
Ukraine to deploy new units to counter Russian drone attacks, Air Force says
According to Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihant, Russia employed tactics involving the launch of a large number of weapons at a single target from high altitude.
According to Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihant, Russia employed tactics involving the launch of a large number of weapons at a single target from high altitude.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Crimean Bridge for the third time during the full-scale war, mining and damaging its underwater supports, the SBU announced on June 3.
A recent Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russian territory has sparked anger and concern among Kremlin officials over the exposed vulnerability of a nuclear-capable air force far from the front lines, Bloomberg reported on June 2, citing undisclosed sources close to senior Moscow officials.
Ukraine first unveiled plans to establish the office in April 2024 to ensure soldiers had a mechanism to report violations of their rights.
"We were invited to the NATO summit. I think this is important," President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a June 2 online press conference attended by the Kyiv Independent.
"There's many members of Congress that want us to sanction Russia as strongly as we can," U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said. "And I'm an advocate of that."
The report came two days after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a mass drone attack against Russian strategic aviation parked at four different air bases on June 1.
Ukrainian forces downed 60 out of the 112 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Fifteen drones were intercepted by electronic warfare or disappeared from radars without causing any damage, according to the statement.
"The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy — directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery. It was a fully deliberate attack on civilians," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, is traveling to the U.S., a source close to the Presidential Office told the Kyiv Independent on June 3.
Yevhen Balytskyi, the Kremlin-appointed head of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, claimed that 457 settlements in the region were left without power, affecting more than 600,000 homes.
The number includes 1,100 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
The U.K. government is ready to sue sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich over the sale of the Chelsea Football Club, U.K. Treasury Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint statement.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov on June 2 slammed Russia for only providing its memorandum of a peace proposal at talks earlier in the day, saying that "the Russians are once again stalling for time."
Every part of society, every citizen of this country, has a role to play because we have to recognize that things have changed in the world of today... The front line, if you like, is here," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that during the June 2 negotiations in Istanbul, Russian representatives dismissed Ukraine's efforts to raise the issue of abducted Ukrainian children as a "show for childless European old ladies."
"We agreed that we will look for opportunities to close any deficit, which may arise if everything is not restored (Ukrainian gas production infrastructure affected by Russian attacks), if we cannot fully provide our population with gas," Zelensky said.
"I told (Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan) that I support a meeting at the level of leaders, because I have the impression that there will be no ceasefire without our meeting," Zelensky said on June 2.
Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK secured a $72-million loan to build one of the largest battery energy storage complexes in Eastern Europe, the company said on June 3.
"They just don’t see a ceasefire as such at the moment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 2, commenting on Russia's proposal. "I think they’re idiots, because, fundamentally, a ceasefire is meant so that there are no dead."
Among Russia's key demands, according to the document, is the official recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea, as well as the annexation of Ukraine's Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts, none of which Moscow controls in full.
The next prisoner exchange will reportedly include young people between the ages of 18 and 25, as well as people with serious injuries.
According to a source in the President's Office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Russia declined a ceasefire proposed by Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine are preparing to hold a new prisoners of war (POWs) exchange mediated by Turkey after the second round of peace talks.
Some of the sanctions against Russia could be lifted following a potential full ceasefire, according to Ukraine's official proposal, seen by the Kyiv Independent on June 2. Yet, the condition proposed by Ukraine is that sanctions are automatically renewed if the ceasefire agreement is broken.
According to property records leaked from Dubai's Land Department and state-owned utilities, six properties were purchased in 2022–2023 by Portnov's civil partner, Anastasiia Valiaieva, and his daughter, Liliia Portnova, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Russian drone attacks against a State Emergency Service building in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on June 2 injured 12 employees, Governor Ivan Fedorov reported.
In a written response to a request from Babel, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the brigade had received a total of 7,992 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of various types between Jan. 1 and May 27, 2025.
The reason is the growing toll on the federal budget and civilian industries, three officials told Bloomberg, with some calling for the decision to be made at the bank's meeting on June 6.
The White House was not notified about the plans, which were being prepared for a year and a half, Axios reported, citing a Ukrainian security official. CBS News' sources in the Trump administration also confirmed that the Trump administration was not informed.
"If the Istanbul meeting brings nothing, that clearly means strong new sanctions are urgently needed,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"In the operational staff, we will evaluate the actions of concerned citizens who tried to interfere with the work of drones and decide on their recognition," Governor of Russia's Irkutsk Oblast Igor Kobzev wrote on Telegram.