We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.Read more
"Our aim is to begin disbursing the funds by the end of the year," G7 leaders announced on Oct. 25. The loan will support Ukraine's economic, defense, and reconstruction needs.
Sergiyev Posad-6, a military site northeast of Moscow, was a biological weapons research center during the Cold War. A major renovation began at the site shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post reports.
A Russian suicide drone hit a 25-story residential building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district on Oct. 25, killing a 15-year-old girl and injuring five people, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
The Biden administration believes that a contingent of North Korean troops is en route to Russia’s Kursk region to assist Moscow in countering a Ukrainian offensive launched there in August, according to a U.S. official.
A Russian missile attack struck several residential buildings and a medical facility in the central-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro late on Oct. 25, killing three people and injuring at least 14, according to regional governor Serhii Lysak.
North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Oct. 25 that any decision to send its troops to support Russia in the war in Ukraine would comply with international law, however, it did not confirm whether such a deployment had occurred.
"If Mr. President is so confident in his influence over Putin, could he help free Azovstal defenders and all Ukrainians from Russian captivity right away? Time is of the essence," Ukrainian world boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk wrote on X.
"Russia's losses are quite high. And this month seems to be one of the biggest in terms of losses for Russia," said Janek Kesselmann, the deputy commander of the Estonian Military Intelligence Center.
Russia plans to assign an interpreter to every 30 North Korean soldiers for better interaction on the battlefield, Ukraine's military intelligence reported on Oct. 25, citing an intercepted conversation between service members of a Russian brigade in Kursk Oblast.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said he had talked to Kyiv about the possible transfer of South Korean weapons but that his response to the allies was "unequivocal."
"Any outcome must be in Russia's favor, I say directly, without any embarrassment, and must be based on the realities on the battlefield," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Rheinmetall transferred so far about 200 combat vehicles, including over a hundred Marder 1A3 models, to Ukraine directly or indirectly through the so-called ring exchange.
"After Kazan, (Guterres) wanted to come to Ukraine, but the president did not confirm his visit. So Guterres won't be here, specifically because of the humiliation of sanity and international law in Kazan," AFP reported, citing an unnamed high-ranking Ukrainian presidential source.
Speaking to Russian propagandist Olga Skabeyeva, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not explicitly confirm the dispatch of North Korean soldiers, saying that "once it's necessary to make a decision, we will do so."
Dutch intelligence has confirmed that Moscow has deployed at least 1,500 North Korean troops to join the war against Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Oct. 25.
Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets did not specify in his statement whether the lists were provided to Qatar by Moscow or the status of the listed missing soldiers.
Russia is planning to send first North Korean soldiers to combat zones on Oct. 27-28, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 25, citing intelligence reports.
"The nuclear proliferation, of course, is the biggest risk mankind faces... I think we should be very careful about what we are trying to accomplish in the next couple of years," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said.
The attack, carried out by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces and other military units, reportedly destroyed the radar guidance system of a Buk-M2 system.