Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

Vladimir Putin discussed a possible Victory Day truce with Donald Trump, despite past Russian ceasefire pledges that Ukraine says were repeatedly violated.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with US President Donald Trump, during which Putin expressed readiness to declare a truce on Russia’s Victory Day, celebrated on May 9.

Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the call lasted about 90 minutes and that Trump supported the idea of a temporary truce, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

A new sanctions package was signed targeting Russia‑linked entities, including Belarusian companies and individuals tied to Alexander Lukashenko.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has signed a new package of Ukrainian sanctions, including measures against entities linked to Belarus, as Kyiv seeks to increase pressure to reduce the intensity of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In his evening address on Wednesday, Zelensky said the sanctions were approved following decisions by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Ukrainian authorities added 11 new titles to a blacklist of propaganda books, citing efforts to counter Russian propaganda.

Ukraine’s State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting has expanded its list of anti‑Ukrainian publications, adding 11 new titles identified as promoting Russian aggression and undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty, the agency said on Wednesday.

The committee said the decision followed joint monitoring work with the SSecurity Service of Ukraine (SBU), which tracks publishing activity in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories to identify propaganda materials.

Hungary’s incoming leader met EU officials in Brussels as he seeks to repair ties and unlock billions in frozen EU funding after years of tensions under Viktor Orbán.

Incoming Hungarian leader Peter Magyar met EU chiefs Wednesday on his first visit to Brussels since his election win, looking to turn the page on the bad blood of nationalist Viktor Orbán’s tenure.

EU leaders feted his victory this month, which ended Kremlin-friendly Orbán’s 16 years in power, and before even taking office Magyar has sought to kickstart a new era of cooperation with Brussels that he hopes will unlock billions of euros for Budapest.

The king’s speech in US Congress, social media diplomacy, and more deep strikes in Russia – updates from Ukraine and beyond

King Charles III just gave a speech on solidarity with Ukraine in the US Congress to a standing ovation – even US Vice President JD Vance, a long-time Ukraine skeptic, stood up and clapped.

In what’s widely seen as a diplomatic trip to stabilize the transatlantic bond, the British monarch did not hold back in his support for Ukraine – like his son earlier – by calling for “unyielding resolve” in backing Kyiv. He also joked about the US’s colonial past at the state dinner, diplomatically poking fun at the trope that everyone would be speaking German if not for Uncle Sam in WWII.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the first defense package under the €90 billion loan will focus on drones produced within Ukraine.

The European Union is set to disburse the first €45 billion ($52.9 billion) installment of its €90 billion ($106 billion) loan to Ukraine within the current quarter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced during a speech at the European Parliament.

The 2026 funding is split between macrofinancial aid and military support, with one-third allocated to cover Ukraine’s budgetary needs and two-thirds dedicated to defense. The first military package, worth approximately €6 billion ($7.05 billion), will be used to procure drones “from Ukraine, for Ukraine.”

Households will continue paying Hr. 4.32 ($0.098) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while electric‑heated homes keep a lower winter tariff, the government said.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has extended the current household electricity tariff of Hr. 4.32 ($0.098) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) until Oct. 31, 2026, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Wednesday.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Svyrydenko said the decision means electricity prices for residential consumers will remain unchanged, Ukrinform reported.

The mayor of Berehove, a border city near Hungary, has rejected claims made by soon-to-be Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar that the Hungarian population has been oppressed.

The mayor of a Hungarian-dominant city in Ukraine has rejected claims of systematic oppression against the Hungarian population made by the incoming Hungarian prime minister, Peter Magyar, on Wednesday, April 29.

Zoltán Babják, the mayor of Berehove, said there is “no question of any oppression of the rights of the national community” in response to Magyar’s earlier claims, in which Magyar accused Kyiv of imposing “restrictions” in public life and culture on the Hungarian-speaking population.

The British monarch urged renewed transatlantic resolve in support of Ukraine.

King Charles III called for renewed unity in support of Ukraine, invoking past transatlantic cooperation in times of crisis, according to Clash Report on Tuesday, April 28.

Referring to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, Charles said allies had historically stood “shoulder to shoulder” through major conflicts, including the world wars and the Cold War.

A Russian kamikaze aircraft got too close to a heavily armed barge manned by three middle-aged judges taking time off from their real jobs in court. They say they need more ammo.

On Saturday morning, Ukrainian judge Evhen Kruk, instead of listening to lawyer arguments and presiding over an anti-corruption court, fired a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun from a barge floating on the Dnipro River and blew a Russian kamikaze drone attacking Ukraine’s capital to bits.

The morning shootdown confirmed by Kyiv Post with two other eyewitnesses, geo-located video and (even) a certificate issued by Ukraine’s Territorial Defense forces, was only one of the 580 Shahed-type drones destroyed or disabled by Ukrainian air defenses overnight between April 24-25, of the total 619 launched by Russia at Ukraine’s towns and cities.

Kyiv has asked Israel to detain a vessel suspected of transporting grain looted from occupied territories, as part of a broader crackdown on illicit exports.

Ukraine has sent a formal request to Israel seeking the arrest of a vessel suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on Wednesday, April 29.

The request concerns the vessel PANORMITIS, which Ukrainian investigators believe is part of a scheme to legalize grain illegally exported from Russian-occupied territories.

Debt caused disastrous consequences to a once-dominant tobacco distributor.

The Odesa Regional Commercial Court opened bankruptcy proceedings against Ukraine’s largest tobacco distributor, Tedis Ukraine.

According to a court release dated April 3, the case was initiated by Accord Gold LLC due to an unpaid debt of Hr.38,1 million ($845,800). According to court materials, Tedis Ukraine (formerly Megapolis-Ukraine) admitted the debt in full and stated that it had effectively ceased operations, citing insufficient funds to meet its financial obligations.

Once-taboo admissions that Ukrainian drones are doing real damage and that it will be hard for Russia to prevent more are now being aired in Russia, even by very pro-Moscow public figures.

Repeated Ukrainian strikes against a critical Russian energy export node in the Krasnodar region city of Tuapse, and unchecked fires and massive pollution, have forced Kremlin propagandists to acknowledge national air defenses are struggling to prevent Ukrainian attacks, most recently on Wednesday during a broadcast of Russia’s probably single most popular news program, Solovyev LIVE.

“For us, here, there is a war going on. Just now, they [Ukraine] hit Tuapse, and not a little. We are being hit everywhere,” Solovyev erupted during a conversation with a Russian female beauty influencer named Viktoria Bonya. “The thing is, there is a part of our society for which there is no war. Which doesn’t want to accept the war. Which doesn’t want to see it.”

After getting a report from the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Zelensky said Ukraine has recorded a sharp decline in Russian oil export throughput at key ports.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s long-range strikes are deepening losses in Russia’s oil export infrastructure, while Moscow is simultaneously working to undermine Kyiv’s international defense partnerships and expanding its military presence in Africa.

After getting a report from the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleh Luhovskyi, Zelensky said Ukraine has recorded a sharp decline in Russian oil export throughput at key ports.

Warsaw aims to use Ukraine’s battlefield experience to test equipment and deepen joint drone and defense industry cooperation.

Poland plans to test domestically produced military equipment on Ukraine’s battlefield as part of deepening defense cooperation, Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk said on Wednesday, April 29.

Defense24 reported that Tomczyk, speaking on the sidelines of the Road to Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rzeszow, said Ukraine offers a “unique testing ground” due to its direct combat experience against a conventional army.

Azerbaijan’s democratic opposition offers a lens to Ukraine and the world on the case of Ali Karimli and the human rights situation in its country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent visit to Azerbaijan would not have attracted particular attention had it not been for a highly notable statement made during the trip:

“If Russia is interested in diplomatic negotiations, we are ready to conduct these talks in Baku with the participation of the United States.”

A group of aging LNG vessels switching to the Russian flag suggests Moscow is ramping up exports from sanctioned Arctic projects.

Four liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers that recently switched to the Russian flag are heading toward the Arctic, signaling a potential expansion of Moscow’s shadow fleet used to bypass sanctions, according to ship-tracking data on Wednesday, April 29.

Bloomberg reported that the vessels – Kosmos, Luch, Orion and Merkuriy – are moving north in the Atlantic, with at least one indicating a destination of Murmansk, a key hub for Arctic energy exports.

Ukrainian naval drones struck a sanctioned tanker near Tuapse, hitting its engine area. The vessel was drifting without cargo and likely awaiting a covert transfer.

A unit of the Ukrainian Navy struck the sanctioned tanker Marquise with naval drones near Tuapse on the morning of Wednesday, April 29, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.

According to a Telegram statement, the Cameroon-flagged tanker, with a capacity of over 37,000 tons, was drifting without cargo at the time of the strike.

Russian authorities have stepped up efforts to control internet access in the country, throttling messenger apps Telegram and WhatsApp, tightening restrictions on VPNs, and imposing blackouts.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday accused the Kremlin of cutting Russians off from the internet to hide worsening economic conditions in the country as sanctions over the Ukraine war bite.

“With inflation increasing and interest rates skyrocketing, the consequences of Russia’s war of choice are also being paid for out of Russian people’s pockets,” European Commission head von der Leyen told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Proposed tax reforms tied to EU funding could spark domestic resistance and complicate Kyiv’s negotiations with international lenders.

The European Union is considering imposing stricter conditions on part of its €90 billion ($105 billion) aid package for Ukraine, potentially tying payouts to unpopular tax reforms.

On Wednesday, April 29, Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the proposed changes, under discussion by the European Commission, would affect €8.4 billion ($9.8 billion) in macro-financial assistance expected this year. The funds are seen as critical to sustaining Ukraine’s economy during Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The government has agreed on a phased six-month plan beginning in August to end the use of commercial accommodation for Ukrainians who arrived before March 2024.

Ireland will start withdrawing state-provided accommodation for Ukrainian refugees this summer, a move affecting around 16,000 people and triggering accusations that the government is abandoning war-displaced families.

The decision follows an earlier cut to the time newly arriving Ukrainians can remain in state accommodation – from 90 days to just 30 days.

German Chancellor Merz’s recent comments about “possible” territorial concessions being made by Ukraine suggest a degree of impatience and concern over the economy.

For months, European leaders took aim at Donald Trump for floating the idea that Ukraine might have to give up territory to Russia. The European position sounded firm: no concessions under pressure, no rewriting borders by force.

Now that message is getting murkier.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denied Ukraine’s allegations that Israel accepted looted grain, claiming that Kyiv provided no evidence and relied on “Twitter diplomacy.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday, April 28, rejected Ukraine’s allegations that Israel allowed stolen Ukrainian grain into its ports, claiming that Kyiv was conducting “Twitter diplomacy.”

According to Clash Report, Sa’ar said, responding to comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Israel had received no formal evidence to support claims that a Russian cargo vessel waiting to dock was carrying grain looted from occupied Ukrainian territories.

Drones struck oil infrastructure in Russia’s Orsk and Perm, triggering fires at key facilities, including a major refinery and a pipeline station.

Drones attacked two Russian cities – Orsk and Perm – hitting an oil refinery and a facility belonging to an oil pipeline company on Wednesday morning.

According to the Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+, drones likely targeted a local oil refinery in Orsk in the morning. The city is located approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Belarusian officials stressed that Belarus does not independently decide on restrictions but enforces data received from Russian authorities.

Russian citizens who receive military draft notices and who are banned from leaving Russia will also be unable to exit the country through Belarus, Belarusian border authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

The State Border Committee told Belarusian outlet Belsat that the two countries operate a shared database of individuals subject to travel restrictions and use a simplified, integrated border-control system.

A Russian officer accused of involvement in Bucha atrocities was reportedly targeted in an explosion at a military garrison in Russia’s Far East, according to a Russian Telegram-linked outlet.

An explosion targeted a senior Russian officer accused of involvement in atrocities in Bucha, according to a report by Russian outlet VChK-OGPU on Tuesday, April 28.

The blast reportedly occurred at a military garrison in Knyaze-Volkonskoye-1 in Russia’s Khabarovsk region and was aimed at Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, who commanded Russian forces in Bucha in 2022.

The recordings are part of the so-called “Midas” case — a money-laundering scheme allegedly orchestrated by businessman and media producer Timur Mindich, reportedly tied to Volodymyr Zelensky.

Freshly released audio recordings published by Ukrainska Pravda appear to tie senior Ukrainian officials and presidential allies to a major corruption probe involving state nuclear company Energoatom.

The recordings are part of the so-called “Midas” case – a large-scale money-laundering scheme that investigators say was orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich, a media producer long reported to have ties to President Volodymyr Zelensky dating back to their work in entertainment.

Russia launched over 170 drones overnight, striking the Odesa region and other areas. One person was killed, infrastructure damaged, and dozen evacuated.

Russia struck several regions of Ukraine with drones overnight, killing one person and injuring another.

In the early hours of Wednesday, April 29, Russian forces attacked multiple regions, including the Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces struck the Tuapse Oil Refinery overnight on April 27 to 28, the third strike against the refinery in April so far.
• The April 27 to 28 strikes compelled the Kremlin to acknowledge the impacts of the Ukrainian strikes against the Tuapse Oil Refinery.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kharkiv and Orikhiv directions.
• Russian forces launched 123 drones toward Ukraine overnight.

Ukraine is rapidly building a defensive line from the Kyiv Reservoir to Sumy to block a potential Russian “buffer zone” as Moscow regroups for possible new offensives.

Ukraine is building a continuous defensive line from the Kyiv Reservoir to the city of Sumy to prevent Russia from creating a so-called “buffer zone,” the Chief of Engineering Troops of the Support Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said.

Brigadier General Vasyl Sirotenko, as per Ukrinform, said that the scale of construction is so extensive it is visible from space.

On top of renewed pressure from Belarus, the Hungarian “factor” has once again added to Ukraine’s concerns

Over the past two weeks, the war has been actively transitioning into the summer season. The winter’s lack of foliage and the cold made attacks and counterattacks unproductive and excessively dangerous. The summer promises to be dynamic and vicious.

Russia has already begun active military operations near the cities of Sumy and Chernihiv in northeastern Ukraine. Not only has shelling intensified there, but we have seen attacks by armored groups and the seizure of villages nearer to the Russian border. 

The British monarch called for “unyielding resolve” in support of Ukraine and stressed the importance of NATO and transatlantic unity during his historic address to Congress.

King Charles III called for “unyielding resolve” in support of Ukraine during a historic address to a joint session of the US Congress on Tuesday.

Speaking during a four-day state visit to the US, the British monarch said the world was facing deep uncertainty, from Europe to the Middle East, and that the challenges directly affected citizens across countries. It was only the second time a British monarch had addressed Congress, after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.

Russia’s Defense Ministry cited the “current operational situation” as Moscow excludes tanks and other heavy equipment from its May 9 Victory Day parade.

Russia’s annual May 9 Victory Day parade on Red Square will be held without columns of military equipment for the first time since 1945, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday.

The ministry said the decision was linked to the “current operational situation,” Russian media reported.

The dictator confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops fighting Ukraine are ordered to kill themselves to avoid capture.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has publicly confirmed that North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine were expected to kill themselves rather than be captured, Bloomberg reported.

Kim praised troops who chose “self-blasting” during a memorial event in Pyongyang for North Korean soldiers killed in the war, presenting them as “heroes who defended the country’s honor.”

The State Department denied reports that Julie Davis is leaving over differences with Donald Trump, saying she will remain in Kyiv until June 2026 before retiring from diplomatic service.

The acting US ambassador to Ukraine is set to step down, leaving a key diplomatic post in Kyiv vacant as Russia prepares for a possible summer offensive and peace talks remain stalled.

Julie Davis, who has served as temporary Chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Kyiv since May last year, will depart in June 2026 and retire from the State Department after a three-decade diplomatic career, the State Department said Tuesday.