Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is willing to stop the war along the current line of contact and move to negotiations, he said in a Sky News interview. He presented the idea as the quickest route to a ceasefire, while rejecting any deal that hands Russia Ukrainian land. He also urged allies to close Ukraine's air defense gaps.
Asked where he would freeze the lines if Russia agreed to a ceasefire, Zelenskyy said he is ready to accept today's positions.
"Yes, it's the quickest way," he said.
He insisted this is not a giveaway. He does not want to simply freeze the conflict, but to stop the war so it cannot restart "because of some crazy people." A freeze would let Ukraine save children's lives and bring soldiers home. Any ceasefire must be total and free of Russian games, watched by American and European partners. Only then would the sides sit down to end the war through diplomacy. A ceasefire, he added, is "the biggest compromise from our side."
The most urgent need from allies is air defense, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine faces a large deficit in anti-ballistic missiles, with US transfers slowed by the war in the Middle East. He again asked for more Patriot systems. Russia attacks daily, usually with around 300 long-range explosive drones. On the heaviest nights it launches 600 to 850 drones and dozens of missiles.
Ukraine has built more than 400 defense companies since the full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy said. Dozens rank among the world's strongest. They produce drones and missiles, some underground, and the country is close to its own ballistic missile. Ukraine can now share that expertise with allies and even build air defenses for Europe, he said. Kyiv aims to mass-produce drones on a scale few countries can match.
Ukraine's recent strikes on St. Petersburg and the Moscow region answer Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy, Zelenskyy said. St. Petersburg was hit twice last week. He wants Russians far from the front to feel the war they started. Russian President Vladimir Putin understands only "total pressure," he said. Sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet of sanctions-dodging tankers and its oil and gas exports hit hardest.
Zelenskyy said Putin does not want to stop the war and is signaling he wants to win. Whether the fighting ends "100% depends on his decision," he said. His 4 June open letter, which Moscow called rude and rejected, was meant to force an answer and pierce a Russian public living in "some fantastic world." Russian businessman Roman Abramovich came to Kyiv to carry messages to Putin, Zelenskyy said.
His key message was on the Donbas: Ukraine will not leave its land, and compromises come only after a ceasefire. He is ready to meet in any format, but not in Moscow, Belarus, or Minsk. Leaders cannot decide "without us about us," he said, in a message aimed at Washington. Russia, by contrast, keeps insisting that Ukraine surrender all of the Donbas first.
Greece’s armed forces will welcome the first women volunteers for military service this week, marking a significant shift in the country’s defense recruitment policy.
The first female volunteers will report for duty on Thursday as part of the Hellenic Army’s 2026 second conscription intake, which began this week and will continue through June 5. They will train at an army base near Lamia, a city in south-central Greece.
Under the new program, women aged 20 to 26 can apply for voluntary military service if they meet the required military fitness standards and have no felony convictions.
They will serve for 12 months, under the same duration, obligations, and conditions that apply to male conscripts in Greece.
The initiative opens a new path for women to take part more directly in national defense. In Greece, military service has traditionally remained compulsory for men, while women have not faced the same obligation.
Female volunteers can also join the selection process for reserve officer training, under the same criteria that apply to male conscripts.
They will gain access to military hospital services and receive additional points in certain public-sector hiring procedures. The state will also recognize their period of service as professional experience, giving the program potential value beyond the military.
Officials have presented the initiative as both a contribution to national defense and an opportunity for women to gain training, experience, and qualifications that could support their future careers.
The launch of voluntary military service for women comes as Greece pushes ahead with broader reforms to modernize the armed forces, improve readiness, and strengthen recruitment and retention.
Ahead of the launch, the Hellenic Army General Staff carried out a public information campaign encouraging women to apply. The campaign described voluntary service as a way for women to contribute to Greece’s defense while gaining educational and professional benefits.
The arrival of the first female volunteers marks an important test for Greece’s new model of military participation, as the country seeks to broaden the pool of potential recruits and adapt its armed forces to changing defense needs.
Greece has signed an agreement to expand its fleet of Shield AI V-BAT unmanned aerial systems for maritime surveillance operations across the Aegean Sea, the American company announced June 2.
The deal deepens an existing partnership that has already seen the Hellenic Army deploy these advanced drones for intelligence and reconnaissance missions.
Concluded between Shield AI and the Hellenic Army, the agreement bolsters Greece’s existing V-BAT fleet. The company says that the agreement will enhance the nation’s capacity to maintain persistent situational awareness over hundreds of islands, remote coastlines, and contested maritime approaches.
The V-BAT can launch from ship decks or small island clearings without a runway, fly for over 12 hours on a single sortie, and operate seamlessly despite aggressive electronic warfare attempts to disrupt its navigation and communications.
“V-BAT is exceptionally well-suited for operations in Greece, where forces operate across dispersed islands, remote coastlines, deep valleys, mountain ranges, and complex maritime environments,” said James Lythgoe, Shield AI’s regional director for Eastern and Southeast Europe. “V-BAT has proven itself in combat operations in Ukraine, including in GPS- and communications-denied environments, and was built for exactly these kinds of operational realities.”
In Ukraine, the V-BAT has successfully operated amid intense Russian electronic warfare, where GPS signals are actively jammed and drone communications are disrupted. This proven resilience against satellite spoofing and signal jamming ensures the system remains operational against sophisticated adversaries, rather than falling out of the sky.
Classified as a NATO Class I unmanned aircraft (weighing under 330 pounds), the V-BAT acts as a highly tactical asset deployable by ground units and small naval vessels without requiring massive support infrastructure. Its twelve-hour flight endurance allows a single aircraft launched at dawn to maintain continuous coverage through the entire day. This enables crucial “pattern-of-life” analysis to reveal suspicious maritime activity.
By expanding its V-BAT fleet, the Hellenic military strengthens its layered early-warning architecture across the Aegean, giving commanders the vital reaction time needed to respond to maritime intrusions before situations escalate.
Related: Classified US Stealth Drone Makes Rare Appearance in Greece
by Rhoda Wilson | The Exposé Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent by the US military on unsuccessful initiatives such as the Navy’s Great Green Fleet programme. Now, it is coming to an end. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth believes that climate change mitigation efforts have no measurable effect on global temperatures and do not improve military readiness. “The Dept of Defence does not do climate change crap. We do training and warfighting,” he said. The new policy is to redirect funds to strengthen the US military. “So begins a new age of realistic military policy and an end […]
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