
UK to provide Ukraine with 100,000 drones by April 2026
The UK pledged on June 4 to supply Ukraine with 100,000 drones by the end of April 2026, marking a tenfold increase from the previous year.
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The UK pledged on June 4 to supply Ukraine with 100,000 drones by the end of April 2026, marking a tenfold increase from the previous year.
A Trump State Department official who shut down a U.S. counter-disinformation office has Kremlin ties, the Telegraph reported on June 3. The official, Darren Beattie, is married to the niece of a former Russian official linked to Putin and has echoed pro-Kremlin narratives.
Latvia was elected on June 3 to the UN Security Council for the first time in its history. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže called it a “historic day" for the Baltic nation, pledging the country’s commitment to upholding the rules-based international order.
The State Department confirmed that Russia requested the call and that Rubio reiterated President Trump's call for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to achieve "a lasting peace."
Right-wing historian Karol Nawrocki garnered 50.89% of the vote in the run-off election on June 1, narrowly defeating his liberal rival, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.
Russia launched a series of attacks on Zaporizhzhia Oblast overnight on May 31-June 1, injuring 7 people and damaging homes and critical infrastructure, regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported.
The Atesh partisan group allegedly sabotaged the recently-constructed Volnovakha-Mariupol railway in occupied Donetsk Oblast, disrupting Russian logistics, the group claimed in a Telegram post on June 1.
Top German official Thorsten Frei said in an interview with German media on May 31 that the EU should reconsider using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, urging a tougher stance against the Kremlin.
The EU condemned Georgia's foreign agents law, which officially came into effect, and called on authorities to reverse the country's democratic backsliding in a statement published on May 31.
"President (Donald) Trump... is working to stop this war and end the killing. We await receipt of (the Russian) Memorandum... that you promised a week ago. Cease fire now," U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on May 27 urged Russia to focus less on President Donald Trump’s social media posts and more on ending its war in Ukraine, saying that if Moscow truly cared about peace efforts, it would prioritize stopping “the carnage and the slaughter that’s happening right now.”
Dozens of Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defenses as they approached Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed on May 28.
The United States granted immediate sanctions relief to Syria after President Donald Trump called for a complete end to sanctions on the country. The sanctions relief was announced by the U.S. Treasury Department and State Department on May 23.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on May 23 that Moscow will convey its peace terms to Kyiv immediately after the completion of the ongoing prisoner exchange between the two countries.
According to a recent report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains "committed to victory in Ukraine, and his objectives remain mostly unchanged since the beginning of the war: Ukrainian neutrality and a further partition of the Ukrainian state."
The G7 issued a joint statement on May 22, pledging to keep Russian assets frozen until the end of the war and to support Ukraine's recovery. "We reaffirm that... Russia’s sovereign assets... will remain immobilized until Russia ends its aggression and pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine," the statement read.
Russian authorities have been forced to shut down airports in Moscow amid a barrage of Ukrainian drone strikes overnight, Russian officials and state media reported on May 23. Operations have been suspended at Moscow's Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky airports.
The European Union is preparing to downsize its diplomatic service – the European External Action Service (EEAS) – and redirect funds toward strategic interests such as enforcing sanctions against Russia, POLITICO reported on May 20.
Top European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas announced on May 20 that the EU has "agreed to lift all economic sanctions" on Syria, adding that "there can be no peace without the path to economic recovery."
Polish prosecutors have indicted a man charged with allegedly planning to assist Russian foreign intelligence in a possible assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelensky, authorities announced on May 20.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met in Rome on May 18 to discuss defense support for Ukraine, cooperation within the Coalition of the Willing, and increased pressure on Russia.
An overnight Russian drone strike in Kyiv Oblast killed one person and injured three more, Governor Mykola Kalashnyk reported on May 18.
The Russian military attacked Donetsk Oblast on May 17, killing one person and injuring an additional eight. The attack occurred in the morning and impacted the Yablunivka settlement, as well as Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Andriivka.
Ukrainian band Ziferblat took ninth place at the Eurovision 2025 Grand Final on May 17 in Basel, Switzerland. Their song "Bird of Pray" received 218 points – 60 from the jury and 158 from the audience.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Volodymyr Zelensky met for the first time on May 17 in Rome, where Carney reaffirmed his country's "steadfast and unwavering support" for Ukraine.
Russia launched a drone strike on Sumy Oblast in the early morning of May 17, killing nine people and injuring four more. The drone targeted a shuttle bus that was transporting civilians near the city of Bilopillia at 6:17 a.m. local time.
Russia's economy is experiencing a sharp slowdown in growth, according to a report released by the governmental statistics agency Rosstat on May 16. GDP only grew by 1.4% in the first quarter of 2025 – a notable decline from 4.5% growth in the previous quarter and 5.4% in the same period last year.
In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on May 13, Macron discussed new Russia sanctions and stationing French nuclear weapons in other European countries as a deterrent against Russia.
Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for the grand final on May 17.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a Russian delegation will be in Istanbul on May 15 for direct peace talks with Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov will likely represent Russia.
While serving as a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called the full-scale war "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
Speaking to CNN on May 10, Peskov commented on the latest ceasefire proposal from Ukraine and Europe, responding that Russia needs to "think about" it, but is "resistant" to pressure.