Proxy claims that staged 'referendum' in Kherson Oblast to be postponed

At NATO's Aurora 2026 military exercises in Sweden, a group of Ukrainian drone pilots was tasked with playing the role of attackers. The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell spoke with drone pilots from Ukraine's 20th National Guard "Lubart" Brigade, part of the 1st Azov Corps, shortly after they returned from Sweden.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 29 that Ukrainian intelligence has information indicating Russia is preparing a new large-scale attack on Ukraine.

The victims were prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian detainees, the vast majority of them men, the report said.

The decree entered into force on May 26 and was adopted "with the aim of reviving the historical traditions of the national army," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

An examination of the wreckage of a Russian Oreshnik missile shows it contains crucial components manufactured before 2016, rubbishing the Kremlin's 2024 claims that it was a completely new weapon, Ukrainian experts say.

"If I return every time with this amount of money, I might come back more often," Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar quipped during the press conference in Brussels.

A drone struck a residential building in Galati, Romania, overnight on May 29, Romania's Defense Ministry confirmed, after an air raid alert was declared in all of Ukraine.

New subscribers to Altinget.dk, one of Denmark's most highly regarded news publications, will receive a complimentary three-month Kyiv Independent membership as part of a joint campaign starting May 28. The first 100 new subscribers will also receive an exclusive Kyiv Independent tote bag.

"Russia continues to deliberately threaten international maritime transport by attacking civilian infrastructure and merchant ships," Ukraine's Navy said.

The number includes 960 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

The refinery halted production after the attack, Ukraine's General Staff said.

The plant lost both landline and internet connections for about 12 hours on May 27, marking the longest such outage since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.