Thousands of Russian suicide drones advance. Russian Shahed drone attacks have intensified in recent weeks, with Moscow increasing both the volume and changing tactics of its aerial assaults, making Ukraine’s defense more challenging, reports Defense Express.
Russia has intensified its strikes against Ukrainian civilians after the start of US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts, at times launching four times as many drones on Ukrainian cities as Iran. In the recent terrorist attack on Kyiv during the G7 summit, Moscow used 440 drones. Still, the US hasn’t imposed sanctions on Russia’s war machine.
Russian strikes are now more concentrated, with Shahed drones flying at higher altitudes, beyond the reach of conventional small arms fire. Additionally, Russia has ramped up production of Shahed drones to about 2,700 units per month. Decoy drones have become almost indistinguishable from combat ones.
Ukrainian air-defense drones have already proven effective against Russian unmanned aerial vehicles, which conduct reconnaissance. Ukraine can produce these drones en masse—they are significantly cheaper than Shaheds, which cost around $193,000 each, though more expensive than typical FPV drones.
Analysts emphasize that air-defense drones require upgrades to better counter Shaheds: installing night-vision cameras and new control systems to reduce operator skill dependence.
Improving targeting systems is critical, potentially using radio-command guidance, semi-active lasers, acoustic sensors, or visual detection.
Challenges remain around activation time, flight duration, speed, altitude, and weather conditions, as Shaheds can attack even in rain, snow, or fog.
A key advancement is shifting to a remote, rather than contact-based, target destruction system.
As a result, upgraded Shahed interceptors will be more complex and costly than FPV drones but remain far more affordable than traditional surface-to-air missiles.
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Ukrainian companies are among the world’s top 100 in drone development. Analysts from The Defense Post have published a list of the top 100 global companies specializing in drone development for air, land, and sea applications.
Ukrainian companies TAF Drones, Ukrspecsystems, and Airlogix made the list, highlighting Ukraine’s innovation, influence, and leadership in the global defense industry.
The Defense Post described this list as a distinctive recognition based on an independent evaluation of unmanned systems manufacturers, taking into account revenue, research and development investments, growth dynamics, and technological prospects.
Importantly, the ranking excludes companies with more than 50% state ownership, as well as those connected to the Russian government or subject to sanctions, Militarnyi reports.
Among the leaders is the Turkish company Aselsan, owned by the Turkish Armed Forces fund but operating with high independence in drone development and international trade.
Ukrainian company TAF Drones ranked 22nd. It specializes in FPV drones, reconnaissance UAVs, and electronic warfare systems. In 2024, it plans to produce 350,000 drones.
Ukrspecsystems, a manufacturer of military drones and electronics, took the 65th position.
Airlogix ranked 84th with its unmanned aviation system, HOR, designed for reconnaissance and artillery spotting. The UAV flies for 2–2.5 hours, has a range of 150 km, and supports communication at distances of 30–40 km.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on June 20, imposing sanctions on 56 individuals and 55 Russian, Chinese, and Belarusian companies involved in the production of Russian drones and sanctions circumvention.
Ukraine introduced new restrictions as Russia has escalated drone attacks against Ukrainian cities over the past weeks, launching record 400-500 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) per night.
Individuals and legal entities subject to Ukrainian sanctions cannot do business and trade in Ukraine, cannot withdraw their capital from the country. In the meantime, their assets are blocked, as well as their access to public and defense procurement, and entry into the territory of Ukraine, among other restrictions.
The new package of sanctions targets individuals and entities involved in the development and production of Russian drones such as Geran, Orlan-10, SuperCam, and first-person-view (FPV) drones, according to a decree published on the Presidential Office's website.
The Belarusian Precision Electromechanics Plant and six Chinese enterprises located in Hong Kong and in the provinces of Shandong and Shenzhen are among the sanctioned entities.
The sanctions list includes equipment suppliers to Alabuga Machinery, a Russian manufacturer of machine tools and gears, and individuals who import components for the sanctioned Kronshtadt JSC, a drone producer that developed Banderol UAVs with jet engines.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian cities with waves of attack drones, often striking energy infrastructure and residential buildings overnight. Ukraine's defense forces use a mix of electronic warfare, air defense systems, and drone-on-drone interception to repel the assaults.
Drones have become one of the defining tools of the full-scale war, used extensively by both Ukraine and Russia for surveillance, long-range strikes, and tactical battlefield advantage.
On 18 June, the Argentine government publicly accused five Russian nationals residing in the country of being involved in a covert influence operation directed by Moscow. Officials claim the group was part of a broader strategy orchestrated by the Kremlin to sway public opinion abroad, La Nación reported.
Argentina’s Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced that the Secretariat of State Intelligence (SIDE) had uncovered a group of Russian citizens living in Argentina suspected of conducting activities in support of Russia’s geopolitical interests. He stated that their work involved close coordination with Argentine collaborators.
According to the report, these individuals belonged to an entity known as La Compañía, which he described as connected to the Russian government. He associated this group with Lakhta – the infamous Russian “troll factory,” a previously known operation reportedly led by the late oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August 2023 after his failed mutiny against the Russian government.
Adorni elaborated that the goal of La Compañía was to “form a group of people loyal to Russian interests” to implement disinformation and influence operations aimed at the Argentine state. The activities included producing and spreading online content, influencing local NGOs, conducting focus groups with Argentine citizens, and collecting political information deemed useful to Russia.
He named Lev Konstantinovich (Konstantinovich is a patronymic and hardly ever a last name. Other sources mention his surname as Andriashvili. – Ed.), a Russian citizen living in Argentina, as the individual in charge of financing the project and fostering ties with local collaborators. His wife, Irina Iakovenko, was also mentioned as part of the network.
Adorni did not clarify whether the identified individuals had been arrested or remained in Argentina at the time of the announcement.
A major scandal is unfolding within the Ukrainian government. Under normal circumstances, it might be framed as a political crisis — but amid martial law and suspended elections, politics in Ukraine has largely ground to a halt. What remains is power without electoral accountability.
At the center of the growing controversy is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov, who has been abroad for over a week and has yet to return. His absence coincides with a widening criminal investigation that has already ensnared several of his former subordinates.
Mykhailo Tkach, an investigative journalist with Ukrainska Pravda, was the first to draw public attention to Chernyshov’s absence. His reporting has tracked a network of arrests involving individuals who previously worked under Chernyshov — first in government, then at Naftogaz, Ukraine’s powerful state-owned oil and gas company.
“NABU and SAPO have detained two of Chernyshov’s close associates — Maksym Horbatiuk and Vasyl Volodin. Both worked with him in the Ministry and later at Naftogaz. Horbatiuk was detained at the border as he attempted to go on vacation. Chernyshov remains abroad, reportedly on an official trip,” Tkach reported.
The investigation is being led by two key Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies:
Together, these agencies form the backbone of Ukraine’s efforts to combat elite corruption — a mission made even more urgent during wartime, when oversight is weakened.
Naftogaz of Ukraine is the country’s largest and most strategically important state-owned enterprise. It manages the production, transport, and distribution of oil and natural gas, and plays a central role in Ukraine’s economy and national security — especially amid wartime infrastructure attacks and energy shortages.
Chernyshov was appointed CEO of Naftogaz in November 2022, and later took on an additional cabinet role in government.
In December 2024, Ukraine created the Ministry of National Unity by reorganizing the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories. Chernyshov was appointed to lead it while retaining his position at Naftogaz.
Although rebranded, the ministry retained much of its original staff and leadership — including individuals now under investigation.
The Ministry’s formal mandate includes overseeing the rights and support of over 700,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 7 million Ukrainian refugees. In practice, however, its activities remain vague and poorly documented.
“Some MPs now joke that Chernyshov has become an IDP himself — one of the very people his ministry is supposed to help. Others note that the man tasked with encouraging Ukrainians to return appears reluctant to return himself,” Tkach observed.
On 13 June, NABU and SAPO revealed a large-scale corruption scheme in the construction sector, allegedly involving officials closely associated with Chernyshov.
The charges include:
Prosecutors allege that:
As a result, the state stood to lose over ₴1 billion — equivalent to approximately $25 million— in public assets.
“To reward their role in the scheme, top officials and their associates allegedly received significant discounts on apartments in newly built complexes,” prosecutors stated.
The scandal has reignited public anger over Ukraine’s wartime travel restrictions. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country under martial law, except in rare cases. In contrast, high-ranking officials — even those under investigation — can travel freely, often citing “official duties.”
The Ministry of National Unity told Suspilne that Chernyshov is on a planned EU business trip, and that it is proceeding “in normal working mode.” His meetings, they said, are being documented on his official social media pages.
Soon after Chernyshov left Ukraine, Maksym Horbatiuk, a longtime associate, tried to cross into Poland and was detained. He had previously served as an unpaid adviser in Chernyshov’s ministry and later became a commercial director at a Naftogaz subsidiary.
Another former aide, Vasyl Volodin, was also arrested. He had served as State Secretary during Chernyshov’s ministry tenure and was later appointed to the Naftogaz board.
Authorities reportedly acted quickly out of concern the men would flee or destroy evidence. Their arrests appear to have been both urgent and strategic.
“The timing suggests law enforcement acted quickly, once Chernyshov was out of the country. From abroad, he is reportedly watching anti-corruption court hearings about his former subordinates — and likely hearing a lot about himself,” Tkach wrote.
Was Chernyshov tipped off before his departure?
Was Horbatiuk fleeing or simply vacationing?
Would Volodin have escaped if not detained?
These questions remain unanswered — but the timing, proximity of roles, and overlapping appointments suggest a tightly knit circle of influence that is now unraveling under pressure.
A Russian soldier deployed in Ukraine may have been involved in an act of cannibalism, audio intercepted by Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) and released on June 20 suggests.
In the recording posted by HUR on Telegram, a Russian commander is heard telling a subordinate that one soldier, referred to by the call sign "Brelok," killed and consumed his fellow service member "Foma" over a two-week period.
Ukraine's military intelligence described the alleged incident as further evidence of what it called the "moral and psychological collapse" of Russian forces.
"Nobody ran away. 'Brelok' took him out and then ate him for two f*cking weeks," a speaker identified by HUR as a commander of a reconnaissance unit from Russia's 68th Motorized Rifle Division can be heard saying in the intercept.
According to HUR, both soldiers served in the 52nd Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, which is reportedly operating near the villages of Zapadne and Lyman Pershyi in the Kupiansk direction of Kharkiv Oblast.
The intercepted speaker adds that "Brelok" was later found dead himself.
"They say he was a 200 (military slang for a killed soldier), f*ck. Well, he ate his comrade, so that's something to think about," the voice says.
The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the authenticity of the leaked recording or confirm the events described in it. No visual or documentary evidence has been presented to support the claims, which are based solely on the intercepted audio provided by HUR.
But Russia's recruitment system for the war in Ukraine has heavily relied on the country's prisons as a source of manpower, leading to its ranks being filled by all manner of criminals, even cannibals.
Moscow has been recruiting convicts for its war since the summer of 2022, first under the auspices of the Wagner Group and later under the Russian Defense Ministry.
Initially, prisoners, even those convicted of violent crimes, were promised a pardon after completing a six-month military contract. Since January 2024, Russian army recruits drawn from prisons no longer receive pardons but are released on parole, and are expected to fight until the war is over.
In May 2024, the Moscow Times reported that Russian cannibal Dmitry Malyshev, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder and several other serious crimes, joined one of Russia’s Storm V penal military units.
Malyshev was reportedly recruited to the army together with serial killer Aleksandr Maslennikov, sentenced to 23 years in prison for the "double murder and dismemberment of women."
Previously, Ukraine said there were cases of mistreatment and breakdown of discipline within Russia's own ranks. A group of Russian soldiers fighting near Kursk Oblast surrendered to Ukrainian paratroopers in May, saying abuse within their own units was "worse than captivity," according to a video posted by Ukraine's Airborne Assault Forces.
The soldiers said they had been subjected to inhumane treatment, psychological pressure, and threats while still inside Russian territory.
Reporting by investigative outlets, the Insider and Foreign Policy, has documented systemic abuse of Russian troops throughout the full-scale invasion.
These include so-called "punishment squads," beatings, confinement pits, and hazing that borrows heavily from Soviet-era gulag practices.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
A dramatic UN vote back on 24 February exposed a widening rift between the United States and Europe over Russia’s war in Ukraine, with US President Donald Trump aligning with Moscow and leaving key allies blindsided, according to Le Monde columnist Sylvie Kauffmann.
According to the Le Monde article, the fracture did not begin with Trump. In 2014, during Russia’s seizure of Crimea, then-President Barack Obama reportedly sent a message to Kyiv discouraging resistance, offering no military support. Ukrainian soldiers surrendered without a fight. In 2023, Obama defended his actions, arguing that Crimea’s Russian-speaking majority made a different response impractical.
In 2022, President Joe Biden attempted to prevent a full-scale invasion, sending warnings to both European allies and Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris privately warned Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference on 19 February. According to Bob Woodward’s 2024 book War, Zelenskyy responded with frustration: “If I acknowledge it… will you impose sanctions?” Harris said punishment would come only after the crime.
With Trump back in office in January 2025, the United States took a starkly different stance. On 21 February, US chargé d’affaires Dorothy Shea informed French and British ambassadors that the US was asking Ukraine to withdraw its draft UN resolution condemning Russian aggression. Instead, the US proposed its own resolution focused on “peace rather than war.” Shea confirmed that this had been discussed with Russia in advance.
Biden, Obama, Trump: Different presidents, same Russian reset trap
The reaction from European diplomats was one of betrayal. In crisis talks, they rallied to defend Ukraine’s draft and split responsibilities: Britain would lead at the Security Council, France at the General Assembly. The French introduced amendments emphasizing territorial integrity—rejected by the US—but Ukraine’s version passed, while the US abstained on its own resolution.
At the Security Council, the US voted alongside Russia and China. The five European members abstained.
On 28 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced a confrontational meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. According to European sources cited by Le Monde, the exchange was heated, with Trump accusing Ukraine of starting the war and calling Zelenskyy a dictator. Days earlier, Macron and Starmer had met Trump with the aim of calming tensions.
Despite his support for military aid to Ukraine post-2022, Biden was reportedly frustrated with the Obama administration’s failures. “They f**cked up in 2014,” he told a friend, as cited in Woodward’s book. Yet even Biden was constrained.
According to an official cited by Le Monde, Biden’s fear of nuclear escalation led advisors to avoid presenting options that might provoke Russia. This hesitation disheartened Ukrainian officials and alienated committed Europeans.
Biden calls Trump’s Ukraine policy modern-day appeasement of Russia
Le Monde says that the 24 February 2025 UN vote “sealed the divorce” of the US and Europe. From Obama’s caution, to Biden’s hesitations, to Trump’s overt realignment with Russia, Ukraine has been left to Europe. The US no longer sees Ukraine as vital, while Europe faces an existential threat. A new era in Western diplomacy has begun—and it may be one without America.
Russian drone attacks against Ukraine might decrease due to Iranian Shahed production capabilities being targeted in Israeli strikes, Estonian military intelligence commander Ants Kiviselg said on June 20, according to the ERR broadcaster.
The comments come as Russian drone strikes across Ukraine have been breaking records in recent weeks, with nearly 500 drones and missiles launched overnight on June 9.
"While it can be assessed that Russia has been able to largely localize and transfer the production of Shahed and Geran-type drones to Russia, it can be assumed that some critical nodes for drone production continue to come from Iran," Kiviselg said.
Israel initiated a series of air strikes against Iranian military and nuclear facilities on June 13, with Tehran responding with waves of drone and missile attacks, further escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Iran has been a key ally to Moscow and provided the country with ballistic missiles and thousands of Shahed "kamikaze" drones for its war against Ukraine. Russia has also launched production of its own Shahed equivalents called Geran.
While Israeli strikes targeted and destroyed a Geran-type drone factory in Isfahan, Ukrainian forces have been attacking the Russian plant in Alabuga in Tatarstan, the Estonian intelligence chief noted.
"So there is a possibility that in the near future we may see a certain decline in the use of drones," Kiviselg said. Estonian intelligence is nevertheless convinced that Moscow is planning steps to not only maintain, but also "increase" its drone production.
Russia has been regularly deploying Shahed-type drones for nighttime attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses with massive swarms.
Ukraine's intelligence has warned that the Russian defense industry seeks to ramp up the production of the strike drones, aiming to deliver 500 unmanned aircraft per month for Russia's war effort.
In turn, the Ukrainian side has also increasingly invested in its drone capabilities, and more than doubled its production of long-range drones in 2024 compared to the previous year.
The Kyiv IndependentChris York
Editor's note: The story is being updated.
Ukraine has brought home another group of prisoners of war released from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 20, following another prisoner exchange a day earlier.
"Most of the warriors returning today from Russian captivity had been held for over two years. And now, at last, they are home," Zelensky said on X, without revealing how many captives were exchanged.
Russia's Defense Ministry also said that a group of Russian soldiers had been released by the Ukrainian side, without specifying the number of personnel involved.
This week's exchanges follow four similar swaps carried out last week in accordance with Ukraine-Russia agreements reached at peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.
The latest swap was another in a series focusing on seriously ill and wounded prisoners, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War (POW) said.
"These are defenders of Mariupol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions. Warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard Service," Zelensky said.
The released POWs included privates and non-commissioned officers, some of whom were captured after the siege of Mariupol in 2022, according to the Coordination Headquarters. The oldest one is 60 years old, said Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
While no political breakthrough was achieved at the Istanbul negotiations, both sides agreed to a phased exchange of prisoners and the repatriation of fallen soldiers' bodies. As part of that agreement, Russia pledged to return the bodies of up to 6,000 Ukrainian service members and citizens.
Moscow has handed over 6,057 bodies to Ukraine in several stages over the past few days, though Kyiv later said that these remains also included fallen Russian soldiers.
The June 2 agreements came after the largest known POW swap in late May, when 1,000 prisoners were exchanged on each side.
Ukraine repeatedly called for a prisoner exchange in an all-for-all format, but Russia continues to reject the offer.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to pursue a long-term strategy of grinding attritional warfare in Ukraine, according to a 19 June assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin reiterated claims of Russian advances along the entire frontline and warned of worsening terms if Ukraine rejects Russian “peace” proposals. “The West has failed to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to reevaluate his theory of victory in Ukraine in the past year,” ISW says.
During a session with foreign journalists at SPIEF on 19 June, Putin stated that Russian troops have a “strategic advantage” and are “still advancing” daily, even if progress is slower on some days. He contrasted the current situation with the March 2022 Istanbul peace talks, arguing that Russia’s demands have since grown stronger. Putin warned that Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate on Russia’s terms could lead to more severe consequences.
ISW: Putin’s economic forum now a tool to spread wartime optimism
He claimed that Russia remains prepared to achieve its objectives through military force if diplomacy fails.
ISW assessed that Putin’s strategy hinges on the belief that Ukrainian forces will fail to regain lost ground and that Russian manpower and materiel advantages will outlast Ukraine’s resources and Western support. However, ISW notes that Russia is incurring disproportionately high losses for marginal gains, calling such a strategy unsustainable in the medium to long term.
Economic challenges and defense industry limitations are likely to impede Moscow’s ability to continue the war indefinitely. While higher oil revenues from rising prices — partly due to Israeli strikes against Iran — may help fund the war, this benefit is conditional on global oil trends and potential sanctions.
ISW observed that Putin used the SPIEF platform to escalate Russia’s reflexive control campaign aimed at deterring Western military aid and NATO rearmament. He argued that NATO poses no real threat to Russia and claimed that Russia is capable of managing all potential dangers. Nevertheless, he warned that Germany’s potential delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine would damage bilateral ties — a marked shift from earlier Kremlin assertions that Western weapons would have no battlefield impact.
Putin also claimed that the idea of Russia planning to attack NATO were “nonsense,” despite recent Russian threats targeting the Baltic States and Finland.
At SPIEF, Putin warned that Russia might begin supplying long-range weapons to unspecified Western enemies if Ukraine uses Western-supplied arms to strike Russian territory — a direct threat not present in his latest 2025 comments but previously made in June 2024. ISW notes that this reflects the Kremlin’s evolving messaging, adapted for different audiences.
Putin declared on 19 June that he would not sign any peace agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, repeating the false claim that Zelenskyy’s term has expired without legal basis for extension. He stated that Russia will only sign agreements with “legitimate” authorities, and further alleged that if the president is illegitimate, then so is the entire Ukrainian government. These claims contradict Ukrainian law, which allows for martial law to delay elections while national security is threatened.
According to ISW, Putin used his appearance with Western journalists to recycle standard Kremlin narratives — including blaming the West for starting the war and violating the Minsk agreements. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said on 18 June that Putin sought to “accurately” present Russia’s viewpoint to international audiences. ISW assessed that this outreach aims to influence ongoing Western debates on future military aid to Ukraine.
Today, there are interesting updates from the Middle East. Here, in a war Tehran once promised would reshape the region, the only thing reshaped is Iran’s own military, flattened, blinded, and humiliated in a matter of days.
With both its offensive and defensive capabilities shattered beyond repair, Iran now scrambles not for victory, but for a way out.
In the opening hours of the Israeli operation against Iran, it became immediately clear that Iran’s air defense network was utterly insufficient to repel an attack from a modern and well-prepared adversary.
Already weakened by previous Israeli strikes, Iranian air defenses were systematically dismantled in a series of swift, precision attacks spearheaded by Israeli F-35 stealth fighters.
Iran’s regime claimed to have downed four such jets, yet the evidence provided was quickly debunked as embarrassingly obvious Photoshop manipulations. In reality, Israeli aircraft rapidly dominated western Iranian airspace, freely operating even over Tehran itself, an unprecedented humiliation.
The Iranian Air Force was also quickly neutralized with Israeli planes striking Iranian jets directly on their runways and systematically targeting radar installations, leaving Iran’s air force unable to respond or put up resistance against Israeli airpower.
Following this crippling operation, Iran attempted to retaliate with ballistic missiles.
While several of them managed to penetrate Israeli defenses, Iran claimed they launched hundreds, indicating that most Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted before they could hit their targets.
However, even this modest success was short-lived. On the second day of the operation, Israeli aircraft rapidly identified and destroyed approximately one-third of Iran’s missile launchers, dramatically reducing the volume of subsequent missile attacks.
Further worsening Iran’s trouble, Israel took swift and decisive action to neutralize Iran’s vaunted underground missile stockpiles.
Although Iran frequently showcased these missiles in highly symbolic videos intended to intimidate opponents, Israel simply destroyed the entrances to these bunker complexes.
Consequently, despite the vast stores of missiles presumably remaining intact underground, Iran now lacks timely access to these weapons, rendering them irrelevant to the current conflict.
Iran’s widely touted Shahed drones, famous for their use by Russia against Ukraine, proved astonishingly ineffective against Israeli defenses.
Despite ample combat data from Ukraine, Iranian forces seemingly learned nothing from these engagements, deploying outdated first-generation Shahed drones without critical upgrades developed by Russia through battlefield experience.
Israel’s dense and layered air defense network, featuring the Iron Dome supplemented by advanced missile defenses, fighter cover, and helicopter support, intercepted these drones with ease.
Moreover, American and Jordanian support further bolstered Israeli defenses. Israeli electronic warfare experts had previously studied Shahed drones extensively, even deploying to Ukraine for hands-on experience in 2023. As a result, Iranian drone assaults were swiftly neutralized long before even reaching Israel.
The Israeli operation also delivered a devastating blow to Iranian military leadership: over 20 high-ranking commanders, including senior officers of the Iranian armed forces and the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, were killed within the first hours.
Israel then meticulously targeted and eliminated their replacements as soon as they were appointed, paralyzing Iran’s ability to respond effectively.
Facing catastrophic losses and a rapidly deteriorating strategic position, Iran’s regime quickly spiraled into panic mode.
Tehran’s statements that they are ready to stop the attacks after Israel stops indicate not just willingness but a call to resume negotiations, proposing a mutual ceasefire.
Simultaneously, Iranian leadership, including the Ayatollah himself, is reported to be seeking refuge in Russia, echoing Bashar al-Assad’s similar requests during the Syrian regime’s collapse.
Tehran’s leaders recognize that while escalating further might inflict limited additional damage upon Israel, it would also prompt devastating counterstrikes capable of collapsing their regime.
Yet, the regime must also demonstrate some military resolve domestically, or risk losing its internal legitimacy entirely, a scenario equally threatening to its grip on power.
The US initially signaled openness to renewed diplomacy, but President Trump subsequently hardened his stance, explicitly rejecting any further negotiations with Iran.
In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia’s alignment with Iran, including its public defense of Tehran’s government and nuclear ambitions, highlights the urgent need for tougher global sanctions against Moscow.
Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine is now in its fourth year. This year, Moscow signed a strategic partnership with Tehran, condemned Israeli strikes on Iran, and positioned itself as a mediator in the Iran-Israel conflict. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump hesitates to greenlight Senate-drafted sanctions on Russia. He keeps pushing for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, while Moscow rejects ceasefire calls and steps up its attacks.
In his evening video address on 19 June, Zelenskyy described the aftermath of a recent Russian deadly missile strike that destroyed a residential apartment block’s section in Kyiv.
“The missile went through every floor, all the way down to the basement,” he said, adding that 23 civilians were killed and rescue operations lasted nearly 40 hours.
In total, Russia’s 17 June air attack, referred to by Zelenskyy, killed 30 people died and injured 172 across Ukraine.
Zelenskyy emphasized that the strike had no military objective and called it “deliberate terror.” He linked this kind of violence to previous Russia’s aggression in places like Chechnya and Syria.
“The same thing Russia’s army under Putin has done everywhere, from Chechnya to Syria. This is the only thing Putin and his Russia truly know how to do well – kill and destroy,” he said.
The Ukrainian President denounced not just the attack, but what he described as Moscow’s growing alignment with aggressive regimes like Iran and North Korea.
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to “save Iran’s nuclear program,” claiming there could be “no other possible explanation” for recent Russian actions and statements. He argued that when one of Russia’s partners loses the ability to “export war,” Moscow suffers and intervenes. He condemned this behavior as “cynicism at its worst” and warned that “aggressive regimes must not be allowed to unite and become partners.”
He cited the use of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and North Korean missiles as evidence of Russia’s reliance on authoritarian allies.
“It is a clear sign that global solidarity and global pressure are not strong enough,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader called for significantly tougher sanctions on Moscow and increased cooperation, particularly in technology, among countries “defending life.”
He referred to recent agreements at the G7 summit in Canada and upcoming discussions within the “Coalition of the Willing” as avenues to deepen such collaboration.
Russian authorities are considering a request from the New People's Party to offer political asylum to U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk, claimed the party's lawmaker, Vladislav Davankov, to the Russian media on June 20.
Davankov, deputy speaker of the State Duma, told reporters at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that his party had formally petitioned the Russian Foreign Ministry to provide Musk with asylum. The request is expected to be reviewed within a month, he reportedly said.
"I think Elon Musk has made mistakes, but those mistakes should be forgiven," Davankov said. "If things don't work out for him, we are always ready to welcome him — from a technological and visionary point of view, he's very impressive."
The claim could not be independently verified, and there has been no official confirmation from the Russian Foreign Ministry or Musk. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, telling reporters, "Let's wait for a statement from the Foreign Ministry or from Musk himself before we say anything."
The alleged request follows a public conflict that erupted between Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month. The billionaire later expressed regret over a series of critical posts aimed at Trump, calling a proposed government spending bill "disgusting" and warning of economic consequences.
Trump hit back during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on June 5, saying on Truth Social that Musk had "just gone crazy."
In response, Musk claimed on social media that Trump owed him his electoral victory, suggesting his influence prevented Democrats from retaining the House.
Earlier this month, Dmitry Novikov, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told state-run news agency TASS that Russia would be ready to provide Musk with political asylum if needed.
"I think Musk is playing a completely different game, that he won't need political asylum, although if he did, Russia could certainly provide it," Novikov said on June 6.
The feud has attracted attention in Russia, where Musk is increasingly viewed as a sympathetic figure. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, joked on X that Moscow could broker peace between "D and E," referring to Donald and Elon, in exchange for Starlink shares. "Don't fight, guys," Medvedev wrote.
Musk led a federal commission on government efficiency until May 30 and has been a key figure in dismantling U.S. foreign aid institutions, including USAID, which has delivered billions in aid to Ukraine.
Though he initially supported Ukraine by providing Starlink satellite systems to aid its defense, Musk eventually adopted Russian talking points, claiming President Volodymyr Zelensky lacks popular support and accusing Kyiv of running a "never-ending draft meat grinder."
He has also spoken out against U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a stance that aligns closely with Kremlin messaging aimed at discouraging Western support for Kyiv.
The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov's official trip abroad has been approved until the end of the week, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on June 20 amid media speculations connecting Chernyshov's absence to an ongoing corruption investigation.
Shmyhal made the comment in response to opposition lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko in parliament.
Suspicions about Chernyshov, who heads the new National Unity Ministry focused on relations with refugees and the Ukrainian diaspora, arose earlier this week when the deputy prime minister did not attend a Kyiv forum he himself organized in person but joined online from abroad.
The deputy prime minister's unexpected work trip to Vienna, announced on June 16, came three days after law enforcement agencies unveiled a corruption scheme involving two officials from the now-dissolved Communities and Territories Development Ministry, which was headed by Chernyshov.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, Chernyshov and two of his associates came under investigation last year over suspicions that they received kickbacks from Serhii Kopystira, the head of the KSM Group, for illicitly transferring a plot of land for real estate development between 2021 and 2022.
Four sources in anti-corruption agencies told Ukrainska Pravda that despite the investigation, no police searches were conducted at the time, as they were blocked by the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Semen Kryvonos, who has a long-standing relationship with Chernyshov.
After the dissolution of the Communities and Territories Development Ministry at the end of 2022, Chernyshov was appointed the head of the state-owned energy company Naftogaz. In 2024, the official was tasked with leading the new National Unity Ministry — a position that often involved travel abroad — while also being named deputy prime minister.
The other two people connected to the case — Maksym Horbatiuk and Vasyl Volodin — were reportedly detained last week as the investigation began moving forward.
Chernyshov traveled to Prague on June 10 and 11 for a business trip, and then to Vienna a week later. The subsequent court hearings with the two detainees detailed Chernyshov's role in the corruption scheme, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
The news outlet stressed that there is currently no evidence that Chernyshov's current stay abroad is connected to the investigation. The National Unity Ministry said that foreign trips are a regular part of Chernyshov's work.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify all the claims and has reached out to Chernyshov's team for comment.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Editor's note: This story was updated to include Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russia's wartime economic momentum is fading fast, with key resources nearly exhausted, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said, warning that the country can no longer rely on the same tools that sustained growth in the first two years of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported on June 19.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Nabiullina said that the Russian economy had been expanding on the back of "free resources," including labor, industrial capacity, bank capital reserves, and liquid assets from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) — all of which are now reportedly nearing depletion.
"We grew for two years at a fairly high pace because free resources were activated," she said. "We need to understand that many of those resources have truly been exhausted."
Speaking at the same forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials "not to allow stagnation or recession" in the Russian economy under any circumstances.
"We must consistently change the structure of our economy," he said.
The comments come after Russia's ambassador to the U.K., Andrei Kelin, claimed in an interview with CNN this week that Russia is spending "only 5–7%" of its federal budget on the war. Kelin claimed that Russia can continue waging its war, saying Moscow "is winning."
According to the state statistics agency Rosstat, Russia's unemployment rate has dropped to a historic low of 2.3%. At the same time, mass emigration and large-scale wartime recruitment have created a labor shortage estimated at 2 million people. Industrial capacity utilization has surged beyond 80%, the highest in modern Russian history.
The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk
Russia's economy is now "on the verge of a transition to recession," Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said at the same forum. Official data show that GDP growth slowed from 4.1% in late 2023 to just 1.4% in the first quarter of 2024, with the economy contracting quarter-on-quarter for the first time since 2022.
Business profits in March fell by one-third overall and dropped by half in the critical oil and gas sector. Industrial growth stagnated at 1.2% year-over-year between January and April, while civilian sectors of the economy began shrinking. Retail turnover growth slowed from 7.2% in December to just 2.4% in April.
An anonymous Russian analyst told Novaya Gazeta Europe that government technocrats are effectively telling Putin it's time to choose between "war or economy."
During its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has faced rising inflation due to record military spending, pushing the central bank to maintain high interest rates. Under government pressure, the bank cut the rate slightly from 21% to 20% earlier in June, despite concerns about weakened private investment.
Officials have scaled back key development projects and reduced shipments of metals and oil products. Early hopes for recovery in 2025, driven by talks with the U.S., have faded as inflation and sanctions weigh heavily on growth.
The Kyiv IndependentChris York
The Dutch House of Representatives voted on 19 June to recognize the 1944 Soviet deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide, according to the parliament’s press service.
The motion stated that “various countries have recognized the mass expulsion of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the Soviet Union as genocide.” The House declared the 1944 mass deportation of Crimean Tatars meets modern standards for genocide classification.
The parliamentary document also addressed contemporary persecution. Since Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea, “many Crimean Tatars have been unjustifiably imprisoned, subjected to torture by the Russian Federation, or have disappeared,” the motion noted. It concluded that “Russia has most likely continued the policy of genocide against Crimean Tatars.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha thanked the Dutch parliament for the decision. “This is a powerful gesture of solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, who continue to face persecution during Russia’s temporary occupation of Ukrainian Crimea,” Sybiha wrote.
The minister identified the Netherlands as the seventh country to recognize the Crimean Tatar deportation as genocide and called on other nations to follow suit. “Recognition of this historical injustice is crucial not only for establishing truth and justice, but also for preventing future atrocities,” Sybiha said.
The 1944 deportation occurred after Soviet forces liberated Crimea from German occupation. Bolshevik authorities returning to the peninsula branded all Crimean Tatars living there as “traitors.” Stalin personally ordered the ethnic cleansing, which took place from 18-21 May 1944. Soviet forces removed over 190,000 Tatars from Crimean territory during this period, though some data indicates 430,000 were deported.
Ukraine’s parliament recognized the Crimean Tatar deportation as genocide on 12 November 2015, and established 18 May as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People.
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Latvia’s parliament has prohibited Russian and Belarusian citizens from purchasing real estate in the country, passing the legislation in its final third reading on 19 June.
The ban extends to companies with more than 25 % ownership by citizens of these countries, according to Latvian Public Media. The law includes specific exemptions for inheritance from relatives and allows permanent residents of Latvia to buy a single dwelling for personal use. Previously completed transactions remain unaffected by the new restrictions.
Parliament classified real estate deals with Russian and Belarusian citizens as threats to national security. The legislation states that property purchases in other countries constitute “one of the instruments of non-military influence and elements of hybrid warfare.” The law also asserts that the presence of Russian citizens has been used by Moscow as a pretext for initiating wars.
The measure represents Latvia’s latest step in restricting economic ties with Russia and Belarus amid ongoing regional tensions. The legislation specifically targets individual ownership while preserving certain humanitarian considerations through its inheritance and permanent residency provisions.
Latvia has implemented several new restrictions targeting Russian and Belarusian citizens in 2025, citing national security concerns. The most significant recent bans include: ban on working in critical infrastructure, restrictions on border crossings, ban on state officials, traveling to Russia and Belarus, entry bans near strategic sites.
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We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society.
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A Ukrainian family who fled to Israel seeking life-saving treatment for a child with cancer were killed when an Iranian missile struck their apartment in Bat Yam, a city near Tel-Aviv, on 13 June. The victims included 7-year-old Nastia Buryk, her mother, grandmother, and two cousins.
Nastia Buryk, originally from Odesa, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in August 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Her mother, Maria Pashkurova, had shared the heartbreaking news publicly:
“Since that day, I have been living in a parallel reality, where the main thing is to save. To breathe. To not give up.”
Nastia initially received chemotherapy in Ukraine, but after a relapse, her family sought more advanced care. They relocated to Israel in December 2022 with the help of donations, hoping to access treatment unavailable during wartime in Ukraine. Nastia underwent a bone marrow transplant in Israel, but the procedure failed. Facing mounting medical bills, her father Artem—who joined Ukraine’s 95th Airborne Assault Brigade—continued raising funds from the frontline.
By spring 2025, Maria pursued an experimental treatment in Israel to reactivate the failed transplant. Her mother Olena and two nephews—9-year-old Kostiantyn and 13-year-old Illia—joined her in Israel, where the boys enrolled in school.
Rescuers among the injured as Russia again targets civilians in Odesa and Kharkiv
On 13 June, just a day after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure, Iran began daily retaliatory strikes. One of its missiles struck the family’s apartment in Bat Yam on the first night of the Iranian assault. According to Ynet News, all five members of the Ukrainian family were killed.
In addition to the Ukrainian family, four other people reportedly died in the Bat Yam missile strike, and more than 100 people were injured in the blast.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the joint statement issued by the ministers of the Baltic states, Nordic countries, and Poland.
A coalition of European Union countries is pushing to bar Russian citizens who participated in the war against Ukraine from entering the Schengen Area, citing serious security concerns, Estonian broadcaster ERR reported on June 19.
The call comes as Russia increased its hybrid operations targeting the European Union. EU security agencies have repeatedly warned of Russian-linked sabotage operations, including arson attacks, orchestrated by Moscow as part of hybrid warfare strategies.
Interior ministers from the Baltic states, Nordic countries, and Poland met in Tallinn on June 19, where they issued a joint statement confirming their intent to prevent entry into the visa-free Schengen zone for Russians who took part in the war against Ukraine, ERR reported.
"There are hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens who have fought against Ukraine," Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro said following the meeting. "We must take a clear stance; these individuals cannot freely travel across Schengen."
"We will not issue them residence permits or visas," he added. "This group, which has been killing and destroying, poses a very significant security threat to all of us."
The ministers emphasized that this restriction should remain in place even after active hostilities cease in Ukraine.
"Member States should take all necessary measures to ensure that individuals who are or have been contracted by the Russian armed forces or other armed groups acting on behalf of the regime are not allowed to undermine our security or move freely within the Schengen Area," the joint statement read.
The high-level meeting also included European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, as well as representatives from the EU border agency Frontex.
The Schengen Area allows for visa-free travel across 29 European countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. While several EU member states have imposed national restrictions on Russian travelers, others continue processing applications, keeping access routes open.
Latvia has been among the most vocal proponents of stricter visa policies for Russian nationals. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze urged on May 25 all EU countries to suspend visa issuance to Russians, citing escalating security threats from Moscow.
"Latvia calls on the EU countries to halt visa issuance for Russian citizens, citing security concerns," Braze wrote on X. She noted that Schengen visa approvals for Russian nationals had surged by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023.
Latvia imposed entry restrictions in September 2022 as part of a coordinated effort with Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Czechia followed suit in October 2022.
Concerns over the abuse of Schengen visas and diplomatic privileges have intensified amid a wave of suspected Russian sabotage and espionage on EU soil. Polish and Czech authorities have recently led an effort to limit the movement of Russian diplomats within the bloc, targeting individuals allegedly working under diplomatic cover for Russian intelligence services.
The Kyiv IndependentDmytro Basmat
Russia slips the bodies of its dead soldiers into Ukraine’s swap convoys. Kyiv has received over 6,060 bodies from Moscow under the Istanbul agreements on the exchange of war dead, but many of them are not Ukrainian. Instead, Moscow is mixing in the remains of its own fallen troops, says Artur Dobroserdov, Ukraine’s Commissioner for Missing Persons, ArmyInform reports.
Russian soldiers are sometimes delivered in full uniform, alongside military ID tags, documents, and gear, making it clear, even to the naked eye, that they are not Ukrainian. Yet the identification process must be completed for every body returned.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has called the practice a stark reminder of how little human life means to the Russian state.
“Or maybe it’s just a way to avoid paying death benefits,” Klymenko claims.
The bodies are often severely mutilated, complicating identification. The process typically lasts for 13–14 months or more. If a body is visually intact, Ukraine sometimes accesses databases to identify Russian soldiers and return them to Moscow.
One particularly egregious example was Body No. 192/25, which arrived in Russian military fatigues and carried a full set of Russian documents, including a military ID, internal passport, soldier’s service ticket, and a tag marked: VS ROSSII MT-146004.
Ukrainian officials later confirmed the remains were those of Aleksandr Viktorovych Bugayev, a soldier from the 1st Battalion of Russia’s 39th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. He had gone missing near Novomykhailivka, Donetsk Oblast, in late March. His family had been searching for him for months.
Ukraine returns the bodies of Russian soldiers back to Russia.
Andrii Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office and one of the country’s most powerful officials, is drawing bipartisan frustration in Washington, further straining Ukraine’s diplomatic standing with its most crucial ally as the war with Russia rages on, according to Politico.
Politico reports that senior Trump administration officials and even former Biden administration figures have grown weary of Yermak’s conduct. The Ukrainian presidential aide, who frequently visits Washington as an intermediary for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has reportedly irritated both Republicans and Democrats with his abrasive tone, lack of knowledge about US politics, and what some perceive as an unclear diplomatic agenda.
Fourteen sources — including congressional aides, former US and Ukrainian officials — told Politico of Yermak’s increasingly problematic image in Washington. One person labeled him a “bipartisan irritator.” Others expressed concern that he might not be accurately relaying US positions back to Kyiv, further undermining the already fragile diplomatic rapport.
Hegseth confirms US diverted Ukraine’s anti-drone systems to Middle East
Yermak’s early June 2025 visit to Washington, according to five people familiar with it, was marked by scheduling issues and canceled meetings. The Trump administration appeared particularly unwilling to engage. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a scheduled meeting, although the two reportedly crossed paths at the White House. Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is said to have kept Yermak waiting before ultimately canceling their session. Vice President JD Vance’s office did not respond to a meeting request.
A White House official contradicted claims made by Yermak’s spokesperson, who said the meetings with Rubio and Wiles did take place. The official confirmed that Wiles had not met with Yermak.
Trump diplomacy’s new low: Rubio congratulates Russians on Russia Day
Despite a closed-door Senate briefing and meetings with General Keith Kellogg and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Yermak left Washington “extremely frustrated,” one source told Politico. Another described the visit as “a disaster from the Ukrainian perspective.”
Sources say Yermak, a former movie producer, continues to struggle with Washington’s political mechanics nearly six years after assuming his role. According to one source, he mistakenly believed that Ukraine’s critical minerals agreement could win it security guarantees from Trump — a notion dismissed as “ludicrous.”
In private conversations, Yermak has reportedly accused senior Trump officials, including the Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, of being Russian assets — further worsening already tense relations.
Even during the Biden presidency, frustrations with Yermak existed, Politico says. Although the administration made efforts to work closely with him, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and ex-US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink reportedly requested that Yermak not be present in some meetings with Zelenskyy — requests that Zelenskyy rejected, according to a former Ukrainian security official and a former minister.
One source told Politico that Yermak’s continued involvement could encourage Republican voices pushing to cut off US aid to Ukraine.
“All the people here who want to withdraw and abandon Ukraine are thrilled to have Yermak around,” the source said.
Russian attacks across Ukrainian regions killed two civilians and injured at least 39, including minors, over the past day, regional authorities reported on June 20.
Russian forces launched 86 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down 34 drones, while 36 disappeared from radars or were intercepted by electronic warfare.
Russia launched "massive" drone attacks against Odesa overnight, authorities reported, resulting in one civilian killed and at least 14 injured, including three emergency workers.
The attack drones struck over 10 targets, including seven residential buildings, and led to multiple large-scale fires. At the site of one of the attacks, a 23-story residential building caught fire between the 18th and 20th floors, and led to the evacuation of over 600 people.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, two men aged 39 and 64 were injured in Russian attacks, Governor Serhii Lysak said. Two industrial facilities, two schools, and four houses were damaged during strikes against the Nikopol district overnight.
In Donetsk Oblast, one person was killed and another injured in Kostiantynivka, while five others were injured elsewhere in the region, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Russian attacks against Kharkiv and eight other settlements in Kharkiv Oblast injured six people, two of them minors, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. Multiple residential buildings, houses, a school, warehouses, and other property were damaged.
In Kherson Oblast, 11 people were wounded in Russian strikes, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Seventeen houses were damaged.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk
The lower house of the Dutch parliament on June 19 officially recognized the 1944 mass deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union as genocide, according to a statement from the parliamentary press service.
The motion cited precedent from other countries that have recognized the forced deportations as genocide, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine.
In the adopted text, Dutch lawmakers declared that the Soviet-led deportation of Crimean Tatars, which took place between May 18 and 21, 1944, constitutes genocide by contemporary legal and historical definitions.
The 1944 deportation was carried out under direct orders from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who labeled the entire Crimean Tatar population as traitors following the peninsula's liberation from Nazi occupation.
Over 190,000 Tatars were forcibly removed from Crimea in a matter of days, though some estimates place the number closer to 430,000, and sent to remote areas in Central Asia, mainly Uzbekistan, in brutal conditions that led to mass deaths.
The document pointed to the ongoing repression of Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation since 2014. It said that "many Crimean Tatars have been unjustly imprisoned, subjected to torture by the Russian Federation, or forcibly disappeared," and added that "Russia has likely continued a policy of genocide against Crimean Tatars."
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed the decision, calling it "a powerful gesture of solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, who are still facing persecution under Russia’s temporary occupation of the Ukrainian Crimea peninsula."
Sybiha noted that the Netherlands is now the seventh country to formally recognize the deportation as genocide and urged other nations to follow suit.
"Recognizing this historical injustice is critical not only for establishing truth and justice, but also for preventing future atrocities," the minister wrote.
Ukraine's parliament recognized the deportation as genocide in 2015 and established May 18 as the official Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People.
The Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina
Regime change in Iran is "unacceptable" and the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would "open Pandora's box," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Sky News in an interview published June 20.
Russia, which signed a strategic partnership with Iran in January, has reportedly grown increasingly alarmed as the United States weighs deeper involvement in Israel's military campaign against Tehran.
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the option of assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei remains on the table, though he said the U.S. does not plan to act on it "for now."
The comment followed reporting that Israel had earlier proposed a plan to kill Khamenei — a proposal Trump initially rejected, according to a U.S. official cited by AP.
Peskov warned that any attempt at regime change in Tehran or threats to its leadership would "open Pandora's box," deepening instability across the Middle East and beyond.
"(Regime change in Iran) is unimaginable," Peskov said. "It should be unacceptable, even talking about that should be unacceptable for everyone." He added that the killing of Khamenei would promote extremist sentiment inside Iran and provoke unpredictable consequences.
"The situation is extremely tense and is dangerous not only for the region but globally," Peskov said. "An enlargement of the composition of the participants of the conflict is potentially even more dangerous. It will lead only to another circle of confrontation and escalation of tension in the region."
Russia has been a close regional ally of Iran, while Tehran supplied drones and ballistic missiles for Moscow's war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, Israel has maintained a delicate balance, refraining from joining Western sanctions against Moscow while condemning Iran's role in supporting Russia's war effort.
Asked on whether Moscow would respond to a possible strike against Khamenei, Peskov declined to specify, saying any reaction would come from "inside Iran."
Peskov also commented on Trump's dismissive response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to mediate between Israel and Iran. The U.S. president reportedly told Putin to "mediate your own conflict" in reference to the Russia-Ukraine war. Peskov shrugged off the remark, calling Trump's language "unique" and urging mutual tolerance.
Tensions have risen between the U.S. and Iran following a wave of Israeli air strikes on Iranian territory, beginning June 13. The attacks targeted nuclear infrastructure and senior Iranian commanders, prompting Iranian missile strikes on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
Tehran claimed that at least 224 Iranian civilians were killed on June 16, though the figures remain unverified.
Russia has offered to mediate the crisis, with Putin reportedly reaching out to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tel Aviv, according to the Kremlin, is reluctant to accept the proposal, while the EU leaders rejected it, citing Russia's aggression in Ukraine and its close military ties to Iran.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk
A large-scale Russian drone assault overnight on 20 June struck Odesa and Kharkiv, damaging residential buildings, infrastructure, and injuring at least 16 people across both cities, local authorities and the Emergency Service reported. Ukrainian air defense neutralized 70 of 86 launched drones, according to the Air Force.
Odesa mayor Hennadii Trukhanov, the State Emergency Service, and Odesa Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Kiper reported that the Russian drone attacks ignited more than ten fires across the city, with the most intense occurring at a four-story residential building. That structure was fully engulfed in flames, and emergency workers rescued three people and evacuated six more.
During the rescue operation, parts of the burning building collapsed, injuring three firefighters who were hospitalized in stable condition. In total, nine people were injured in this incident alone.
Fires were also recorded in five other residential homes and three vehicles. On the coastline, a drone crash caused a blaze that damaged recreational infrastructure. A higher education institution’s building and a gas pipeline were also struck.
Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia confirmed that the railway infrastructure at Odesa’s central station was damaged. The contact network and rail-bed structure were hit. Repair crews are already working at the site, and train traffic continues without delays.
Kharkiv experienced two separate drone attacks overnight, according to mayor Ihor Terekhov and Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Synehubov. The first strike occurred late on 19 June in the Shevchenkivskyi district. A drone hit an uninhabited new building, causing the roof to catch fire. Another impact hit a residential courtyard, damaging windows and around 50 vehicles.
The second attack targeted the Osnovianskyi district, damaging at least five detached houses and a utility structure. Fires broke out, and parts of the energy grid were affected.
According to the Kharkiv City Council’s emergency department director Bohdan Hladkykh, a 10-square-meter structure burned following the drone impact. Windows were shattered in multiple homes.
The State Emergency Service later confirmed fires at four sites across Kharkiv, including a six-story unfinished building, a utility structure, and three civilian business hangars.
Syniehubov says six drones targeted Kharkiv city, with a total of 15 Shahed-type drone strikes recorded across the region.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 86 drones from multiple directions including Millerovo, Kursk, Orel, Bryansk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, and Chauda in occupied Crimea. These included Shahed-type one-way attack drones and decoy UAVs.
Ukrainian defenses reportedly downed 70 drones—34 with kinetic weapons and 36 suppressed via electronic warfare. Despite the success rate, drone debris and remaining impacts caused destruction in at least eight locations, with falling wreckage noted in eleven areas, according to the report.
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