Key developments on April 7: * Russian attacks on Nikopol, Kherson see 9 dead and 49 injured across southern Ukraine * Ukraine confirms fresh strike on Russia’s Ust-Luga oil terminal as campaign to limit Russia's oil windfall continues * SBU seizes 'shadow fleet' vessel in Odesa port tied to illegal exports from occupied Crimea * Novorossiysk oil terminal stops exports after new Ukrainian drone strikes on April 5, Reuters reports Two deadly attacks across the Dnipro River have brought deat

Editor’s Note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first name and call sign only. ZAPORIZHZHIA OBLAST – For tonight's clearing mission on the cold windy steppe of southern Ukraine, the munition of choice is the Spear. In a cramped dugout less than eight kilometers from Russian forces, Ukrainian soldiers prepare the bombs, taping wires and tail fins onto long tubes of black steel fitted with menacing iron spikes

Editor's note: This article was updated to include the results of the plenary session. Ukraine's parliament approved on April 7 one of several key tax bills tied to International Monetary Fund (IMF) funding, in a packed legislative push that also includes measures to align the country with the EU. The vote comes after weeks of political tensions and friction between the parliament, the government, and President Volodymyr Zelensky over the stalled legislation. After missing the official IMF de

Washington is "certainly aware that there are elements within the Ukrainian intelligence services that try to put their thumb on the scale of American elections, on Hungarian elections," Vice President JD Vance said.

Zelensky said Kyiv wants THAAD as part of future security guarantees, but analysts question both the system’s usefulness for Ukraine and the likelihood of it being provided.

The ship was detained in Odesa's commercial port after arriving under the flag of an African country, reportedly to load a shipment of steel pipes.

As sanctions increasingly weigh on the Russian economy, businesses and tycoons linked to the Kremlin are launching billions of dollars in claims under Cold War–era treaties — opening legal fronts against Ukraine and its Western supporters beyond their own courts. The Ukrainian-born Russian financier Mikhail Fridman is behind five claims and is seeking 16 billion euros in damages over Luxembourg’s freezing of his assets, while a company he co-owns with Pyotr Aven is claiming $1 billion over Ukra

At around 9 a.m., a Russian FPV drone, guided by a Russian operator, deliberately struck a passenger bus in central Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing three people and injuring 16 others. Three of the wounded are in critical condition. Earlier, an 11-year-old boy was killed and five people were injured in another attack in the region, , Governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported.

A cross-party group of members of the European Parliament called for the removal of a former Kremlin interpreter from an OSCE mission set to monitor Hungary's April 12 election, a move that has been rebuked by the President of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly.

The latest attack comes just one week after Kyiv last launched a full-blown assault on oil terminals in the region, including the Ust-Luga port which was struck on at least five separate occasions between March 22 - 31.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued veiled threats towards the Baltic states on April 6, following Moscow’s suggestion that Kyiv’s allies are allowing the use of their airspace to strike Russian ports in the Baltic Sea — a claim that Baltic states have repeatedly labeled as disinformation.

"If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will be ready to respond in kind. This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukraine's newest missile maker aims to launch an anti-ballistic defense to compete with U.S. PAC-3s by the end of next year, Reuters reports.

The Minudobrenia plant was reportedly struck. The facility produces ammonia, ammonium nitrate, and nitric acid, which are key components of explosives and ammunition.

At nearly 90, the Ukrainian painter Ivan Marchuk — widely regarded as one of the country's most important living artists — has found himself fighting in court to maintain the full creative rights to his vast body of work. Marchuk turned to the courts last year after he said that he was deceived into signing away some of the creative rights for a period of 100 years to three other people — all for Hr 10,000 ($228). The process is still ongoing. "He has not lost hope for a fair resolution of th

As recently as this January and February, Russia was going through its worst fiscal period since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Oil and gas budget revenues had fallen by 50% year-on-year, and the deficit for the first two months reached $42 billion. The government was preparing to slash non-military spending by 10%. It seemed like sanctions were finally working. Then this happened: the United States struck Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz — through which one-fifth of the world'

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine has retaken 480 square kilometers and 12 settlements since late January amid heavy fighting on key front-line sectors.

The suspect is Oleksandr Kachnyi, who previously represented the pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life faction, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.

"You can't expect fixed terms of service without strengthening mobilization," Olha Reshetylova said.

The Sheskharis oil terminal was struck by Ukrainian drones, independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported, citing eyewitness reports from the area.

Russian attacks on Ukraine's railways are escalating and posing a more direct threat to civilians, as Moscow increasingly shifts from hitting infrastructure to targeting moving trains, including passenger trains. Attacks on the railway system rose from 134 in January to 166 in February and peaked at 206 in March, Ukrzaliznytsia — Ukraine's national train operator — told the Kyiv Independent. "There is a clear tendency since late 2025, and especially now in spring — focused strikes on rolling s

Editor’s note: This story is a collaboration between the Kyiv Independent and TUA Research, an independent OSINT group. It's not uncommon for artillery soldiers to write messages on shells before firing them — for the sake of posting them online. They can be vengeful or mocking. But one signed shell that Russians fired around August 2024 stood out as unusual. It promoted a podcast. "Subscribe to 'Russians With Attitude'," read the message, scribbled across the shell. Launched in 2020, "Russi

Alexei Smirnov was arrested last April on charges of embezzling funds earmarked for the construction of fortifications at the Russia-Ukraine border.

Among the injured victims are a toddler and two teenagers. At least two of the injured were hospitalized in serious condition.

The frigate was allegedly struck in the port of Novorossiysk during an overnight mass attack that also saw the Sheskharis oil terminal once again set ablaze.

"Serbian authorities have found a powerful explosive device, along with the equipment needed to detonate it, at critical gas infrastructure linking Serbia and Hungary," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on April 5 in a post on X.

Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Otroshchenko served as commander of the Northern Fleet's air corps, a position he had held since 2013, and took part in Russian operations in Syria.

It is currently difficult to organize talks in a trilateral format as "the Americans have a lot of other things to deal with, if you know what I mean," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Former managers at the state-owned Ukrgazvydobuvannya gas company and affiliated businesspeople organized a scheme to inflate the costs of materials used for gas production, the SBU said.

Emergency power outages were reported in Kyiv and Chernihiv oblasts due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, regional authorities said.

The number include 940 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Over 340,000 subscribers in northern Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast were left without power overnight on April 6 following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in the region.