Russia may be preparing a new offensive toward Ukraine's Chernihiv-Kyiv direction, potentially with involvement from Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelensky said May 20.

Riding a wave of political momentum in 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky, a showman turned wartime leader, could have hardly imagined the path his presidency would take. Some argue that Zelensky's 2019 election was less of an endorsement of his political platform, a populist one, rather a rejection of the old entrenched elite seen as ineffective and corrupt. Years later, Zelensky still faces the domestic challenges that confronted his predecessors — issues he once promised to resolve. On the internatio

Russia's security service found depleted uranium in an unexploded missile recovered in Chernihiv Oblast, as NATO warns of "devastating" consequences if nuclear weapons are used in the war.

ODESA — The danger comes from across the Black Sea, but the city itself ends at the shoreline. For Ukraine’s Navy, that has become a tactical problem. "The main problem of fighting off drones in Odesa, which doesn’t exist in other cities, is that here’s Odesa, and here’s the sea,” Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, told the Kyiv Independent while speaking from the shore. "Factually, Odesa ends at the water’s edge, and as it turns out you can’t throw a lot of air defense i

Drone activity was recorded near the Belarusian border in eastern Lithuania, but the warning was later extended to the capital, Vilnius.

Businessman Timur Mindich, an Israeli citizen, fled to Israel shortly before he was charged and sanctioned last fall.

Volodymyr Zelensky was sworn in as Ukraine's president on May 20, 2019. He entered office as a political outsider — a relatively young comedian and television producer — promising anti-corruption reforms and peace with Russia. Within years, he would become the face of Ukraine's wartime resistance and one of the world's most recognizable leaders during Europe's deadliest war since World War II. 7 years ago today, Zelensky took office. His legacy is now tied to warRiding a wave of political mom

In April, EU leaders voted to grant the bloc permission to provide Ukraine with a 90 billion euro ($110 billion) loan, providing the lion's share of Kyiv's financial needs to both defend itself and keep the lights on. But that money comes with strings attached, and even then it isn't enough to cover all of Ukraine's needs. One of those strings was announced on May 20, with the European Commission telling Kyiv that it needs to improve its revenue collection through a series of unpopular tax cha

Editor's note: This article has been updated with a statement from the U.K. government. The United Kingdom on May 20 apologized for the way it "clumsily" handled the roll-out of new sanctions on Moscow after a day earlier it issued what appeared to be an easing of sanctions on Russian energy imports. A license posted on the U.K. government web portal on May 19 permits imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil if "the products have been processed in a third country." The move was wi

"Well, they (Russians) know if that happens, the reaction is devastating... Of course, we follow that (exercises), we monitor what is happening," NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.

Kyiv will have to improve its revenue collection and how efficiently it spends money, the European Commission said in a press release on May 20, if it wants to access more than $8 billion of the loan.

The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell speaks with a British volunteer and drone operator serving in the Azov Corps’ international battalion about Russia’s war against Ukraine and how drone warfare has transformed modern combat.

The figures were revealed in Syrskyi's report on participation in a Ukraine–NATO Council meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

The SBU findings indicated that the warhead of the R-60 missile contained depleted uranium projectiles, specifically Uranium-235 and Uranium-238.

"It must be made clear that none of the EU Member States can be threatened," the letter reads.

Large-scale combat had been ongoing in Ukraine for several years, and the war had taken on a predominantly positional character. Any advance on the front proved insignificant and came at a disproportionately high cost in casualties. The bet was then placed on massive strikes against Russia's rear cities. No, this is not a brief description of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. This is roughly what the grueling eight-year standoff between Iraq and Iran looked like from 1980 to 1988. It was duri

According to the General Staff, an AVT-6 oil refining unit was hit, leading to a subsequent fire at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodorgsintez refinery near the town of Kstovo in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.

The two leaders signed a joint statement on further strengthening the countries' "comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation."

A Russian attack on the city of Konotop in Sumy Oblast struck a multi-story building, killing a woman and injuring at least 11 people, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported.

The number includes 920 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

The Moscow Oil Refinery temporarily halted its processing operations following a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on May 17, Reuters reported, citing industry sources.

"I'm not going to make pre-commitments in a negotiation on any particular topic," Vance said, though he maintained the proposal was "not currently" part of the plan.

Short-range drones killed and injured more Ukrainian civilians in April 2026 than in any other month since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

*Russia hits Ukraine's Chernihiv, Sumy oblasts in morning attacks, killing 5*Ukraine says it struck major Russian oil refinery, pumping station*China secretly trained Russian soldiers who later fought in Ukraine, Reuters reports*Russia launches large-scale nuclear forces drills after Belarus exercises *Russian military hospitals overwhelmed by wounded soldiers from war in Ukraine, media reportsT

The Czech Interior Ministry proposed a set of legal changes that could restrict the temporary protection benefits that have been in place for Ukrainian refugees since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

MEPs in Brussels agreed on May 19 to slash the EU’s tariff-free steel imports to 18.3 million metric tons per year — a 47% reduction from what is currently allowed — starting in July 2026.

Russian military hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of soldiers wounded in the war against Ukraine, forcing authorities to repurpose civilian hospitals, maternity wards, and other medical facilities for military use.

Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov has been almost completely sidelined from Moscow's most important foreign policy track — negotiations on ending Russia's war against Ukraine, two Ukrainian officials and one U.S. official told the Kyiv Independent. For decades, Lavrov served as the public face of Russian diplomacy and one of the Kremlin's most recognizable hardliners. Since the start of Russia's all-out war, he has remained one of the loudest voices defending Moscow's maximalist demands, reg

Editor's note: The former soldier quoted in this article requested that his last name be withheld for security reasons. After eight months recovering from war wounds, Mykola returned to duty — not to the eastern front, but to a posting far from the fighting, at an enlistment office in the country's west. Still relearning how to walk again, he soon discovered how differently society regarded his new role. "Many people, including some of my acquaintances, now seem to view draft officers as the e

Renat Suleimanov, a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party (KPRF), said in an interview with Russian outlet Kontinent Sibir that Russia needs the "swiftest possible end" to what Moscow calls its "special military operation," the Kremlin's term for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's economy improved in April, driven partly by the defense industry, softening what had been expected to be a sharper slowdown in early 2026 after the country's toughest winter of the full-scale invasion, the prime minister said.

Over the past week, news of a major corruption scandal has swept through the Ukrainian media landscape like a storm. And none other than former Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak is at the center of it all.  Yet perhaps the most revealing part of this story is not the scandal itself, but the system now investigating it. Andriy Yermak has been linked to a corruption scandal involving embezzlement in the energy sector. Searches at his residence pushed him to resign as head of President Zel