Editor’s note: This is issue 28 of Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak’s weekly "Ukraine Reforms Tracker" covering events from May 26–June 1, 2025. The digest highlights steps taken in the Ukrainian parliament related to business, economics, and international financial programs. The Kyiv Independent is republishing with permission. Benchmarks
Editor’s Note: The following is the latest in a series of reports by the Kyiv Independent about the memorialization of Ukraine’s fallen soldiers. "We weren’t taught to live side-by-side with death in schools and universities, but it's always near," the speaker Anton Liahusha, the dean of the
Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4 accused Ukraine of being governed by a terrorist regime that deliberately targets civilians and claimed it is continuing to lose the war. He rejected the possibility of holding talks.
On June 1, the SBU conducted an operation using first-person-view (FPV) drones that were smuggled deep inside Russia and concealed in trucks, successfully striking 41 Russian heavy bombers and causing an estimated $7 billion in damage.
Russia will soon be able to deploy more than 500 long-range drones a night to attack Ukraine as it ramps up production and builds new launch sites for them, a source in Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) has told the Kyiv Independent. According to the source, Russia's production rate for one
The total number of military casualties on both sides is nearing 1.4 million, including approximately 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed or injured.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that roughly half of the 41 Russian planes targeted in the attack on June 1 will be impossible to repair.
"Thanks to timely and carefully planned security measures... the worst has been avoided," the Ground Forces press service said, saying that no soldiers have been killed in the attack.
Ukraine will bring home a total of 500 prisoners of war (POW) from Russian captivity in a prisoner exchange with Russia on June 7 and 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists on June 4 attended by the Kyiv Independent.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker stressed that Washington counts on European leadership in providing Ukraine with the resources needed to achieve a lasting peace, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The legislation, supported by 309 members of parliament, enshrines financial provisions critical to executing the U.S.-Ukraine deal signed on April 30 and ratified by Kyiv on May 8.
HUR's cyber corps accessed over 4.4 gigabytes (GB) of internal data, including official correspondence, personnel files, home addresses, resumes, purchase records, and closed meeting minutes, a source claimed.
"Just in the skill and audacity of these attacks, it will rank with the United States raid on Osama bin Laden and the Israeli pager operation as one of the great military achievements in recent years," U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal told Politico.
"There indeed was an explosion. There was no damage, the bridge continues to function," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed.
Located roughly 280 kilometers (174 miles) northeast of Moscow, the Yaroslavl Motor Plant has been under U.S. sanctions since May 2024.
Steel production is one of Ukraine's core industrial sectors and its second-largest source of foreign currency after agriculture.
"I'm telling you the risk levels are going way up," U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 36 out of the 95 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force said.
"The president received information about the incident online," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not arrive in Brussels until the conference is over and will not participate in the event online either, the AP reported.
The country's Finance Ministry announced last week it would skip a $665 million government debt payment after failing to agree on restructuring terms with creditors.
The number includes 1,020 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
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.
"I would not be able to answer my conscience...if I did not do everything now to protect Hungary and the European Union from the Brussels fever dream of Ukrainian accession."
Footage reportedly shows Ukrainian drones hitting two A-50s, rare Russian spy planes that Moscow relies on to detect air defense systems and coordinate targets for fighter jets. Russia has less than 10 A-50s in its arsenal.
During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether Trump was informed by Ukraine about Operation Spiderweb in advance of the attack. "He was not," she said.
Following the second round of direct peace talks with Ukraine, the Russian side leaked its proposal on how to end its war — effectively a demand for Ukraine's surrender. Yet, if the intentions of the Kremlin are no secret — continue the war until a political or military victory — getting information on
While Romania debated its future in its recent presidential election, Romanians in Ukraine’s Chernivtsi Oblast just across the border continued to wrestle with war, mobilization, and the loss of their pre-war lives. Romania’s tight election race at the end of May kept many in Europe on the edge
Vadym Sukharevskyi has been dismissed as commander of the USF and will be replaced by Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, commander of the elite drone unit "Birds of Magyar."
Editor's note: Cukr journalists contributed to the reporting of this article. The Ukrainian city of Sumy was once again the target of a devastating Russian missile strike on June 3, with four people killed and 28 others, including three children, injured. "The body of a man, killed in the attack,
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