Zelensky: 'Everyone was insisting that I must leave Kyiv.'

Ukraine's Supreme Court has rejected a libel lawsuit filed by the late Andriy Portnov, a former top official who served pro-Kremlin ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, against the Kyiv Independent, according to a ruling obtained by the Kyiv Independent on June 5.

"We are here both to organize support within the framework of the coalition of the willing and to put that support in place," Macron said.

The Kyiv Independent visited a Ukrainian military hospital where American and Ukrainian surgeons work together as part of the "Face-to-Face" mission to reconstruct faces damaged by explosions from strikes and landmines.

The Ukrainian Navy confirmed that it lost control of one of its drones in the Black Sea due to electronic warfare, causing the unmanned vessel to drift to the Romanian coast.

The targeted vessels included one near the city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, two near Yalta in Donetsk Oblast, and two near Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast.

"We simply struck where it was convenient to observe the results," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed that 185 Russian POWs had returned home, saying that they are currently in Belarus and will be receiving the psychological and medical care there.

All signatories to the letter sit outside of the European Parliament's political mainstream, with euroskeptic and pro-Russian politicians strongly represented.

The explosion occurred at 4:15 a.m. local time at a sorting depot in the capital’s Obolon district during a quiet night without any Russian air attacks, Nova Post’s press service confirmed to the Kyiv Independent on June 5.

Russian forces launched two Kh-59/69 guided missiles and 216 Shahed-type attack drones against Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian air defenses intercepting 198 of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"Almost half of your 26 years of power in Russia you have spent in the war against Ukraine," Zelensky wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Whatever you say about NATO, geopolitics and the Russian language, this war is your personal choice — a war without a real reason. This is how history will remember it."