Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-10-2025

In a statement after the talks, the State Department said the delegations also moved to formalize an agreement on banking access for the two countries’ diplomats, despite the US sanctions on Russia.

US and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on Thursday for talks about restoring the functioning of their embassies, which drastically scaled back staffing following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The talks, the second of their kind, come after President Donald Trump reached out to Russia following the start of his second term and offered better ties if it wound down fighting in Ukraine.

Fortune 500’s CRH wanted to buy a concrete factory in Ukraine, received permission from Ukraine’s regulator, but the court canceled it in a lawsuit filed by Ukraine’s leading player in the industry.

The Kyiv Commercial Court has canceled the decision that allowed Irish CRH to acquire the Dyckerhoff group of companies in Ukraine, previously owned by Italy’s Buzzi. 

The decision, issued by AMCU in September 2024, gave the green light to the Irish company’s subsidiary – CRH Ukraine B.V. – to acquire the Dyckerhoff group of companies in Ukraine, previously owned by Italy’s Buzzi. 

Western nations willing to put boots on the ground in Ukraine signaled progress but said they require US support during a meeting on Thursday.

The UK-and-French-led “Coalition of the Willing” has signaled progress in hashing out operational details and key objectives but said more work is needed to determine fine details, such as the troops needed, during a meeting on Thursday. 

The meeting at the NATO HQ in Brussels followed its delegation visit to Kyiv a week prior, with French President Emmanuel Macron hinting before that meeting that locations for deployments in Ukraine were on the agenda. 

Chinese social media users appear to be divided – but mostly indifferent – in how they perceive news that Kyiv captured two of their fellow countrymen fighting for Russia.

Chinese social media users have expressed both indifference and skepticism toward Kyiv’s recent capture of two Chinese prisoners of war (POWs) fighting for the Russian Armed Forces – but only a few are surprised.

Several have also accused Kyiv of spreading fake news and questioned the authenticity of the reports.

Ukraine opens an investigation into possible war crimes as grim footage shows four Ukrainian POWs being shot at point-blank range by Russian forces in the village of Piatykhatky.

An AP report has released disturbing footage from March 13 that shows the execution of four Ukrainian soldiers, by Russian troops, in the southern Ukrainian village of Piatykhatky.

The incident was recorded from two drones – one Ukrainian and one Russian – capturing very different accounts of the event. You can see the corresponding video via this link.

Trump’s whiplash economics: A reaction to ‘yippy’ voices?

Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days even as he further jacked up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%, the AP reported. It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to a showdown between the US and China.

The S&P 500 stock index jumped 9.5% after the announcement, but the drama over Trump’s tariffs is far from over as the administration prepares to engage in country-by-country negotiations.

Popov – reputedly a soldier’s soldier with a record of leading from the front – faced years in prison for charges he says Kremlin rivals made up. His likely orders: Take ground regardless of losses.

Russian Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a hard-nosed paratrooper officer, will take command of a high-risk assault unit in Ukraine in exchange for having criminal charges threatening him with years in prison dropped by state prosecutors, Russian and independent news platforms said Tuesday.

A commander popular with Russian troops for tactical skill and speaking his mind, Popov will end more than a year of arrest pending fraud charges to take command of a Storm-Z detachment operating in Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin Kommersant magazine reported, citing government security agency sources.

13-year-old Ukrainian karate champion Yevhenii Melnyk refuses to pose with his Russian rival at the Youth Karate League in Spain, protesting against his presence on the podium.

A 13-year-old Ukrainian who won bronze at an international karate competition has made headlines after refusing to pose for a photo with his Russian rival during the medal presentation.

A video circulating on social media shows Yevhenii Melnyk, who competed in the under-45 kg category at the Youth Karate League in Guadalajara, Spain, stepping down from the podium in protest, despite pressure from organizers.The gold went to Igor Grigorev, a Russian who competed under “neutral” status.

Several Ukrainian athletes have refused to shake hands or pose for photos with their Russian counterparts in protest against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Chuck Pfarrer, the former squadron leader of SEAL Team 6 goes over what the Suwałki Gap is and why it matters so much to Russia and NATO

The replacing of Colonel Vadym Sukharevsky from his current post has reportedly been under discussion within Ukraine’s military leadership for several months.

Colonel Vadym Sukharevsky is reportedly set to be removed from his post as commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces - but may instead be appointed to lead a newly created army corps.

The Militarnyi media outlet, citing sources among Ukraine’s political and military circles, reports that Sukharevsky’s removal has been discussed at the highest levels of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) for several months.

The attempt by a former head of Ukraine’s tax administration to dodge a sentencing on corruption charges by “hiding” in a rear area formation has sparked outrage across social media.

A scandal has erupted in Ukraine, following the unexpected mobilization of Roman Nasirov, the former head of the country’s State Fiscal Service, during the judicial debate stage of his ongoing corruption trial.

In Ukrainian legal procedure, judicial debates are the final stage of a court case once the presentation of evidence and arguments is over, during which the court prepares to deliver its verdict. Nasirov’s trial, which has been ongoing since 2017, accused of assisting parliamentarian Oleksandr Onyshchenko to allegedly sell gas to the state-owned company “Ukrgazvydobuvannya” by way of fictitious auctions at deflated prices, causing significant financial loss to the state.

In exchange, the US released Arthur Petrov, a Russian-German citizen facing up to 20 years in prison for violating export controls, according to Russian state media.

Russia and the United States exchanged prisoners on Thursday, the second such swap since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House as the two countries push for closer ties.

Moscow released US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison on treason charges, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming early Thursday she was on a plane to the United States.

The EU submitted a request to obtain another $2.26 billion.

Ukraine received a €1 billion ($1.08 billion) disbursement from the European Union under the G7-backed Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced following a meeting in Brussels with European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Wednesday, April 9.

The tranche will be directed toward covering “priority state budget expenditures,” the press release said.  

Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna said Ukraine’s negotiation team must balance second draft proposals by the Trump White House with Ukraine’s national interests.

Mineral deal technical consultations between Ukraine and the Trump Administration regarding are scheduled to take place tomorrow, Friday, April 11, in Washington, D.C., with teams from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Economy participating, as announced by Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna.

“I can’t go into detail just yet, as the meeting is set for tomorrow, but I’ll be able to provide comments afterwards,” Stefanishyna said during a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.

Beijing has dismissed claims that more than a hundred Chinese fighters serve in the Russian Armed Forces as “irresponsible remarks” after two were captured by Kyiv.

Beijing asked “relevant parties” on Thursday to “refrain from expressing irresponsible remarks” on Kyiv’s captured Chinese fighters who fought for the Russian Armed Forces.

Beijing’s foreign ministry made the comment at a regular news briefing in response to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent remarks that “155 [Chinese] people with names and passport details who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine.”

Russian forces regularly shell Nikopol from occupied Enerhodar. In recent months, drones have become their primary weapon.

Russian forces struck the city of Nikopol in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region with a suicide drone, injuring more than a dozen people, local officials reported.

“Twelve people were injured in Nikopol. Russians targeted civilians with a suicide drone,” the head of the regional military administration (OVA), Serhiy Lysak, wrote on Telegram.

Russian drone attacks overnight injured 10 in Mykolaiv and caused fires and destruction in Kyiv, where one person was trapped under rubble after debris hit residential areas.

Explosions rang out in Kyiv around midnight on Thursday, April 10, as air defense systems responded to a drone attack that sparked a fire, caused structural damage, and left one person trapped under debris.

The head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, stated that falling debris from a downed UAV sparked a fire in a non-residential area of the city’s Holosiivskyi district.

US tariffs on Chinese imports go into effect today, hitting a record 104%. Beijing vows to “fight to the end,” as Europe’s press speculates on the fallout of a potential trade war.

Most of the new tariffs announced by Washington last week are coming into force today, Wednesday. After China refused to withdraw its counter-tariffs, the US has upped the tariff rate for Chinese imports to a record 104 percent. Beijing vowed that it would “fight to the end” if necessary. Europe’s press speculates on the consequences of a trade war between the biggest players in the global economy.

Why Beijing won’t cave in

President Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready to buy $30-50 billion worth of air defense systems and weapons from the United States as a form of security guarantees, not as free aid.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Ukraine is ready to purchase air defense systems and other weaponry from the United States worth between $30 and $50 billion, viewing these acquisitions as a form of security guarantees.

During a meeting with journalists, as reported by RBC-Ukraine, Zelensky also noted that Ukraine has not yet exhausted the military aid package approved by the previous Biden administration.

EU plan to reduce Russian fertilizer imports generates controversy.

The EU’s plans to impose tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia in a bid to increase pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine war have alarmed European farmers worried about possible price hikes.

More than a quarter of the 27-nation bloc’s imports of nitrogen-based fertilizers come from Russia, with more flowing in from Moscow’s ally Belarus.

The talks between US and Russian diplomats in Istanbul are set to last several hours, with Moscow seeking to restore direct air traffic with the US. Moscow’s invasion is reportedly not on the agenda.

New talks between US and Russian representatives on diplomatic relations have begun in Istanbul, Turkey.

The meeting, held behind closed doors, is set to last several hours, shorter than the previous round of talks on Feb. 27, according to Russian media.

The interrogations revealed details of how extensive Russia’s recruitment of foreign fighters to participate in its illegal war against Ukraine had become.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published video of its interrogation of Chinese soldiers captured in Ukraine which President Volodymyr Zelensky shared on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, April 9.

 Commenting on the video he said, “We all need – all partners, all conscientious participants in international relations – to ensure that Russia loses the ability to wage war, particularly by using people like this.”

She expressed belief that the EU and its member states are capable of delivering this amount of ammunition.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas confirmed the intention to continue engaging closely with member states to ensure the supply of at least 2 million artillery shells to Ukraine before the end of this year.

Kallas stated this in Brussels during a press conference following the Ukraine-EU Association Council on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

After the Christian Democrats won in February, Friedrich Merz put together a coalition that would prioritize German defense and keep supporting Ukraine in their defense against Russian aggression.

On April 9th the future chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) presented together with Lars Klingbeil (SPD) the plans of the new German coalition formed by the Christian Democratic Union of CDU/CSU and the social democratic SPD. 

The coalition formation followed after the elections held in February, which were won by the Pro-Ukrainian Christian Democratic Union and where the pro-Russian radical right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) came second. 

Some of the EU’s import duties of between 10% and 25% will come into force on April 15, with others taking effect in May and the remainder in December.

The European Union has voted to impose tariffs on a raft of U.S. imports in response to Donald Trump applying a 25% levy on steel and aluminum from the EU.

The European Commision announced on Wednesday that member states had passed the first set of countermeasures against American tariffs it described as “unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy.”

Writers from around Europe explore what vision Trump might be pursuing with his tariffs

Donald Trump presented his latest tariff hikes as part of a larger plan to boost the US economy and make America prosperous again. Europe’s press attempts to uncover an ideological framework behind all this and gets mired in the contradictions.

Iron will, unclear goal

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian forces continue to marginally advance in the Sumy-Kursk Oblast border area, but the Russian force grouping in the area will likely be unable to launch a major offensive operation against Sumy City in the near term without receiving significant reinforcements.
• The Russian military command is likely attempting to form a buffer zone along the international border in Sumy Oblast, although Russian commanders may intend to press further into Sumy Oblast and towards Sumy City in the future.
• Russia continues to utilize North Korean troops in Kursk Oblast, but ISW has not yet observed indications that North Korean troops are operating as combat forces in Ukraine.
• Syrskyi stated that there are currently 623,000 Russian military personnel fighting against Ukraine.
• Syrskyi also spoke about Ukraine’s efforts to further develop its tactical and long-range drone capabilities.
• The People’s Republic of China (PRC) denied sending military personnel to fight in Ukraine following Ukrainian reports of Chinese nationals fighting alongside Russian forces.
• Ukrainian forces advanced near Toretsk and Pokrovsk.
• Russian forces advanced near Kupyansk, Lyman, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and in western Zaporizhia Oblast.
• The Russian federal government and Russian federal subjects are increasingly focused on veteran rehabilitation and reintegration.

Zelensky criticizes the US Treasury Secretary’s “approach,” saying he felt like Scott Bessent was treating him like the leader of a “third-rate country.”

Ahead of his team’s continued talks with the White House next week over a proposed deal with the US on natural resources development in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky explained that his side was never going to be pressured to simply give away its minerals, rare earth metals and fossil fuels without a fair split of the revenues, and that he was unhappy with the way it was initially handled.

“If we are talking about partnership and parity, we say that we are partners, and we will have such a fund, and this is great,” Zelensky told reporters gathered in Kyiv on Wednesday.

“Such an overt involvement of Chinese citizens in combat operations on the territory of Ukraine is a deliberate step towards expanding the war,” Zelensky said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Russia was “dragging” China into the war in Ukraine, as he accused Beijing of knowing that dozens of its citizens were being recruited by Moscow’s army to fight.

Zelensky, whose war leadership has hit turbulence with Donald Trump in the White House, also said that Kyiv was ready to buy up to $50 billion of US military equipment.