The Russian Defense Ministry announced on April 1 that its forces had "completed" the occupation of Luhansk Oblast. The Ukrainian military dismissed the claim as propaganda.

Russian authorities say a cattle epidemic that swept parts of Siberia since February is now under control and caused by a relatively minor bacterial infection, pasteurellosis. But veterinarians and independent journalists question that account, pointing to containment measures — mass animal slaughter, village lockdowns, and secrecy — that more closely resemble a response to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a far more serious and economically damaging outbreak. The discrepancy has fueled resistanc

Outraged at European countries' refusal to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump threatened to halt the PURL program selling U.S. weapons to NATO for use in Ukraine, officials told the Financial Times.

Key developments on April 1: * Russia launches mass daytime drone attack on western, central Ukraine * Zelensky pitches Easter ceasefire to US negotiators as Russia continues attacks * Russia tells Zelensky to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Donbas 'already today' * Russia's new fiber-optic sea drone 'Skarlupa' deployed in combat, Kremlin media claims * Russian An-26 transport aircraft crashes over occupied Crimea, killing 29 Russia launched a mass daytime drone attack on Ukraine's western

Ukraine's interceptor drones are now one of the most sought-after defense technologies on the planet. But that success carries an uncomfortable caveat: every countermeasure Ukraine developed prompted Russia to field a harder, faster, and more capable Shahed in response. That cycle will not stop as long as the factories producing these drones remain uncontested. Whatever mutated variant emerges next — shaped by every innovation Ukraine threw at its predecessor — will continue to attack Ukrainia

"A pause on Easter could serve as a signal to everyone that diplomacy can succeed," Zelensky said.

U.S. President Donald Trump called NATO a "paper tiger" and said Russian President Vladimir Putin shares that opinion.

Vessels of Russia's shadow fleet are using Starlink to communicate and coordinate, a Kyiv Independent investigation has revealed.

Russian officials have suggested that such drones could be supplied to “friendly nations."

Telegram channels monitoring Ukraine's airspace reported that over 80 drones were in the country's airspace.

The U.S. would consider the request only "when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear," President Donald Trump said.

The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with Slovakia’s former foreign minister Ivan Korcok about the country’s stance on Ukraine under Prime Minister Robert Fico, and what it means for Slovakia’s role within the EU and NATO.

The FSB may begin monitoring Russian IT companies for possible VPN use, with non-compliant companies facing penalties, Kommersant reported.

Ukraine started 2026 with a sigh of relief. Positive news on debt restructuring, IMF aid disbursement, bumper foreign exchange reserves, and most importantly, a last-minute compromise €90 bn loan from the EU, suggested that Kyiv would have a moment to catch its breath. Three months on, and this optimism is firmly in the rearview mirror. Hungarian and Slovakian obstruction has derailed progress on loan disbursement, reforms needed for unlocking critical multilateral institution financing remain

The vessels are old, their hulls streaked with rust, and their ownership obscured behind layers of shell companies. Yet the tankers that make up Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, the armada used to move sanctioned oil across the globe, are kept running with modern Western technology including Starlink, an investigation by the Kyiv Independent can reveal. To gain an insight into how the shadow fleet operates, the Kyiv Independent spoke to two Ukrainian sailors who claim they unwittingly became p

"Zelensky must make a decision already today to withdraw Ukrainian troops," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia launched 339 drones at Ukraine overnight, including around 200 Shahed-type long-range drones, the Air Force said.

Rosneft's net income fell by 73% to 293 billion rubles ($3.6 billion) last year due to high taxes and interest rates, as well as geopolitical factors, the company said.

A Russian An-26 transport aircraft crashed in occupied Crimea late on March 31, Russian Telegram media channels reported, killing 29 military personnel on board.

Russia attacked the city of Khmelnytskyi overnight on April 1, damaging a commercial site and a residential building was damaged by shelling in Lutsk, authorities and media reported.

The number includes 1,060 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

The European Union will provide an additional 80 million euros ($92 million) in profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas announced on March 31.

Hungary's parliamentary election campaign ahead of the April 12 vote is being fought even beyond the country's borders — and with an unexpected reversal of roles. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has shown restraint toward Slovakia's left-nationalist prime minister, Robert Fico, while Orban's main challenger, Peter Magyar, has adopted nationalist rhetoric, presenting himself as a defender of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. In doing so, Magyar and his Tisza party accuse Orban not only of corrupt

Ukraine says Russia deliberately redirected Ukrainian drones toward Finland and the Baltic states in an attempt to provoke tensions and strain Kyiv’s ties with European allies.

The mobile app would be integrated with the current emergency software and be modeled on the system Ukraine uses during Russian drone attacks.

Poland's conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is ramping up Ukraine-skeptic rhetoric ahead of upcoming elections, in what analysts say is a bid to win back far-right voters after its 2023 defeat. After pushing conservative Karol Nawrocki into the presidential palace, PiS tapped ex-Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek — a controversial hardliner — as its candidate for prime minister in next year's election. Czarnek has a track record of criticizing the Ukrainian leadership over historical

In a letter seen by the Kyiv Independent, EU Commissioner for enlargement Marta Kos outlined 11 reforms that Ukraine failed to complete by their respective deadlines throughout 2025.

A Tokyo-listed drone firm is breaking with the trend of Japanese companies avoiding Ukraine's defense industry by partnering with interceptor drone producer Amazing Drones, the first Japanese company to invest in the sector. The investment — undisclosed in size — will fuel a major production scale-up at Kharkiv-based Amazing Drones, with Terra Drone using its decade-long experience to handle supply chains, marketing, and global expansion, the company said at a launch event in Kyiv on March 31.

In September 2023, Russian national Igor Boichenko swam across a river and crossed a minefield to enter Ukraine from Russia. Boichenko was one of thousands of Russians who came to Ukraine that month. What was unique about him is that he didn't come to fight Ukrainians — but rather, to join their ranks. He signed a military contract and served as a sniper against his homeland. Then, he found himself locked up in a migration jail, under threat of being sent back, to the country he signed up to

Such actions are "not indicative of a broader shift in the U.S. Russia policy," a U.S. Treasury spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent, adding that OFAC regularly updates its sanctions list by adding or removing individuals and entities.

Failing to strong-arm NATO member states into joining his country's war against Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump has once again questioned the need for the alliance's existence. "We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?" Trump said at an investment forum in Miami last week. His chief diplomat, Marco Rubio, doubled down on March 30, saying Washington "will have to reexamine" its relationship with NATO countries after the war

Russia is signaling to the U.S. that it could seize the region by force within that period, and would then demand "different conditions" in negotiations, Zelensky said.