Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov returned to Ukraine on June 22 following his official trip abroad amid media speculations connecting Chernyshov's absence to an ongoing corruption investigation.
President Zelensky is expected to address the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly on June 26 during its summer session in Strasbourg, though his attendance has not been confirmed. The session agenda includes discussions on Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
Russia launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Kyiv overnight on June 23, injuring at least two people, local officials reported.
Norway will invest $400 million in Ukraine’s defense industry to support drone production, President Zelensky said on June 22. The two countries also agreed to jointly produce air defense missiles.
Key developments on June 21-22: * 'Ukrainian drones for the foot of every Russian soldier' — Zelensky responds to Putin's threat to conquer all of Ukraine. * 3 killed, 14 wounded as Russia strikes Ukrainian military training facility. * Russia seeks to advance along almost entire eastern front, Ukraine holding ground in Kursk Oblast,
Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released on June 22 after more than four years in Russian imprisonment, and has left Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on June 22 that Iran’s nuclear program must be dismantled to prevent it from threatening the Middle East or the wider world, following U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
"Unfortunately, there are some dead and wounded," the statement read. The Ground Forces said that greater personnel losses were avoided thanks to the timely security measures taken when the air raid alert was issued.
"We are observing a continued intellectual decline within the Russian leadership and have evidence that they are preparing new military operations on European territory," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"President Trump now has the power and opportunity to free all political prisoners in Belarus with a single word. And I ask him to do so, to say that word," Siarhei Tsikhanouski said in his first press conference after his release.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the sanctions are targeting "those who cooperate with the (Russian) occupier on our land," as they "help justify the aggression, consider it normal to make money in the occupation, and pay taxes" to Russia.
The foreign nationals evacuated by Ukraine included citizens of the U.S., Moldova, Latvia, Azerbaijan, and Estonia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian military leadership aims to overhaul the draft office system amid numerous reports of abuses since the start of Russia's invasion in 2022, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told journalists on June 21.
Ukraine needs to have many times more surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft missile systems to ensure reliable defense of cities and critical infrastructure facilities, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
Serhii Dobrovolskyi, a Ukrainian soldier who had been in Russian captivity since 2023, has died just a month after his release at the end of May as part of a 1000-for-1000 prisoner swap, an official from the soldier's home region announced on June 21.
As of mid-June, Ukrainian defenders are fighting close to 695,000 Russian troops in Ukraine across a 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) front, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
This includes $1.3 billion in direct damage. The estimated cost-to-result ratio of Ukrainian deep strikes is 1:15, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told journalists on June 21.
Russia launched two Iskander-M or North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles, an S-300 anti-aircraft missile, and 47 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones against Ukraine overnight, primarily targeting Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine's Air Force reported.
The number includes 1,100 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
Ukraine's security service (SBU) is teaching teenagers how to avoid recruitment by Russian intelligence online, the New York Times (NYT) reported on June 21.
Hungary's national consultation on Ukraine's accession to the EU had the lowest ever turnout at such a poll, Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar said on June 21.
Over 45 Ukrainians forcibly deported by Russia from Ukraine's occupied territories are being held in a basement at Russia's border with Georgia without food, water, and basic healthcare, independent media outlet Astra reported on June 21.
"(Trump) has to get credit for the 5% — that's why we're having the summit," one unnamed European defense official told Politico. "Everything else is being streamlined to minimize risk."
The Ukrainian government has made several decisions in light of Russia's overt threats, including a diplomatic overhaul, intensified sanctions efforts, and increased funding for drone development.
"The president has already made certain personnel decisions regarding the heads of some foreign institutions, because the criterion is very simple: results," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on June 21.
Ukraine is currently in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania on weapons development partnerships, according to the president.
In Ukraine, Russia’s war of aggression has upended not just borders but the country’s cultural landscape. Conversations about identity, gender, and sexuality have gained new urgency. Women are increasingly stepping into combat roles once dominated by men, while relationships can dissolve as quickly as they form. Many people
The tracked robot is a next-generation version of Ukraine's existing ground-based unmanned systems already deployed across the front.
Dutch protesters who regularly call for an end to military aid to Ukraine will descend on The Hague next week to protest the upcoming NATO summit, which is set to take place on June 24-25. The group will protest against NATO alongside several other organizations and has urged supporters on
Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that at least 20 of the bodies Russia returned as Ukrainian were actually Russian soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Editor's note: This story was published in conjunction with Grist. Twenty-two-year-old software developer Artem Motorniuk has spent his entire life in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, living in the north and visiting his grandparents in the south. It’s been almost four years since he’s seen them in person.
Citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and other countries in the region are increasingly being drawn into Russia's war effort, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) says.
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