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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.

“I would very much like to see unity. The sides have not found it. And the problem lies not only with the sides, but with me as well,” Zelenskyy said. “But things are as they are. And in such a situation, you have a choice: either one side or the other.”

He has appointed the acting head of Ukraine’s security service, Yevhenii Khmara, as acting defence minister and asked parliament to approve him in the position.

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Arab diplomats familiar with the discussions said regional governments increasingly view Netanyahu as an impediment to Trump's diplomatic ambitions in the Middle East.

Several Arab leaders have privately urged US President Donald Trump to reconsider his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the leaders described Netanyahu and his government as "an obstacle to realizing his vision in the region."

Additionally, Arab diplomats familiar with the discussions said regional governments increasingly view Netanyahu as an impediment to Trump's diplomatic ambitions in the Middle East, left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky honored soldiers, medics, energy workers and other civilians with state awards on Ukrainian Statehood Day, personally presenting the Order of the “Golden Star” to the mother of a fallen Hero of Ukraine who received the title posthumously.

Zelensky announced the ceremony in a statement on Wednesday, listing former Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, French Ambassador to Ukraine Gaël Veyssière, historian Natalia Yakovenko, writer and serviceman Illarion Pavliuk, and publisher Anton Martynov among those decorated.

“On the occasion of Ukrainian Statehood Day, I honored our people whose work helps Ukraine hold its ground and preserve our independMore...ence,”  Zelensky said, adding that “Ukraine stands on the people who defend, rescue, rebuild, and work for it every day.”

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Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea and forced it to withdraw, in what Warsaw described as another attempt by Moscow to probe NATO’s air defenses.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced this on Tuesday, calling the situation “another Russian provocation over the Baltic Sea.”

“I remind you. It is Russia that is the aggressor,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding that the aircraft was “gathering intelligence on the defense systems” and that “Russia is testing the Alliance’s readiness in this way.”

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When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Alina Holovko, a resident of Dnipro, spent her days organizing volunteers to assemble Molotov cocktails as Russian forces threatened to reach the city. She and other volunteers founded Dobra Sprava, a humanitarian organization that evacuates civilians from frontline communities.

In the early months of the war, those evacuation drivers were overwhelmingly men, making repeated trips into cities such as Lysychansk, Rubizhne, Siversk and later Bakhmut. But as the war dragged on and Ukraine’s military demanded more manpower, many of those volunteers were mobilized into the armed forces.

More than four years of war have steadily reduced the pool of experienced civilian volunteers. A July 2026 CSIS analysis estimated R

ussia had suffered roughly 1.4 million battlefield casualties and Ukraine between 525,000 and 625,000 since the full-scale invasion.

An April 2026 Human Rights First report found that the trend extends beyond Dobra Sprava, documenting that volunteer groups across eastern Ukraine are turning to women to conduct evacuations as experienced male volunteers are mobilized or lost to Russian attacks.

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Sam Neill, a smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose career moved from art film to blockbuster as he dodged velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" to playing Holly Hunter's husband in "The Piano," has died. He was 78.

In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Neill died on Monday in Sydney, according to a statement posted to the actor's social media page.

His death was "sudden and unexpected," the statement said, adding that he "remained cancer free" when he died. A cause of death wasn't specified.

"Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life," his family wrote.

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