"After completing discussions on humanitarian issues, Ukraine plans to move forward to the topic of a leaders' summit for substantive dialogue," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said during a press briefing on June 26.
According to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein, 63-year-old reporter Lu Yuguang from the Chinese television network Phoenix TV was wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on the village of Korenevo.
The number includes 970 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
Short-range drone attacks have become one of the deadliest threats to civilians in Ukraine’s front-line regions, killing at least 395 people and injuring 2,635 between February 2022 and April 2025, according to a new bulletin by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Over 100 teachers have relocated to Crimea through the program, according to Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights. Most of them arrived from regions including Krasnodar, Altai Krai, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Tyumen, Ivanovo, and the Republic of Udmurtia.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised during the NATO summit in The Hague that Russia would never attack the alliance while he is in office, the Washington Post reported on June 26, citing three unnamed European officials.
As of late May, the outlet documented 20,538 such cases since September 2022 when the Kremlin announced a first wave of mobilization, compared to 10,025 cases reported by Mediazona last June.
Despite suffering over 1 million casualties, pounding Ukrainian cities nightly with missiles and drones, and committing countless war crimes, one startling fact about Russia's full-scale invasion remains — Moscow has yet to officially declare war on Ukraine. In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin described what he believed was going to
Editor’s note: This article originated as a winning story idea in a vote by members of the Kyiv Independent’s community. Join our community today and join our exclusive members-only Discord channel, where you can discuss and suggest stories, ask our journalists questions, and more. "Her strength is her
"Today, soldiers of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home," President Volodymyr Zelensky said without revealing their numbers.
"We will hold the necessary contacts and, God willing, realize this meeting as soon as possible," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Pyongyang has already begun recruiting soldiers for deployment to Russia, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
"This year's wave of the enemy's 'summer offensive' from Russian territory is faltering," Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — As NATO leaders convened in The Hague for a two-day summit on June 24–25, allies and Kyiv braced for the first annual meeting since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office. With the Israel-Iranian conflict dominating the news and the summit agenda focused on
Satellite imagery and launch footage suggest a clear Russian design influence.
The budget includes increased investment in small drones, a response to their proven battlefield value in Ukraine.
Rheinmetall said the deliveries are expected to begin in 2026.
"I said the same determination is needed to achieve two other important ceasefires," Meloni said.
The number includes 1,100 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
Two years after her tragic death in a Russian missile strike, Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina was posthumously awarded on June 25 the prestigious U.K. Orwell Prize for her book “Looking at Women, Looking at War.” Amelina was a finalist among notable nominees in the political non-fiction category, including American
After a high-level U.S. visit to Belarus led to the release of 14 prisoners, observers have been left wondering what autocrat Alexander Lukashenko may have secured in return. U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg’s visit to Minsk on June 21
Key developments on June 25: * Zelensky, Trump hold talks on NATO summit sidelines * 'Something unknown' hits key Russian drone facility in Taganrog, Ukrainian official says * Russia has launched over 28,000 Shahed drones at Ukraine since 2022, with nearly 10% fired in June alone, Zelensky says * Donetsk Oblast city "on
More than three years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, many Western cultural institutions that had distanced themselves from Russian artists as a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine are now reversing course. The U.K.’s Royal Ballet and Opera House announced on June 23 that its 2025-2026 cinema
"I consider him (Russian President Vladimir Putin) a person I think is misguided," U.S. President Donald Trump said speaking at a NATO press conference in The Hague on June 25.
In a rare public sign that all is not well in Russia, two high-ranking Moscow officials last week issued separate warnings about the state of the country's economy. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina and Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov both highlighted that amid the Kremlin's full-scale war against Ukraine, the
"The Russians are trying to fully control all movement in the city using their drones," a military spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent.
The leaders also reaffirmed support for Ukraine, stating that direct contributions to Ukraine's defense and industrial capacity will be counted toward the 5% total.
Oleg Borsuk, a 61-year-old Ukrainian national, allegedly oversaw the development and modernization of satellite guidance systems (GPS/GLONASS) used in Russian missiles.
The move represents the U.K.'s first direct use of Russia-linked funds to buy weaponry for Kyiv.
"Obviously we'll be discussing his difficulties, he's got a little difficulty," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
Russia's all-out war has accelerated Ukraine's push to join the European Union and NATO, as well as its dependency on Western loans and aid. Before, these things would have been heavily preconditioned on Ukraine implementing crucial reforms. However, the war has also eased the pressure on Kyiv to carry out
"If we did what everybody here wants us to do, and that is come in and crush them with more sanctions, we probably lose our ability to talk to them about the ceasefire and then who's talking to them?" U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, eight years after it annexed the Crimean Peninsula and led an armed aggression in Ukraine’s east.
In February 2014, almost immediately following the end of the EuroMaidan Revolution in Ukraine, Russia swiftly moved to annex and occupy Crimea. Within months, Russian proxy forces took control of parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
By the start of 2022, Russia had amassed nearly 200,000 troops on Ukraine’s border. At 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a speech that Russia was to carry out “a special military operation.” Within minutes, missile strikes were launched on Ukrainian cities and the full-scale invasion had begun.
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