Exclusives

Portugal sent Ukraine $ 250 million in military aid — the drones alone cost Russia $ 4 billion. Portugal nearly doubled its pledge to Ukraine, sending $250 million in 2024. Its Tekever drones alone have destroyed two Russian S‑400 air defense systems.

Social media’s invisible battlefield: Who decides what you see? (Viplikes’ Guide). What you see—and what you don’t—is shaped by a mix of corporate interests, political agendas, and opaque systems designed to keep you engaged

Tech innovation: How blockchain cloud mining is reshaping passive income in 2025. Blockchain-based cloud mining platforms are positioning themselves as a user-friendly alternative to traditional mining, which often requires expensive hardware, ongoing maintenance, and technical expertise

Ukrainian war documentaries Russia doesn’t want you to see. These films expose Russian war crimes and showcase Ukrainian resilience through stories of survival, volunteering, art creation amid destruction, and resistance that directly contradict Moscow’s propaganda about Ukraine.

20,000 wrecked vehicles behind them, Russia’s last tanks crawl toward Siversk. A Russian tank column rolled into a bloody disaster outside Siversk in eastern Ukraine. But Moscow’s troops are still advancing.

Military

Ukraine destroys Russian electronic warfare hub in occupied area of Black Sea, sets up Ukrainian flag. Ukrainian special forces eliminated the entire Russian garrison, while not a single Ukrainian soldier was killed or injured in the nighttime assault.

Russian missile struck Ukrainian military training ground, killing three soldiers and wounding dozens. An investigative commission will examine whether command failures and safety protocol violations have contributed to the casualties.

As of 30 JUL 2025

, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:

• • • Personnel: 1052190 (+890)
    • Tanks: 11066 (+1)
    • APV: 23065 (+1)
    • Artillery systems: 30895 (+30)
    • MLRS: 1451
    • Anti-aircraft systems: 1202
    • Aircraft: 421
    • Helicopters: 340
    • UAV: 48685 (+100)
    • Cruise missiles : 3548
    • Warships/boats: 28
    • Submarines: 1
    • Vehicles and fuel tanks: 56754 (+67)

Intelligence and technology

Ukrainian pilot instructor caught selling Western fighter jet secrets to Moscow. The arrested major served in an air brigade tasked with shooting down the same Russian drones and missiles his intelligence helped target Ukrainian airbases.

Massive data breach hits Russian authorities in occupied Crimea as Ukrainian intelligence downloads secret military files. Ukrainian cyber specialists downloaded 100TB of Russian military data from occupied Crimea before destroying the original files on government servers, according to intelligence sources cited by RBK-Ukraine.

International

Dozens of politicians boycott Russian sanctioned official invited speaking at conference in neutral Switzerland. Ukraine called Valentina Matvienko’s conference participation “disgraceful” and emphasized that she belongs behind bars and not at international events.

Europe can’t defend itself without Ukraine, Estonia’s NATO envoy warns. Estonia’s NATO ambassador Jüri Luik warns that without Ukraine’s military power, Europe cannot contain the Russian threat or build a defense independent of US support.

Frontline report: Trump unleashes economic war on Brazil to cripple Russian anti-Western BRICS alliance. The US experiments with attacking Russia’s most vulnerable ally first, testing whether economic pressure on BRICS members can isolate Moscow without direct confrontation.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian daily terror of civilians in Ukraine continues: five injured and extensive damage

. Three people were injured in Kharkiv as the drone debris landed on residential areas.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s government again fails to appoint head of Bureau of Economic Security. Ukraine faces missing a crucial International Monetary Fund benchmark as the Cabinet of Ministers refused for the 2nd time to appoint Oleksandr Tsyvinsky as head of the Bureau of Economic Security

Rada Committee backs Zelenskyy’s NABU independence u-turn after mass protests. Ukrainian MPs voted to restore independence to the country’s main anti-corruption agencies, just nine days after President Zelenskyy signed legislation that sparked mass protests across the country.

US senator: Stop giving Putin extra time, vote on 500% sanctions now. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal pushes for 500% tariffs on Russian oil buyers, including China and India, while President Trump proposes lower 100% tariffs.

ISW: Putin allies dismiss Trump tariff threat, vow to continue Ukraine war. The Kremlin told President Trump that Russia will determine the timing of peace negotiations, not Washington, after Trump shortened his Ukraine war ultimatum from 50 days to 10 days with threats of new tariffs.

EU threatens to withhold $3.3 billion over Ukraine’s failure to reform another anti-corruption agency. The intertwined challenges of anti-corruption scandals and stalled reforms place Ukraine’s international support at a critical crossroads.

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A pilot trusted with Ukraine’s most sensitive air operations was secretly feeding targeting data to Russian intelligence, Ukraine’s Security Service says.

The major worked as a flight instructor in an air brigade responsible for shooting down Russian missiles and drones. His unit also conducted ground strikes supporting Ukrainian army operations. Perfect access.

What was he selling? Coordinates of F-16 and Mirage 2000 airbases. Flight schedules. Aircraft tail numbers. Even pilot names.

The Security Service of Ukraine announced the arrest on 30 July, revealing how military counterintelligence tracked the officer as he prepared to pass another batch of classified information to Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.

But the betrayal went deeper than basic intelligence gathering.

The major authored analytical reports for his Russian handlers, outlining specific tactics for combined missile and drone strikes designed to penetrate Ukrainian air defenses. Essentially providing a how-to guide for destroying the aircraft he was supposed to protect.

How did he communicate with Moscow? Anonymous email channels and encrypted messaging apps, according to investigators.

The timing matters. Ukraine has been integrating Western fighters including F-16s and Mirage 2000s into its air force operations. Russia has repeatedly targeted these aircraft with long-range strikes, making the intelligence particularly valuable.

The major faces life imprisonment with property confiscation under Ukraine’s wartime treason laws. The Security Service in western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast is handling the investigation.

Ukraine's security service (SBU) is teaching teenagers how to avoid recruitment by Russian intelligence online, the New York Times (NYT) reported on June 21.

"Maybe not all of these special operations are reported in the media — but believe me, the enemy is not sleeping... They are working actively and carrying out illegal activities, as strange as it may sound, directly inside your phones," SBU spokesperson Roksolana Yavorska-Isaienko told students.

Approximately 22% of Ukrainians recruited by Russian intelligence to conduct sabotage or terrorist attacks are minors, Artem Dekhtiarenko, SBU spokesperson, said on April 2.

Russian intelligence attempts to recruit Ukrainian civilians online, offering easy money in return for sharing sensitive data or preparing sabotage or terrorist acts.

Russian intelligence finds its recruits using social platforms, including Telegram, Discord, and TikTok.

Unsuspecting teenagers are often offered hundreds or even thousands of dollars to conduct simpler tasks such as delivering packages or taking photos of energy sites, the NYT reports.

More serious tasks are commonly assigned to teenagers once they have been blackmailed for conducting less serious operations beforehand or when their phones are hacked to reveal compromising photos.

Russian intelligence is actively attempting to recruit Ukrainian nationals for illegal operations across the EU, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on June 2.

"The recruitment of Ukrainians for hostile operations in Europe is yet another tool of hybrid aggression that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine and the entire European community," HUR said.

The SBU caught a Russian agent as he was filming a military airfield in preparation for a Russian strike, the agency reported on June 15.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) recruited the unemployed 24-year-old via the Telegram messaging app to collect coordinates for air attacks on airfields and logistic depots, the SBU said.

The Russian FSB allegedly offered "easy money" and instructed the recruit to find military facilities and carry out reconnaissance on the ground.

Love, sex, survival — Ukrainian author on how war shapes intimacy in Ukraine

In Ukraine, Russia’s war of aggression has upended not just borders but the country’s cultural landscape. Conversations about identity, gender, and sexuality have gained new urgency. Women are increasingly stepping into combat roles once dominated by men, while relationships can dissolve as quickly as they form. Many people

The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan

Argentina has uncovered a Russian intelligence operation working to spread pro-Kremlin disinformation and influence public opinion, Argentine presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced on June 18, citing the country's intelligence, according to AFP and Infobae.

The La Compania network, which is allegedly linked to the Russian government and the Kremlin's Project Lakhta, was led by Russian nationals Lev Konstantinovich Andriashvili and his wife Irina Yakovenko, who are both residents of Argentina, according to authorities.

The U.S. Treasury Department has previously accused the Project Lakhta, reportedly formerly overseen by late Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, of election interference in the United States and Europe.

Prigozhin led the Russian Wagner mercenary group that was deployed in some of the deadliest battles in Ukraine, like the siege of Bakhmut. The oligarch was killed in a plane crash under suspicious circumstances in August 2023, around two months after leading a brief armed rebellion against the Kremlin.

Andriashvili and Yakovenko are accused of receiving financial support to recruit local collaborators and run influence operations aimed at advancing Moscow's geopolitical interests.

Their objective was to "form a group loyal to Russian interests" to develop disinformation campaigns targeting the Argentine state, Adorni said at a press briefing.

The spokesperson added that the alleged operation included producing social media content, influencing NGOs and civil society groups, organizing focus groups with Argentine citizens, and gathering political intelligence.

"Argentina will not be subjected to the influence of any foreign power," Adorni said, noting that while some findings have been declassified, much of the investigation remains a state secret.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been a significant uptick in Russian migration to Argentina, some of which officials fear could be linked to covert intelligence operations.

Authorities reportedly said these espionage activities are often facilitated by a 2009 bilateral agreement between Argentina and Russia allowing visa-free travel, a deal that remains in effect despite growing security concerns.

In response to the threat, Adorni announced the creation of a new Federal Investigations Department (DFI) within Argentina's Federal Police, modeled in part on the U.S. FBI. The agency will focus on countering organized crime, terrorism, and foreign espionage, with investigators trained in advanced techniques and bolstered by experts in law, psychology, and computer science.

’100 days of Russian manipulations’ — Ukraine blasts Moscow over disregarding US ceasefire effort

A hundred days since the U.S. and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire, “Russia continues to choose war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on June 19, urging international pressure to push Moscow toward peace.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek