Two contributions of 50 million AUD ($35 million) each will be made, after Ukraine became one of the first non-NATO member states to fund the program in December 2025, according to a press release.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 90 Shahed-type attack drones overnight on June 19. Air defenses downed 79 drones, while nine hit targets across eight locations.

The number includes 1,370 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

A federal court has temporarily halted the operations of 15 corporations and eight individuals under the Kyiv-based firm Genesis Tech, which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a public statement deceived consumers with hidden costs, recurring charges, and convoluted mechanisms to cancel subscriptions.

Russian forces launched several glide bombs on Kharkiv overnight on June 19, damaging dozens of homes and injuring at least six people, local officials reported.

Editor's note: This investigation is a collaboration between The Kyiv Independent (Ukraine), IrpiMedia (Italy) and OCCRP. Key findings * A Turkish company co-owned by an EU national shipped EU-made equipment to Russian defense plants despite European export restrictions, customs records reveal. * The Russian plants use such equipment to produce metal alloys, later used to make missiles and fighter jets. * Two plants that benefit from the scheme belong to the son-in-law of Igor Zavyalov, lo

Ukraine's allies collectively pledged $4 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said following the conclusion of the Ramstein-format meeting in Belgium on June 18.

BRUSSELS — Belgium, The conclusions of the meeting of EU leaders on June 18 have been watered down, at the insistence of Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, to reduce the urgency of advancing Ukraine's EU accession process. Three days prior, the EU opened the first of six so-called enlargement clusters for Ukraine and Moldova, to-do lists that they must complete to become the union's member states. It was expected that the remaining five clusters would open in July at the latest. The draft

European Union leaders agreed on June 18 to extend sanctions against Russia for another 12 months instead of the customary six-month period.

"The U.S. responded positively to Poland's proposal to establish a permanent U.S. military base in Poland," Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said June 18 after meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

BRUSSELS — Belgium, The EU should engage more in diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, according to draft conclusions of the June 18-19 European Council summit seen by the Kyiv Independent. The EU leaders' meeting follows weeks of media-driven speculation over who should represent Europe in any future peace talks. During that time, the E3 countries (France, Germany, and the U.K.) put out their own feelers to their Russian counterparts, as did the team of European

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Key developments on June 18: * Ukraine launches largest drone attack on Moscow since start of Russia's full-scale invasion, hits oil refinery * European Council explores opening communication channels with Kremlin * Kyiv denies Russian claim that Ukrainian drone struck bus carrying Belarusian children's football team * Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands announce new military aid, F-16s for Ukraine ahead of NATO defense ministers' meeting * Kyiv repatriates 522 bodies that Moscow claims

June 19 marks two years since Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a mutual defense treaty in Pyongyang, bringing Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) into their closest alignment since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the two years since, DPRK troops have fought alongside Russian forces in the war against Ukraine. North Korean missiles have struck Ukrainian cities, and millions of exported artillery shells have helped fuel Russia's war machine. In re

"Bulgaria will ask Patriarch Kirill to be removed from the sanction package," Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

Outgoing U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard's declassification of intelligence that she claims reveals U.S. funding for biological laboratories, including in Ukraine, was quickly amplified by Russian propaganda bot networks, the Kyiv Independent has learned. The claims themselves are hardly new. Russian propaganda outlets have pushed variations of the same narrative for years, and Gabbard herself promoted similar allegations before joining the Trump administration. Information

"Russian ballistic missiles remain a problem, and we need an answer to that problem," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russia's new law authorizing the use of military force abroad to "protect Russian citizens" allows the Kremlin to deploy troops beyond Russia's borders if Russian citizens are deemed to face arrest, detention, trial, or other forms of perceived persecution by foreign states or international courts. Many will read this primarily as a possible legal basis for future intervention. Yet there's one more application we should all be aware of. Russia has previously justified military action beyond it

The U.K. will provide Ukraine with 150,000 drones and more than 350 air defense missiles and radar systems under a new military aid package worth 752 million pounds ($1 billion), the British government announced on June 18. The package, unveiled during the NATO defense ministers' meeting and Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) gathering in Brussels, will be financed through the U.K.'s 2.26 billion-pound ($3 billion) Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan to Ukraine, backed by proceeds g

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched seven Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and 239 drones overnight on June 18.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) has not specified how many civilians and military personnel were among the 522 repatriated bodies.

Kateryna Zarembo has spent years researching and telling important stories from Ukraine. As a researcher and writer, she famously captured the cultural and linguistic richness of eastern Ukraine through field work while Russian propaganda tried to erase it. Her book "Ukrainian Sunrise" stands as evidence that Donbas was never, as the Kremlin claimed, a "Russian" region but one with deep Ukrainian roots.   Then the full-scale invasion came, and the need to tell stories stopped. Today, Zarembo i

The bank said that inflation slowed in May to 8.2%, after a bump from 7.4% in January to 8.6% in April, partly driven by the war in the Middle East.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that around 10 countries had expressed support for the new Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) packages.

Ukraine's General Staff denied Russian claims that a Ukrainian drone struck a bus carrying a Belarusian children's football team in Bryansk Oblast, saying no Ukrainian drones were deployed in the region at the time.

At least 17 people, including two children, were injured in Moscow Oblast in the attack, Russian authorities claimed.

The number includes 1,370 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russian strike drones circled the capital in a second wave of attacks after a round of ballistic missiles threatened Kyiv earlier in the night.

The bridge crosses the North Crimean Canal near the village of Rozdolne and is located on the Kerch-Dzhankoi railway line, a key route used by Russian forces to transport military equipment and fuel to troops on the southern front.

The office of European Council President Antonio Costa has established limited diplomatic contacts with the Kremlin in recent weeks as the bloc explores reopening communication channels with Moscow, the Financial Times reported on June 17.

"I am grateful to President Trump for his attention to Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, fixated on Iran in a one-hour press conference at the end of the G7 summit, thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for supposedly not helping Iran as much as he could have.