Russia kills 13, injures 67 in Ukraine as its forces launched sweeping air and ground attacks on civilian areas across at least nine oblasts overnight, according to reports from local administrations. Drones, missiles, artillery, and guided bombs hit cities, villages, homes, schools, farms, and shops—leaving behind a trail of dead, injured, and destroyed infrastructure.

Kharkiv: Explosive drones hit homes and schools, injure 27, other attacks injure five others

In Kharkiv, Russian drones struck the Shevchenkivskyi and Slobidskyi districts around 05:30 on 7 July, hitting high-rise buildings, schools, and a kindergarten. As of 07:50, 27 civilians were confirmed injured, including three children aged 3, 7, and 11, according to Kharkiv Oblast head Oleh Syniehubov and city mayor Ihor Terekhov. An eighth-floor apartment caught fire. A shop and other civilian buildings also suffered significant damage. Syniehubov said Russia used four Shahed explosive drones in the attack.

The broader regional figure includes three civilians injured in Kupiansk—a 73-year-old woman, a 67-year-old woman, and a 56-year-old man. In the village of Ternova, part of Lypetska community, an explosion from an unknown device injured two men aged 68 and 75.

Additionally, Suspilne reported two explosions this morning in the Chuhuiv community, Kharkiv Oblast. Syniehubov later confirmed that two Russian missile strikes hit the area, damaging civilian infrastructure. The full extent of damage was still being assessed.

Odesa: One killed in nighttime strike

In Odesa, a Russian Shahed drone attack killed one person and damaged garages, a car service building, and vehicles, according to regional authorities. 

Donetsk Oblast: Seven civilians killed in one day

According to Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, Russian forces killed seven civilians on 6 July—four in Kostiantynivka, two in Druzhkivka, and one in Novohryhorivka. Another 15 people were wounded in the oblast the same day.

Kherson: Drone kills driver, previous attacks kill two other civilians

The Kherson Oblast Military Administration says that between 06:00 on 6 July and 06:00 on 7 July, Russian aggression killed 2 civilians and injured 9 others across the oblast. 

Later this morning, Russian forces launched new attacks, killing another civilian and injuring two more.

A Russian drone strike hit a tractor near Beryslav, killing the driver on the spot, the regional prosecutor’s office said. In a separate artillery attack on a residential house in Nadezhdivka, Bilozerska community, a 19-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman were wounded. According to the Oblast Military Administration, both sustained explosive injuries and contusions; the man also suffered shrapnel wounds to the back and leg.

Sumy: FPV drones kill two

The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that nearly 90 Russian strikes hit 38 settlements between 6 and 7 July. In Sumy community, two civilians were killed and one injured in Russian FPV drone strikes. Another person was injured in Khotinska community.

The attacks reportedly included 30 VOG munition drops from drones, 20 KAB bomb strikes, and missile attacks.

Dnipro: Five wounded, school set ablaze

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast head Serhii Lysak said five civilians were injured overnight. In Nikopol and Marhanets communities, Russia’s artillery and drone attacks injured a 66-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man. Two one-family homes were damaged, and a fire broke out in a preparatory school. In Malomykhailivska community, three more civilians—a woman and two men—were injured, and fires were reported in homes and a dining hall.

Zaporizhzhia: Hundreds of drone and artillery strikes

The Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration reported that Russian forces used 378 drones—mostly FPV—to attack multiple towns, including Huliaipole, Kamyanske, and Mala Tokmachka.

Two civilians were injured in Vasylivskyi and Polohy districts. The oblast also saw six airstrikes, 152 artillery attacks, and MLRS fire.

Read the follow-up:

Russia floods Ukraine with 1,270 drones and nearly 1,000 bombs in a week—“We need air defense now,” Zelenskyy says

Overnight on 3 July, Russia launched a massive drone attack across Ukraine, hitting multiple civilian locations including a residential building in Odesa, injuring five people—among them two children. The Ukrainian Air Force says air defenses have downed 40 of 52 Russian Shahed and decoy drones. At the same time, Russia continues its “human safari” in Kherson: a Russian drone dropped explosives, injuring a civilian man this morning. 

Russia conducts drone and missile attacks against Ukrainian residential areas every night.

Mass drone assault across Ukraine

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, the Russian military deployed 52 drones—mostly Iranian-made Shahed strike UAVs along with decoy drones—from the directions of Oryol, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia. The attack began around 21:30 on 2 July and continued into the early hours of 3 July.

Ukrainian air defenses reportedly neutralized 40 of the drones: 22 were shot down by firepower, and 18 were suppressed or lost through electronic warfare.

The Air Force confirmed drone impacts in seven separate locations and the fall of downed drones in at least one additional area.

Odesa: civilians injured, high-rise damaged

In Odesa, one of the most heavily affected cities, a Russian drone strike damaged a nine-story residential building. The State Emergency Service (DSNS) of Odesa Oblast report that the fire spread across apartments on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors.

Five people were injured in the strike, including a seven-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl. The Odesa Oblast Military Administration stated that the children were hospitalized with smoke inhalation, while the other three victims received outpatient care.

Rescue teams evacuated 50 residents from the damaged building, including 11 people from the upper floors. DSNS spokesperson Maryna Averina confirmed the collapse of structural elements, and that specialized equipment is being used to monitor the building for further risks.

Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that significant damage was observed in at least one entrance of the high-rise, adding that a full assessment will follow after emergency crews remove dangerous debris.

According to the Odesa Oblast Military Administration, six apartments were destroyed, 36 more were partially damaged, and other civilian infrastructure in the area also sustained impact.

Update: Poltava targeted

On the morning of 3 July, Poltava came under a Russian air attack, with local media reporting a strike on the so-called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center – the regional draft office.

Poltava Oblast Military Administration head Volodymyr Kohut reported an air raid alert at 08:04 and the all-clear at 09:04. Between those times, he confirmed explosions in the city but gave no further details.

Local Telegram channel “We Poltava” said the building of the draft office was likely hit, sharing footage from the site. No casualties have been reported so far.

Kherson: Russian reconnaissance drone attacks civilian

In Kherson, Russian drones continued their ongoing pattern of deliberately targeting civilians, known as “human safari.” The Kherson Oblast State Administration reported that early in the morning, a drone struck a 74-year-old man in the Dniprovskiy District. The victim sustained an explosive injury, concussion, and shrapnel wounds to his face and leg. He was hospitalized in moderate condition.

Air defense activity in Zaporizhzhia

At 02:20, air defense systems were active in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. This was confirmed by the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov. No additional details were given regarding damage or injuries in that oblast at the time.

I took a step forward to photograph the piano for her, then stopped, remembering that everything around was mined.

The Palace of Culture in Kherson looked like a torn Japanese divider—translucent sheets on a lattice frame, light filtering through squares.

A grand piano loomed in the dusk. A few hours ago, my friend Alyona, in tears, showed me the video of this piano in flames—she used to play it as a little girl.

#Kherson A piano in flames in a city arts center after a Russian aerial bomb attack this morning.

A dancer I am interviewing now is heartbroken: she spent her childhood here. pic.twitter.com/7DYjFsVkCf

— Zarina Zabrisky (@ZarinaZabrisky) September 25, 2024

Like many Khersonians, Alyona survived nine months of Russian occupation, lost her house in the flood, but rarely showed emotion. Yet now, she wept.

The dark stage in the amphitheater once hosted dance recitals, chorus competitions, and rock concerts. Now, it was a minefield.

A blue-green ballet studio with broken bars and shattered mirrors was once filled with little ballerinas in pink tutus. Now, it was infested with banned anti-infantry mines with the deceptively beautiful name—”Petals.”

Walking through the remains of the Palace of Culture was not just soul-crushing and glass-crashing. It was deadly.

I stepped outside and heard the drone buzzing. Russian killer drones swept back and forth, like angry wasps. They dropped grenades, homemade explosives, incendiary devices, and “Petals.”

I ducked under a tree to wait for the drone to fly toward the Dnipro River, back to the Russian pilot’s nest on the occupied bank.

#Kherson #DroneAttacks and aerial bombs.

Reporting from the bombed arts center—had a close call at the end, taking cover under a tree from a Russian drone.

At least 6 injured by #DroneAttacks today.

Right now, Kherson suburbs are attacked by aerial bombs. pic.twitter.com/68CiQEEYB2

— Zarina Zabrisky (@ZarinaZabrisky) September 25, 2024

In an hour, a message flashed on my phone: an EOD lost his foot demining the site. Volodymyr Perepylytsia, head of explosive services for the National Police in Kherson Oblast, spoke to me before, telling me PFM-1 anti-personnel mines, “look like fallen leaves. If you step on them, you lose a limb.”

He was now at the hospital, in need of a blood transfusion.

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How do you measure impossible?

How hard is EOD in Kherson? On a scale of 0 to 100, Volodymyr gives it a thousand. Still, he and his team keep going.

A few months later, Volodymyr is back to demining, and I speak to him about that day.

Hunted by a Russian drone, he also had to hide under the tree. He knew that it could be mined, and, of two evils, he chose the lesser one.

Trained to provide first aid, he applied the tourniquet to himself while he waited for the team to rescue him.

Russian drones continued to patrol the sky over the Palace of Culture, aiming for the “double tap” to attack the first responders.

“I was thinking about my wife, my son, my loved ones. It helped,” said Volodymyr.

“And now? I lost my foot, but I can still do my job. I don’t see my life outside of service, outside of defending my country. I volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2014, when the war began. As long as I can walk, breathe, and talk, I will be in the defense forces.”

Once sappers arrive to demine, they are targeted by drones and artillery. Civilians passing through are also hit. EOD teams face the possibility of being struck mid-defusal, with unstable explosives literally in their hands.

Russian forces continue to evolve their tactics, said Volodymyr. Munitions and drones are now fitted with motion and seismic sensors, touch activation, and remote radio signals. No two devices are the same.  Remote-controlled explosive devices (RCEDs) present a growing concern.

Drones deliver munitions embedded with radio-controlled detonators. These devices may fall or land, then explode, activated by a remote trigger.

Ukrainian EOD teams continue operating under direct fire and risking their lives to clear explosives in civilian areas, but the accident forced the sappers to rethink safety.

“What’s more important: demining or the EOD life? Should the operation proceed urgently, or can it wait?” said Volodymyr.

The decision to enter a location no longer depends solely on the presence of mines or explosive hazards—it hinges on real-time evaluation of Russian drone activity.

Before deployment, teams assess the drone threat level. If there are red flags, operations may be delayed or aborted.

When civilians report suspicious items in parks, yards, or homes, EOD’s responses are calculated. If a drone carrying a 5–6 kg payload is active in the area, demining may be postponed.

The immediate response could destroy nearby homes and kill civilians. Residents often understand the risk and agree to wait.

Along the Dnipro River, demining efforts mean near-certain death due to multiple threats, such as mines underfoot, the presence of aerial bombs, and strike drones above.

“It is an art,” Volodymyr says.

What kind of person volunteers to defuse bombs?

Another EOD won’t give his call names for the interview: the EODs are on the Russian military top priority hit list. Athletic, tall, face calm, my interlocutor goes by “Sapper.”

“It’s like a game, full of surprises, thrills, and traps,” he says. “I love it. The challenges. The rush of adrenaline.”

His eyes are glittering with excitement, and he sounds like a theater director staging an avant-garde play. He echoes Volodymyr’s point,

“A lot of it is art. The art of improvisation. And a lot of it is psychology: To be successful, an EOD expert must think like the adversary. What could be mined? What is it?”

“Our task is to disarm bombs—and not blow up in the process,” a Kherson sapper told me in an interview. “Watch The Hurt Locker to understand about sappers.”

The Hollywood film showed an EOD operator in full gear with a squad backing him up. In Ukraine and in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, sapper work might look less sci-fi—but the same level of nerve, precision, and trust is a must.

The Sapper lights a cigarette and shows me the lighter, then points at my power bank and my cell phone.

“Could be any of this. Or—is it your laptop? A discarded Sprite can?” he says.

“Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) could be hidden in rubble and then detonated as booby-traps or remotely, by phone. Good EODs recognize each other by their signature style. We can identify the distinctive traits of the explosives maker. Like serial killers, each ordnance maker has his own signature style, rituals, and habits. You read wires’ length and attachments.”

The Kherson EOD team, for instance, knows there are four instructors training Russians on the other side of the river. Their students adopt their signature style, with slight modifications.

–How do you learn to be an EOD?

–I started as a teenager. Basic knowledge, a good teacher, and plenty of experience are essential. Many learn from the Internet, but you have to be careful as it is a minefield of its own, full of traps, with many misleading YouTube manuals for making explosives.

–How does your typical day go?

–A phone call from the residents. A drone attack. I need to drive to the location, but it is not straightforward. Often, another Russian drone follows me or waits for me there. I carry a Kalashnikov to shoot it down. A hunter rifle would be better, as it fires with a spread of pebbles, but it’s $300. I can’t afford that. Both AK and hunter rifle shoot only as far as 75 meters. Drones fly at 120 meters above the ground. If it flies lower—around 30 meters—it is a kamikaze drone. Means an imminent attack.

With drone attacks intensifying, EOD experts in Kherson must possess extraordinary combat stress resistance. Since spring 2024, Russian drones have targeted the coastal areas and suburbs of Kherson, and by May 2025, they’ve reached the city’s central and previously considered “safe” districts.

Mavic drones can cover distances of up to 15 km, carrying up to 600 grams, while FPV drones can travel up to 19 km, depending on their load, with the capacity to carry up to 4 kg of explosives.

Both types often carry retransmitter devices, which extend their range or help bypass obstacles like terrain or interference. The larger the battery, the further the drone can fly, but it sacrifices explosive payload.

Once the Sapper manages to arrive at the site, he needs to determine whether the suspect device—an FPV drone or explosives—had detonated. He needs to think critically and confront the issue before it becomes uncontrollable. The Russians disguise ordnance as home appliances and trash.

 If the device did not detonate, the Sapper’s task is to neutralize the ordnance. If it did, he often has to sift through the rubble and body parts to establish what kind of drone and ordnance were used.

“You must have high combat stress resistance,” says the Sapper. “Seeing dozens of killed children is not good for your mental health.”

This deadly expertise comes at a price. Chris “Swampy” Garrett, a British Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) expert, was killed on 6 May 2025 during a demining mission near Izium.

In Ukraine since 2014, Swampy joined the Azov Regiment as an instructor and co-founded Prevail Together, a nonprofit focused on mine clearance, medical aid, and risk education. His death underscores the daily risks faced by Ukraine’s sappers—technicians tasked with disarming mines and unexploded ordnance.

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How the game keeps changing

Mavic drones are primarily used for reconnaissance but occasionally drop fragmentation grenades (VOGs), which cause shrapnel injuries, mostly to limbs, but rarely fatal.

FPV drones, however, are used as kamikaze drones or to drop explosives, including both industrially manufactured munitions and improvised incendiary devices (IIDs), often resembling “collars on dogs.”

In addition to standard munitions, the Russian military deploys incendiary devices, such as napalm mixtures produced during the Soviet era. IIDs with such mixtures explode on impact, igniting fires.

Soviet-made K51 chemical grenades with toxic substances have been dropped in Antonivka, causing respiratory burns. The most lethal of these are the fragmentation munitions.

Thermobaric grenade. Image from Russian manual

Smoke bomb. Image from Russian manual

There are also innovative devices, like magnetic target sensors that detonate when metal comes close. If civilians attempt to dispose of ordnance with a spade, these devices can trigger an explosion. Such munitions can be disguised as household items or waste, like a can of Sprite found in Antonivka.

Additionally, grenades from underbarrel grenade launchers are sometimes converted into mini aerial bombs. Each new improvised explosive device presents a unique puzzle—and an ever-deadlier risk. With AI now being incorporated, the challenges for EOD experts in Ukraine continue to evolve.

Hi, I’m Zarina, a frontline reporter for Euromaidan Press and the author of this piece. We aim to shed light on some of the world’s most important yet underreported stories. Help us make more articles like this by becoming a Euromaidan Press patron.

The threat now also includes sabotage and suicide-style attacks. A new tactic has emerged, with Russian special forces recruiting or coercing Ukrainian civilians into becoming saboteurs. Explosives are hidden in bags or parcels and left in public areas. In some cases, individuals detonate themselves, knowingly or unknowingly.

These nations, facing direct threats from a neighbor unconstrained by humanitarian law, have chosen military necessity over international idealism.

Still, the sappers keep going. They rely on shared knowledge, sharp instincts, and their love of the work. As Volodymyr puts it, knowing the scale of danger he faces every day: “My motivation is victory in the war against the invader.”

Even in the water

Ukraine deploys demining drones to break Russia’s Dnipro wall

Yale University’s research has found that Russia planned a quick victory and the russification of Ukrainian children. But after failing, it began using them as hostages. Experts estimate that about 35,000 Ukrainian children are still considered missing. They are likely being held in Russia or in territories occupied by Russia, and attempts to bring them back often remain unsuccessful, according to The Guardian. 

In 2022, when Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine, they abducted children from orphanages or forcibly took them directly from families.

In an interview with The Guardian, a Ukrainian woman named Natalia told how she managed to rescue her two sons, who were held for almost six months in a camp in the Russian city of Anapa.

To retrieve her children after the de-occupation of Kherson, she had to arrange documents for them in Ukraine and then travel to Russia. She spent six days on the road under shelling, where she finally got her children back.

However, this story is rather an exception. According to the Ukrainian organization Bring Kids Back, only 1,366 children have so far returned or escaped to Ukraine from Russia. There are concerns that many of the children kidnapped by Russians were sent to military camps or foster families. Returned children have reported undergoing military training in camps, being punished for speaking Ukrainian, and being forced to learn the Russian national anthem.

Daria Kasyanova, head of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, which campaigns for the repatriation of abducted children, said that children are also made to believe their parents will suffer consequences if they do not comply.

Activists and researchers emphasize that the forcible deportation and stealing of Ukrainian children is not a new phenomenon. According to Kasyanova, she witnessed similar kidnappings and deportations during Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

The return of the children remains a key demand of Ukraine in any peace negotiations. However, Raymond says the Russians use children as bargaining chips.

“When Russians started out, they thought they were going to be victorious quickly… But because things started to go south quickly, they had to move their propaganda from the liability concealment phase to using these children as hostages to be leveraged in the negotiations,” he explains. 

Apart from stealing children from occupied territories, Russia continues daily strikes on hospitals, maternity houses, kindergartens, schools, and playgrounds.

Russia has always made art and culture highly politicized, using past accomplishments as reflections of its power, says Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, according to Ukrinform.

Gelb is convinced: those who believe that art and culture are separate from politics are mistaken.

He emphasizes that art and culture are politics, and Russia has always been the country that has politicized them the most. 

He notes that art is a symbol and expression of civilization, whereas Russia has treated it as a propaganda tool, using its past achievements, its ballerinas, and its stars as a projection of Russian cultural power.

In contrast, Gelb believes it is vital to support Ukrainian artists. He explains his ongoing engagement, including the creation of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, as part of an effort to ensure Ukrainians feel supported by the world, especially in moments when they may feel isolated.

That is one of the reasons behind his visit to Ukraine this week: to meet with First Lady Olena Zelenska and discuss various cultural initiatives.

Earlier, The Royal Opera House in London became the center of a scandal after announcing the program for its new cinema season.

London’s Royal Opera House chooses Putin’s ally to open new season, while Russia’s war kills 208 artists in Ukraine

In it, Anna Netrebko, a Russian opera diva known for her support of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and Russian soldiers and collaborators, will play the lead role in the Tosca performance.

Netrebko, a trusted figure in Putin’s election campaigns, is included in Ukraine’s sanctions list and is also listed in the Myrotvorets database as an accomplice to the occupiers during the Donbas war.

Russian forces continue their daily terror attacks on the frontline regions, causing civilian casualties and damaging or destroying homes, schools, and hospitals.

On the night of 26 June, Russia launched deployed 41 Shahed strike drones and other unmanned aircraft, with Ukrainian air defenses intercepting 24 of them, according to Ukraine’s Air Forces.

Eight drones were destroyed by conventional weapons, while 16 others were either lost through location tracking or neutralized using electronic warfare systems. Despite the defensive efforts, enemy drones struck seven locations across Ukraine.

Russia hits residential building in Donetsk Oblast

The most severe incident occurred at 2:00 a.m. on 26 June in Bilozerske, Donetsk Oblast, where a Russian Geran-2 drone struck a five-story residential building, according to the Donetsk Oblast prosecutor’s office. The impact ignited a fire and wounded five civilians, including a teenager.

Medical personnel diagnosed the casualties with blast injuries, bruises, shrapnel wounds, closed fractures and abrasions, and all received medical treatment.

The attack damaged three apartment buildings and seven vehicles in the settlement.

Shelling in frontline Kherson never stops

In Kherson, Russian forces shelled the Dniprovskyi district, injuring a 64-year-old woman whose condition medical officials characterized as light, according to the regional military administration.

Separate morning shelling in Kherson’s Korabelny district damaged a city council building, educational institutions and medical facilities.

Kherson also experiences “drone safari” when the Russians hunt and attack civilians using drones that drop grenades, bombs, and antipersonnel landmines.

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Russian drones terrorize Kherson civilians with “human safari”

Death toll from Dnipro attack climbs again

Meanwhile, casualty figures continued rising from a 24 June Russian missile attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast military administration announced that fatalities from the strikes had increased to 22 people, with 20 deaths in Dnipro city and two additional deaths in Samar.

The attack targeted infrastructure, educational and medical institutions, administrative buildings, emergency services facilities and a passenger train carrying over 500 people in Dnipro.

Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov described the assault as “probably one of the most brazen strikes” on the city during the full-scale war.

On 26 June, Russian forces also conducted sustained attacks on the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, employing heavy artillery, FPV drones, and aerial munitions dropped from unmanned aircraft.

The attacks ignited a fire at a local cafe and caused damage to critical infrastructure, an industrial facility, three private residences, two farm buildings, and a vehicle. Explosions were also reported in the Dniprovskyi district, where damage occurred at a recreational area.

Despite the extensive property damage across both districts, authorities confirmed no civilian casualties resulted from the overnight attacks.

Russian forces conducted a massive combined attack on Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure and civilian areas, with the most damage reported in Poltava and Kherson oblasts.

The attack on 21 June involved 272 drones and 8 missiles against Ukraine, with Ukrainian defenders neutralizing 260 Russian aerial targets, according to the Air Force of the Armes Forces of Ukraine.

Russia targets energy infrastructure in Poltava

The missile and drone attack on Poltava resulted in direct hits and falling debris on energy facilities and open territory, according to acting head of Poltava Oblast Military Administration Volodymyr Kohut.

One person sustained moderate injuries in the strikes, while rescue teams continue working to address the aftermath.

Both private homes and apartment buildings were damaged, with windows blown out and window frames destroyed. The shelling also damaged residents’ vehicles throughout the area.

Poltava Oblast police warned that cluster munition elements have been discovered across the targeted area following the overnight bombardment. These metallic spheres, measuring approximately 10 centimeters in diameter, pose lethal risks to both adults and children due to their resemblance to toys or balls.

Civilians suffer from daily attacks on Kherson close to frontline

In Kherson Oblast, Russian forces targeted 20 settlements over a 24-hour period, according to regional administration head Oleksandr Prokudin.

The Kherson attacks damaged two high-rise buildings, 14 private houses, utility structures, a garage, and civilian vehicles. Seven people were wounded in the regional strikes.

Among the casualties was an 85-year-old woman injured during shelling of Kherson’s Central district. The woman suffered a concussion, blast injuries, closed traumatic brain injury, and leg trauma, requiring hospitalization.

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin openly voiced his imperial doctrine: Russia claims as its own any territory entered by its troops, UNIAN reports. 

“There’s an old rule: wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours,” Putin said in response to a question about where the Russian army might stop in Ukraine.

He then called Ukrainians and Russians “one people” and stressing that, in that sense, “all of Ukraine is ours.”

Previously, Russia has listed its long-standing demands to Ukraine:

• to recognize Crimea as part of Russia,
• to acknowledge the annexation of the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts,
• and to withdraw Ukrainian forces from these territories, even though large areas of them remain under Ukrainian control.

Speaking at the forum, Putin insisted that Ukraine must become a non-aligned, non-nuclear, and neutral state, in other words, defenseless and exposed.

These statements confirm the Kremlin’s refusal to seek a just peace and expose the true goal of the war: Ukraine’s complete subjugation.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha publicly condemned countries that sent congratulatory messages to Russia on its national holiday, specifically targeting recent greetings from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Speaking before a “Weimar+” format ministerial meeting in Rome, Sybiha expressed his displeasure at what he described as inappropriate diplomatic gestures toward an aggressor nation.

“As a minister of a country at war, it was particularly unpleasant for me to read public congratulations from some countries addressed to the Russian aggressor on their national holiday this morning. There can be no reward for aggression. There can be no reward for an aggressor country,” Sybiha said, according to reports from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sybiha argued that his position stems from direct exposure to the war’s realities. The minister referenced a recent visit to Kherson with his Lithuanian counterpart, noting the city’s proximity to active fighting at just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the front line.

This short distance to active hostilities makes Kherson vulnerable to heavy and continuous shelling and drone attacks by Russian forces. Sybiha described observing children attending classes in underground schools as evidence of what he termed “Russian terror.”

The minister’s comments came in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Russia Day message, in which Rubio stated that the United States remains committed to supporting the Russian people who “continue to build their aspiration for a better future.”

Rubio also emphasized a desire for “constructive engagement with the Russian Federation to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine. It is our hope that peace will foster more mutually beneficial relations between our countries.”

His greeting came as the Russian troop losses in Ukraine have surpassed one million and the recent polls indicated that approximately 75% of Russians still support the ongoing invasion. 

Sybiha also claimed that Russia presented what he called “old and unrealistic ultimatums” during peace talks in Istanbul. Russia demands Ukraine withdraws from four occupied regions, adopts a neutral status, abandon aspirations to join NATO, and recognize Russian as an official languag.

Meanwhile, Ukraine rejects any veto over its NATO aspirations and insists on strong Western security guarantees. The country also accepted a US ceasefire proposal 100 days ago, which Russia continues to reject. Russian President Vladimir Putin also avoided meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul even though this was proposed to him. 

The foreign minister stated Ukraine’s goal of ending the war within the current year, emphasizing the importance of maintaining pressure on Russia to achieve a ceasefire that could lead to broader negotiations.