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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 05-25-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
This is the second Su-25 the anti-aircraft gunners have shot down this week.
Anti-aircraft gunners from Ukraine’s separate mechanized brigade named after General-Corporal Marko Bezruchko shot down another Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in the Donetsk sector on Saturday, May 25.
“As of now, we know that more than 200 people could have been inside the hypermarket” – Zelensky
A Russian strike on Saturday hit a store selling building materials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing at least two people, its mayor said.
"We know for sure about two dead," Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram, saying that according to preliminary information the strike hit a hypermarket for construction materials in a residential area.
The ministers said they hope to present a proposal that is "defined in all its dimensions" to G7 leaders ahead of a summit in Puglia, southern Italy, on June 13-15.
G7 finance ministers cited "progress" on Saturday in finding ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, envisioning a concrete proposal to present to a leaders' summit next month.
A search for creative yet legally sound solutions was top of the agenda at the two-day Group of Seven meeting in Stresa, northern Italy that wrapped up on Saturday, as Kyiv continues its urgent appeals for more funds from Western allies in its third year of war with Russia.
To achieve a substantial boost, Ukraine needs thousands of superb managers who can effectively coach, guide, and develop the current Ukrainian leadership.
War is a time of significant productivity shifts, resulting from resource reallocation, labor changes, and social impacts. The notion that wars enhance productivity for an economy has flourished for decades after WWII. However, facts suggest otherwise.
In particular, the Total Factor of Productivity in US manufacturing fell at a rate of 5.1 percent during the period from 1941 to 1945.
In the run-up to elections in the UK, Britons must first wake up to the fact that Putin is waging a war against the West and then consider who possesses the qualities of a wartime leader.
As Russia’s immoral invasion of Ukraine rages on, Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, Putin’s favorite obsequious mouthpiece, frequently discusses deploying nuclear weapons against the UK on his prime-time show on Russia-1. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev echoes these apocalyptic sentiments. Russia’s ambassador to the UK has recently declared that the UK is a “de facto” participant in the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine.
While some may dismiss this as mere rhetoric, it’s important to remember that actions often follow thoughts and words. Under this principle Russia has advanced two-thirds of the way toward utilizing nuclear weapons. Russian audiences are constantly exposed to media personalities and politicians casually mentioning nuclear strikes, normalizing a perilous mindset. Though Putin is unlikely to resort to atomic warfare, as it contradicts his conquering ambitions, the relentless threats of nuclear attacks make lesser aggressions seem more reasonable – which, of course, they are not.
"It is absolutely essential to be able to develop reparation programs," Nobel Prize Winner Denis Mukwege told AFP in an interview in Los Angeles.
A Ukrainian pilot project to compensate women raped by invading Russian soldiers could offer a roadmap for dealing with wartime sexual violence, says a Nobel Prize winner and expert on conflict atrocities.
Denis Mukwege, a 69-year-old medical doctor, has dedicated his life to helping victims of some of the most horrific violence committed by military men.
Canada can and should do more now to support Ukraine — and it’s in her interest and those of her partners to do so.
According to the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research institute, Canada’s military aid to Ukraine was about $2.86 billion between Jan. 24, 2022 and Feb. 29 of this year.
This positions Canada in ninth place among countries that allocated military aid to Ukraine, behind the United States ($64 billion), Germany ($14.9 billion), United Kingdom ($7.8 billion), Denmark ($7.1 billion), the Netherlands ($5.7 billion), Poland ($4.5 billion), Sweden ($4.1 billion) and France ($4 billion).
The small frontline village is located near the town of Ocheretyne, which Russia claimed to have captured early this month.
Russia said Saturday its army had captured another village in eastern Ukraine in the latest of a series of small territorial gains for Moscow.
The Russian defense ministry said that troops had “taken control of the village of Arkhengelske” in the Donetsk region.
Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine Denise Brown Condemns Attacks in Kharkiv City and Region That Killed and Injured Civilians
I am deeply disturbed by the news from Kharkiv City and the Kharkiv Region, where, yet again, attacks by the Russian Armed Forces killed civilians, caused injuries, and destroyed homes, businesses, transport and other civilian infrastructure.
My thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones due to the strikes.
The Factor Druk Printing House, which was hit on May 23 by Russian S-300 missiles, is Ukraine’s third largest by publishing volumes and seventh by revenues in the industry.
Russia’s strike on the Factor Druk printing house killed seven workers and left 16 wounded, according to Suspilne. The company estimates that 20,000 books were destroyed, of which 40 percent were schoolbooks.
Factor Druk printed around half of Ukraine’s schoolbooks, CEO Serhii Polituchniy said in an interview with Radio Liberty.
The moves follow Georgia’s adoption of a Russian-style “foreign influence” law which critics say is meant to stifle dissent against the government.
The United States was imposing new visa restrictions and reviewing relations with Georgia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday, after it pushed forward a Russian-style “foreign influence” law that triggered mass protests.
The new visa policy “will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members,” Blinken said in a statement.
The Biden administration is called out for its prevarication over arming Ukraine and commitment to a full and proper Russian defeat.
The Reaganesque revolution that has taken place in Congress, forming a bipartisan pro-Ukraine majority, is gaining momentum. A vibrant, charismatic leader has come to the fore – the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Thomas McCaul, Sr.
McCaul taught a masterclass in the House on May 22, pointing out on a map just what a betrayal it was to forbid Ukraine to use US weapons to strike targets in Russia.
The Kremlin’s narrative, that Russia cannot be beat due to its size, is contradicted by basic economic facts. Kyiv Post looks at numbers that indicate Russia is headed for an economic trainwreck.
An analysis of the economic figures that the Kremlin claims do not add up to anything resembling an approaching Russian victory.
With all such data coming from Moscow, one would be hard-pressed taking the Kremlin at their word. However, even if one were to give Putin the benefit of the doubt, the numbers show tell-tale signs of an impending economic disaster for Russia.
US says providing Ukraine with a new tranche of military aid.
The US on Friday announced a fresh tranche of military aid for Ukraine, including ammunition, missiles, mines and artillery rounds as Russia presses its assault on the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine has been battling back in Kharkiv since May 10, when thousands of Moscow's troops stormed the border, making their biggest territorial advances in 18 months.
Over a century ago hemp was the main material used in fabrics and parachute manufacturing before cotton took the lead. Andrii Mykytiv’s Ma’rijany Hemp Company wants to go back to roots.
In May 2022, an assistant to Rivne real estate agent Oleh Ukhnalyov-Yaroshevych received a call: “We are looking for a commercial property of 4- to 8,000-square-meters and 700 hectares of land to rent,” the client said.
They were looking to relocate from Irpin, the Kyiv region city liberated from Russian occupation only a month prior.
Also 31 cars, a supermarket, and some nearby residential buildings were reported damaged.
The Russian military reportedly launched two Iskander-M missiles toward the city of Kharkiv at about 12:40 a.m. on May 25, destroying an educational institution and damaging nearby high-rise buildings, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported.
A workshop in an educational institution in Kharkiv’s Slobidskyi district was destroyed and its main building damaged, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated.
The Ukrainian world heavyweight boxing champion beat back a giant opponent, but his country can’t defeat Russia on its own
As I contemplate a forest of small Ukrainian flags on the Maidan in central Kyiv, placed there by bereaved relatives as a memorial to the war dead, I’m accosted by a burly Ukrainian soldier in combat uniform. He’s with the elite 95th Air Assault Brigade and he has been fighting Russian aggression for more than a decade. “At the moment of victory,” he tells me, “please pour the first glass on to the ground for those who have fallen.”
Gesturing to the seemingly normal life around us in the Ukrainian capital, with young people drinking at nice cafes, almost as though this were Paris or Vienna, he says, “Every peaceful day here costs a lot of lives at the front.” But he chokes up on the last words and his eyes fill with tears. “Sorry, sorry!” he exclaims, embarrassed by this moment of weakness. Then he grips my hand one more time, grasps the straps of his khaki rucksack, and marches off through the civilian crowd like a ghost from the trenches of the first world war.
Ukraine’s honey exports amounted to almost a third of the commodity’s imports to the EU in the last year, with China taking the leading position.
Ukraine produced 45,800 tons of honey, which represented 28 percent of the total honey imports to the EU in 2023, making it the second importer of honey to the EU after China, which exported 60, 200 tonnes, or 37 percent of the total of EU external honey imports.
The European Union imported €359.3 million ($389.1 million) worth of honey in total in 2023, according to Eurostat.
Moscow's Push to Drive Ukrainian Resources from Donetsk.
Russia has launched an offensive in the direction of Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv. While the full scope and scale of this operation remains unknown at this time, initial activity near the small city of Vovchansk nearer to the Russian border suggests that the Russian military lacks the manpower to seize Kharkiv and may not event get to its more limited object of bringing the city under the threat of artillery and rocket fire. However, one objective that Russia has achieved is drawing Ukrainian reserves to another front and thinning out Ukraine’s defenses. That’s a dangerous development before Russia launches the most intense phase of its summer offensive.
There are indications may try another operation further north towards the city of Sumy to further spread Ukrainian forces over a wider front. The thing is, Ukraine has been expecting these attacks for months. Unfortunately national leadership and local governors did not do nearly enough to harden border defenses and establish robust fortifications in these areas. That is entirely a Ukrainian leadership failure.
G7 finance ministers are expected Saturday to agree a broad plan to use interest from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, paving the way for a potential agreement among leaders next month.
The challenge of finding more funds for Ukraine as it battles fresh territorial advances by Russia after more than two years of war has dominated a meeting of finance ministers from the world's richest democracies in the northern Italian city of Stresa.
The meeting comes as Kyiv said it had "stopped" the Russian advance in the Kharkiv region but Ukraine's General Staff admitted Saturday "the enemy has partial success" and said "the situation is tense" as fighting continued.
Russian propagandists called what Moscow fomented in Ukraine the “Russian Spring.” Kyiv Post visited the hotspots of 2014 and spoke directly with participants in the events.
Ten years have passed since the spring of 2014, which became decisive for Ukraine. After the Revolution of Dignity, Russia – unable to accept the fact that pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych lost power after having fled the country and Ukraine would pursue a course of integration into the European community – shifted from lobbying its interests in Ukraine to open aggression against Ukraine.
The first victim of this aggression was Crimea, which was openly invaded by the Russian military, quickly blocking units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) located on the peninsula. Subsequently, Russia expanded its aggression to mainland Ukraine, activating its agents, inciting pro-Russian sentiments, exploiting linguistic and historical divisions, and speculating on historical issues in the international arena. All the actions of pro-Russian forces, supported by Russian agents, followed a familiar pattern:
Russia - Baltic tensions are rising. This is actually serious - it has the makings of a proper NATO-Russia crisis.
Putin is clearly acting to test NATO's resolve to defend the Baltic states, and Finland, under its Article 5 collective security defence clause. He is trying to undermine the sovereignty of the Baltic states, push the limits, test, with all this malign activity. It is also about creating a crisis to extract leverage. Putin wants to create a crisis in the Baltics.
This is now clear after raising the spectre of a Russia - Finland/Lithuania maritime border dispute, now similar territorial disputes with Estonia on the Narva river. And we have had all the air traffic disruption to the Baltics states in recent months.
Estonia said Thursday that Russian border guards in a predawn operation had removed the buoys from the Narva River which separates the two neighbors.
The European Union on Friday denounced Russia's removal of buoys marking the border with Estonia on the Narva River.
"This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative behaviour and hybrid actions by Russia, including on its maritime and land borders in the Baltic Sea region. Such actions are unacceptable," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
This 'leak' comes with the appointment of economist Andrey Belousov as defence minister being seen by Western analysts as a move to prepare the Russian economy for a prolonged war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to stop the war in Ukraine by agreeing to a ceasefire that recognizes the current battle lines, four separate sources from within his inner circle have told Reuters.
However, they say he remains ready to continue fighting if Kyiv and the West do not engage.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
