Russian soldiers from the 247th Air Assault Regiment in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast are deserting en masse, according to Atesh, the Crimean-Ukrainian partisan movement.

According to its reports, the highest number of desertions is occurring in one particular battalion of the regiment. The main reason is the forced conscription of residents from occupied territories, particularly Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea.

“Lawlessness, incompetent command, refusal to register reports, intimidation, and constant front-line losses only fuel the desire to flee,“ notes Atesh.

The Russian army is collapsing from within

This is not an isolated incident. Earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry sent a commission to the 1196th Motorized Rifle Regiment stationed in occupied Kherson Oblast. The reason? Soldier suicides and sabotage of watercraft. All of this signals demoralization and disintegration within the occupying forces.

Russia cynically exploits the occupied territories

The desertion of those forcibly mobilized from occupied areas once again proves: Russia doesn’t view residents of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, or Crimea as its citizens, but as cannon fodder.

Locals are conscripted by force, without basic rights — no contracts, no legal status, no rotations.
Wounds aren’t documented, discharges are ignored, and complaints lead to persecution. At the same time, occupied territories are being turned into military bases for further aggression against Ukraine. 

How much of Zaporizhzhia Oblast does Russia control?

As of August 2025, Russia controls about 60% of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Major occupied towns include Melitopol, Berdiansk, Tokmak, and Enerhodar.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar poses the largest nuclear threat in Europe. Russia has mined the facility, uses it as cover for shelling, and deploys troops there. 

A group of Ukrainian children has been evacuated from Russian-occupied territories and brought to safety in government-controlled Ukraine, according to organizations Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine.

The children endured systematic persecution for maintaining their Ukrainian identity while living under occupation.

“15-year-old Maria courageously defended her Ukrainian identity – she wore vyshyvanka to Russian school, argued with teachers about Ukraine. For this, classmates called her ‘ukropka,’ bullied and beat her, and teachers wrote denunciations and threatened her mother with deprivation of parental rights,” Bring Kids Back UA reported.

Four-year-old Milana and eight-year-old Sashko lived in occupied territories with their mother and grandmother. The women faced constant threats that children would be taken away if they refused to attend Russian schools. Authorities forced the children’s mother to obtain Russian documents while subjecting the grandmother to polygraph interrogation. Milana, who has a disability requiring medication, suffered as her family struggled to find necessary medicines under occupation.

Another evacuated teenager faced interrogation for online activity. “15-year-old Lina was interrogated for 6 hours straight for a pro-Ukrainian comment on social media, had her phone confiscated and was threatened with arrest by local ‘police.’ After that, the girl was afraid that she was being watched and that one day she would be forcibly sent to a so-called Russian ‘reeducation camp,'” the rescue organization wrote.

Seventeen-year-old Semen fled occupation to avoid conscription into Russian forces. He decided not to wait until adulthood after witnessing classmates forced into Russian military service despite their young age. Military commissariat representatives had already visited Semen’s home, threatening fines and physical violence for failing to appear when summoned.

The evacuation represents part of ongoing efforts to return Ukrainian children from occupied territories, where previous groups have been rescued despite facing pressure while studying online in Ukrainian schools.

Ukrainians suffer from dehydration and violence. In Donetsk Oblast, residents face catastrophic water shortages, with no supply to homes for up to three days at a time, 24 Channel reports. 

Military expert Roman Svitan explains that water was once pumped from the Khanzhonkivske Reservoir to Donetsk, and from there it was distributed across the region. But Russians destroyed the facility back in 2022. The pumps capable of moving millions of tons of water were completely demolished. This was the water that sustained all of Donbas, all the way to Mariupol. 

Russians also supplied civilians with technical water, primarily used in steel plants. As a result, the region’s main water artery, the Khanzhonkivske Reservoir, has now completely dried up.

As the situation in Donetsk becomes critical, many settlers from Russia are simply returning home. Sadly, Ukrainians who remain in the occupied territories will be forced to continue struggling for survival, Svitan adds.

“Today, genocide is being carried out not only through weapons but also through dehydration. This is a war crime for which Moscow must stand trial at the International Court,” he claims.

These are not the only crimes committed by Russian forces in the region. In one shocking incident in Donetsk, Russian soldier Azat Sufiyanov from Bashkortostan broke into an elderly woman’s home, brutally beat her, and attempted to rape her. The man has a criminal record and had deserted his military unit.

In 2023, Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Reservoir, including the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. This act has been recognized as a terrorist attack and the largest environmental crime to date, triggering a man-made disaster of global scale.

The destruction of the dam released more than 18 cubic kilometers of water, causing massive flooding in dozens of settlements, including the city of Kherson, and leading to the deaths of thousands.

For their love for Ukraine, Tigran and Mykyta paid the highest price, their lives. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree awarding the Order of Freedom to 16-year-olds Tigran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanganov, Ukrainian teenagers killed by Russian soldiers in occupied Berdiansk.

After the full-scale invasion and occupation of the city, the boys stayed home. They were friends, and both openly supported the Ukrainian cause.

Ohannisian was repeatedly persecuted by the occupying authorities: he was abducted from his home, tortured, abused, subjected to electric shocks, and mock executions. He was arrested, beaten, and forced into silence.

Khanganov was targeted for arrest as early as October 2022. The occupiers interrogated him and his father, fabricated a case accusing him of “railway sabotage,” and searched their home. He was charged with a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Russia.

In 2023, both boys were accused of “preparing sabotage.” Tigran was interrogated and tortured for five days as the occupiers tried to force a confession.

The European Parliament passed a resolution demanding the release of Tigran and Mykyta, but the occupiers ignored the calls of the international community. On 24 June 2023, Russian forces executed the boys.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that Russia still refuses to return their bodies to the parents or to Ukraine. Available information suggests the occupiers buried the teenagers in secret, without notifying the families.

Russia moves to erase Ukrainian language from schools in occupied Ukrainian territories, the UK Ministry of Defense reported in its 18 July 2025 intelligence update. A draft order from Russia’s Education Ministry outlines plans to eliminate Ukrainian from school curricula starting September 2025. The Ministry justifies the move by citing an allegedly “changed geopolitical situation.”

Kremlin prepares to ban Ukrainian in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson schools

The draft order will primarily affect children in Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, where Ukrainian has remained a mandatory subject despite the occupation. Under the new plan, schools will no longer be allowed to teach Ukrainian as part of the core curriculum. The order also reportedly reduces the study of Ukrainian literature to a minimal level, further cutting off cultural education.

Long-term effort to eliminate Ukrainian identity

The UK Ministry of Defense reported:

“This follows reported long-term Russian efforts to reduce and eliminate the Ukrainian language in schools in other illegally occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, whilst Russia’s President Putin has simultaneously repeatedly demanded protections for the Russian language within unoccupied territories of Ukraine.”

Cultural cleansing through education policy

The UK Ministry of Defense reports that the Russian Education Ministry’s plans mark “a further addition” to the Kremlin’s “long-standing Russification policy” in occupied Ukrainian territory — a campaign that seeks to “extirpate Ukrainian culture, identity, and statehood.”

A Ukrainian female political prisoner has spoken out about brutal torture in Russian captivity. Journalist Iryna Danylovych has appealed to the European Parliament, asking to pay attention to the terrible conditions in Russian Women’s Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk, Zmina reports. 

Danylovych’s relatives have delivered the appeal to Pina Picierno, the Vice-President of the European Parliament. 

The Ukrainian woman describes the colony as “an endless hell.” At night, the Russians never turn the lights off, making it impossible to sleep even with a blindfold. Every day, loud equipment operates in the barracks for several hours, which is especially difficult for her due to chronic ear inflammation, which goes untreated there.

Prisoners are also forced to stand outside for hours in cold and bad weather.

The journalist calls on the European community and Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova to intervene in the situation.

Before her arrest, Iryna defended the rights of medical workers in Crimea and reported on violations in healthcare. In 2022, she was abducted by FSB agents, held in a basement without a lawyer, and later sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of possessing explosives.

Earlier, 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier Valentyn Marynych came back home from 36 months in Russian captivity. He said Russian troops beat him with rebar, bricks, knuckledusters, belts, fists, and boots during regular runs through crowds of occupiers. 

Active fighting is still taking place around the village of Shevchenko in Donetsk Oblast, home to one of Ukraine's largest lithium deposits, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces told the Kyiv Independent on June 27, denying reports Russia had occupied the village.

Earlier on June 26, Russia'a Defense Ministry said it had captured Shevchenko along with another other small settlements in the Velyka Novosilka region of the oblast, as Russian troops continue to push along all areas of the front line.

The spokesperson said that while Russian forces had pushed out Ukrainian soldiers on June 26, the situation is constantly evolving and subject to change several times a day.

"This is one of the two most intense directions right now," Viktor Trehubov, the spokesperson, told the Kyiv Independent.

According to the Ukrainian Geological Survey, the Shevchenkivske deposit covers nearly 40 hectares (98 acres) on the eastern outskirts of Shevchenko. Exact data on the Shevchenkivske deposit's lithium reserves are classified, but it's considered one of the most promising.

The deposit's main reserves consist of lithium ores, but it also contains other rare elements such as rubidium, cesium, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, and tin.

Ukraine is home to 20 of the world's critical minerals and metals like titanium used in the aerospace and defense industries and lithium, an essential component of electric vehicle batteries.

The U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, signed April 30, specifically mentions lithium as one of the mineral resources that both parties could profit from extracting.

Despite the deposit's relatively small size, it could be operated by a single mine, which could make extraction more efficient, according to a Ukrainian Geological Survey data.

The survey classifies the deposit in the highest complexity category of three possible levels, which could complicate development.

According to KSE, Ukraine holds one-third of the European Union's lithium reserves and approximately 3% of global lithium reserves.

Putin under pressure to declare war on Ukraine, but experts say Russia isn’t ready

Despite suffering over 1 million casualties, pounding Ukrainian cities nightly with missiles and drones, and committing countless war crimes, one startling fact about Russia’s full-scale invasion remains — Moscow has yet to officially declare war on Ukraine. In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin described what he believed was going to be a swift victory and the capture of Kyiv within days as a “special military operation.” Nearly three-and-a-half years later, the Kremlin is stuck

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Ukraine is preparing to request European Union sanctions against Bangladeshi entities over importing wheat stolen from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, Ukraine's ambassador to India told Reuters.

In comments for Reuters published on June 27, Oleksandr Polishchuk said that Bangladesh had failed to respond to Ukrainian diplomatic appeals to stop the trade, prompting Kyiv to escalate the matter to the EU level.

"It's a crime," Polishchuk told Reuters. "We will share our investigation with our European Union colleagues, and we will kindly ask them to take the appropriate measures."

Russian forces have seized millions of tons of Ukrainian grain from occupied areas, with at least 180,000 tons looted through the port of Mariupol alone, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in October 2024.

The grain theft from occupied territories began in 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine and continued after the full-scale invasion launched in 2022.

The Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi sent multiple letters to Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry this year, requesting rejection of more than 150,000 tonnes of grain allegedly stolen and shipped from the Russian port of Kavkaz, according to documents reviewed by Reuters, shared by people familiar with the matter.

According to Polishchuk, Ukrainian intelligence showed that entities in Russia mask grain obtained from occupied Ukrainian territories by mixing it with Russian wheat before shipping it to other countries.

Bangladesh's Food Ministry, in comments to Reuters, denied the imports, saying that they banned grain deliveries originating from occupied Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine's agricultural sector has suffered approximately $80 billion in losses due to Russia's full-scale invasion, Agriculture Minister Vitalii Koval said in February.

The losses include direct damage, disrupted logistics, higher fertilizer and fuel costs, land reclamation expenses, demining costs, and impacts from occupied territories.

Amid relentless Russian strikes, Ukraine’s businesses rebuild alone

It took firefighters two days to extinguish the flames at Oleksiy Tarnopolskiy’s warehouse in Kyiv after a Russian attack on June 10. Nothing inside could be saved from his tea and coffee business. Tarnopolskiy arrived on site to an “apocalyptic” scene at 5 a.m., one hour after a Russian

The Kyiv IndependentDominic Culverwell

Ukrainian drones struck air defense equipment in Russian-occupied Crimea, damaging radar units and components of the S-400 Triumph system, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) claimed on June 26.

The drone strike was carried out by the agency's "Ghosts" unit, HUR said. Video footage of the operation published on HUR's official Telegram channel shows the trajectory of multiple drones as they approach and hit their targets.

The attack damaged "critical and expensive components" of Russia's S-400 Triumph air defense system, including two 92N2E multifunctional control radars, two 91N6E detection radars, and an S-400 launcher, according to HUR.

"Radars are the 'eyes' of the enemy's air defense system. Without them, anti-aircraft systems become combat ineffective," HUR wrote.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.

Earlier this month, the Atesh partisan group reported that a Ukrainian drone attack hit Russian military facilities near Simferopol. The group claimed on June 13 that Ukrainian drone attacks likely hit a Russian air defense system.

Ukraine has previously carried out successful attacks on S-400 radar systems in Crimea and other regions, including Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Kyiv regularly launches strikes on military and industrial targets in both Russia and Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

Russia has illegally occupied Crimea since 2014, transforming the peninsula into a heavily militarized stronghold. Moscow uses the region to support its war in Ukraine, launching missiles from the Black Sea and exploiting the peninsula as a key logistics and transport hub.

The Kerch Airport in Crimea has also been repurposed from civilian to military use, with Moscow-backed proxies transferring part of the airport's land to the Russian Defense Ministry in spring 2025, according to an investigation by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe.

Ukraine war latest: Russia’s advance in Sumy Oblast ‘halted’; Kyiv, Moscow carry out POW swap

Key developments on June 26: * “50,000 Russian troops pinned down” — Ukraine halts advance in Sumy Oblast, summer offensive “faltering,” Syrskyi says * Ukraine, Russia conduct new POW swap under Istanbul deal * North Korea likely to send more troops to Russia by August, South Korea says * Explosions reported in Moscow, Russia

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

A lion has attacked collaborator Oleg Zubkov at the Taigan Safari Park he founded in Russian-occupied Crimea, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel reported on June 22.

Zubkov is a businessman who renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and began cooperating with the Russian authorities following Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014

He also smuggled animals from zoos in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

During an evening feeding, Zubkov was attacked by a lion which tore his trachea, neck, and chest muscles with its claws. He managed to leave the lion's enclosure but then lost consciousness.

As a result of the attack, Zubkov lost a significant amount of blood and was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Simferopol, Crimea.

Zubkov regained consciousness on June 23 after surgery, and his condition is described as stable.

This is not the first time lions at the Taigan Safari Park have attacked its staff. In 2024, three lions killed Leokadia Perevalova while she was cleaning an enclosure. Perevalova had worked at the park for 17 years.

Russia pulls its scientists out of Iranian nuclear plant, as Israeli strikes threaten decades of collaboration

Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have alarmed none more than Russia, the country that first brought nuclear power to Iran in defiance of Western objections. We’re “millimeters from catastrophe,” said Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on June 18 in response to a bombing campaign that Israel launched against Iran on June 13. Decades of conflict with the West have united Iran and Russia, despite a cultural gulf between the two nations that dwarfs the Caspian Sea that physically di

The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post

Arkady Gostev, head of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for creating a network of torture chambers in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced on June 19.

Gostev was found guilty of orchestrating the transformation of captured Ukrainian prisons into torture sites used to detain and brutalize members of the local resistance. The SBU said victims were subjected to "brutal torture" intended to break their will and force submission to the Kremlin rule.

According to investigators, Gostev personally oversaw the establishment of torture facilities and pushed for their inclusion in Russia's national prison registry through the Justice Ministry.

The court ruled he committed "actions aimed at violently changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power."

"Comprehensive measures are being taken to bring him to justice for crimes against our state," the SBU said, noting that Gostev remains in Russia.

Kherson Oblast, which stretches from the Dnipro River to the Black Sea, remains partially occupied, with the east-bank territories still under Russian control.

Gostev joins a growing list of senior Russian officials charged in absentia with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the administration of occupied territories.

Ukraine has also targeted collaborators working with the occupation authorities.

On June 18, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) confirmed the assassination of Mykhailo Hrytsai, a Russian-appointed deputy mayor in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, for his role in organizing repression and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

‘Beyond cynical’ – Russian doctor carved ‘Glory to Russia’ scar on POW during operation, Ukraine says

After more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, each new revelation of cruel treatment of Ukrainians in Russian captivity hardly surprises anyone. But when a photo recently emerged online, showing a “Glory to Russia” scar on the body of a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), it sent shockwaves

The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko