have carried out dozens of prisoner exchanges since Russia invaded in 2022, triggering Europe's largest conflict since World War II.