Editor's note: The former soldier quoted in this article requested that his last name be withheld for security reasons. After eight months recovering from war wounds, Mykola returned to duty — not to the eastern front, but to a posting far from the fighting, at an enlistment office in the country's west. Still relearning how to walk again, he soon discovered how differently society regarded his new role. "Many people, including some of my acquaintances, now seem to view draft officers as the e

Renat Suleimanov, a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party (KPRF), said in an interview with Russian outlet Kontinent Sibir that Russia needs the "swiftest possible end" to what Moscow calls its "special military operation," the Kremlin's term for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's economy improved in April, driven partly by the defense industry, softening what had been expected to be a sharper slowdown in early 2026 after the country's toughest winter of the full-scale invasion, the prime minister said.

Over the past week, news of a major corruption scandal has swept through the Ukrainian media landscape like a storm. And none other than former Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak is at the center of it all.  Yet perhaps the most revealing part of this story is not the scandal itself, but the system now investigating it. Andriy Yermak has been linked to a corruption scandal involving embezzlement in the energy sector. Searches at his residence pushed him to resign as head of President Zel

For Lia Gazi, a 24-year-old Crimean Tatar activist in exile, the second half of May each year signifies both personal and collective tragedy — the forced deportation and genocide of the Crimean Tatar People. Over the course of two days in 1944, from May 18 to May 20, the Soviet secret policy forcibly deported over 190,000 indigenous Crimean Tatars across thousands of kilometers from Crimea to Central Asia. Members of Gazi's family were among the victims. "Strangers still live in our homes toda

The drills, scheduled to run through May 21, involve Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, long-range aviation command, and units from the Leningrad and Central military districts, the ministry said.

The Kyiv Independent has launched its largest and most ambitious membership campaign to date, seeking 4,000 new members from across the world to support its independent journalism from Ukraine.

China's armed forces secretly trained around 200 Russian military personnel in China in late 2025, with some later returning to fight in Ukraine, Reuters reported on May 19, citing three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by the agency.

"It would be useful to remind that the coordinates of decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known," Russia's intelligence agency said.

Ukraine's top anti-corruption agencies say they have widened a sweeping bribery investigation tied to the former chairman of the Supreme Court, alleging that several senior judges accepted illicit payments in exchange for a ruling favoring a powerful businessman.

Some hoped that with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban leaving office on May 9, Ukraine's path to EU membership would become much smoother. Instead, problems of substance have risen to the surface, which could prove difficult for Kyiv to fully address. Pressure is rising in Brussels to find a way to reach an agreement on opening so-called "enlargement clusters" by the next meeting of EU leaders on June 18. National ambassadors have raised the concern that there might not be sufficient progr

Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions are facing their most consequential test since the full-scale invasion. What began in November 2025 as NABU's Operation Midas, a sprawling $100 million kickback scheme at state nuclear energy company Energoatom, has since evolved into Ukraine's largest corruption scandal of the wartime period, drawing in former ministers, the ex-chief of staff to President Zelensky, and now the current Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. NABU wiretap tr

In response, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry accused Moscow of intentionally redirecting Ukrainian drones into NATO territory. "We apologize to Estonia and all of our Baltic friends for such unintended incidents," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.

The attacks came as Russia continued large-scale aerial strikes across Ukraine and intensified attacks on energy infrastructure.

Russia launched 209 drones overnight, Ukraine's Air Force said on the morning of May 19, most of them Shahed-type deep-strike drones.

The number includes 1 140 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

More than four years into a full-scale war Russia started but has no clear plan to win or even stop, the balance of power in the drone war has taken a significant shift in favor of Ukraine. Ukrainian drone programs at every level have begun to outperform Russia’s, and in a war that is increasingly defined by these unmanned platforms, this shift has started to produce tangible results not only on the battlefield, but also now in the skies above Russia. "Moscow from now on never sleeps," Robert

Explosions were reported in the Russian city of Yaroslavl on the morning of May 19, according to local Russian media and officials, following a reported drone attack.

Russia launched overnight strikes across southern and eastern Ukraine early on May 19, hitting infrastructure and residential areas in Odesa Oblast and Kharkiv, according to local authorities.

The organization's Executive Committee has "decided to lift all restrictions applicable to Russian and Belarusian athletes since February 2022, with immediate effect."

Key developments on May 18: * 'Hide-and-seek with death' — Ukraine details grim situation in Pokrovsk * Ukraine claims control of Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, military intelligence says * Belarus starts nuclear drills with Russia days after Zelensky warns of attacks on Ukraine, NATO * Ukraine develops 1st domestically produced guided glide bomb, ready for combat use * Russia calls for Ukraine peace talks to resume after months of downplaying them * At least 2 killed, 51 injured in

The Ukrainian advance was confirmed by footage of Ukrainian troop movements released by HUR, which shows soldiers from the "Artan" special unit of Ukrainian military intelligence engaging Russian forces in Stepnohirsk.

When 23-year-old Russian student Valery Averin signed a military contract in January after being recruited into Russia’s drone forces campaign targeting students, he was told he would train as a drone operator. Three months later, he was dead near Luhansk after reportedly being sent into an assault unit despite having no military experience. His case, reported by the BBC Russian Service, appears to be the first known death linked to Russia’s growing campaign to recruit university and college st

The latest extension is the second time the Trump administration has renewed the sanctions relief despite earlier public statements indicating it would not do so.

"I believe we sometimes missed opportunities to listen," Emmanuel Macron told an Eastern European audience at the GLOBSEC Forum held in Bratislava in June 2023, in a speech that sought to bridge the gap between "old" and "new" members of the EU. Quite ironically, Macron's words would be as relevant today as it was back then. Three years on, Europe's "conceptual and strategic awakening," announced by the French president, has yet to materialize. For Europe, habituated to America's security umbre

Natus Vincere — known as NAVI — took home their second championship trophy of the year as well as $125,000 in prize money after beating German team GamerLegion 2-1 in the popular first-person shooter video game.

The exercises have added significance as they come amid growing warnings from Kyiv that Russia is trying to draw Belarus deeper into its war against Ukraine, while also expanding military infrastructure that could support future Russian operations against Ukraine or NATO's eastern flank.

Russia is grappling with brewing internal pressure due to battlefield failures in Ukraine and domestic economic difficulties, Kaupo Rosin, head of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service, told the Kyiv Independent.

The statement offers a stark picture of the deteriorating situation north of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian troops say Russian drone superiority has made troop rotations, evacuations, and resupply missions nearly impossible.

A secretive luxury residential compound allegedly built for Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle could become the corruption scandal that defines his presidency. The prosecution alleges that within four years, nearly $9 million was laundered through the construction of a cottage complex — four expensive houses near Kyiv, each roughly 1,000 square meters in size. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the h

"Importantly, this is specifically a Russian internal assessment — one they are trying to conceal both from the world and from their own domestic audience," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The development is significant because glide bombs are a primitive yet highly destructive weapon widely used against front-line areas. Russia has continuously modified the bombs to increase their range and destructive power, turning them into one of the biggest threats to both Ukrainian troop positions and civilians near the front line.