EN
EN
EN
Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 04-27-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Rubio said the United States must decide whether to stay involved in the peace effort or shift focus to other priorities.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday, April 27, that the coming week could be “very critical” for efforts to end the war in Ukraine, as President Donald Trump pushes Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal.
“We’re close, but we’re not close enough,” Rubio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think this is going to be a very critical week,” he added.
As Russia’s “Victory Day” approaches its occupying troops have plastered the city they razed to the ground with propaganda billboards extolling the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII.
In celebration Russia’s May 9 “Victory Day,” Moscow’s occupying forces have filled the city of Bakhmut, the destruction of which its forces caused, with billboards and posters commemorating the end of the “Great Patriotic War” bearing slogans such as “Proud of the Victory” and “80 Years of the Great Victory.”
The presence of this propaganda strikes a deeply cynical and absurd note for most Ukrainians. The contrast is staggering as, amid the ruins of apartment blocks, scorched trees, and shattered streets, images have appeared featuring Soviet soldiers, St. George’s ribbons, and red stars.
Trump’s job approval rating has dropped from 45% in February to 39% now.
On the 100th day of his new term, Donald Trump has the lowest job approval rating of any U.S. president in the last 80 years.
This is according to a new ABC/Washington Post poll conducted by Langer Research Associates with the support of Ipsos, Ukrinform reports.
The continuation of Russian occupation means kidnapped Ukrainian children are abandoned and thousands more will be “stolen” and brainwashed. And Trump doesn’t seem to care.
Trump botched the Russia-Ukraine situation by appointing a Brooklyn real estate developer with Russian oligarch partners to be his special envoy to Putin. Then he and JD Vance ambushed Ukraine’s President in the Oval Office to destroy Ukraine’s resilience. Next came the Easter fiasco when the Kremlin promised a 30-day truce and immediately unleashed major bombing raids against civilians.
In recent weeks, Russia dangled an Arctic “collaboration” in front of Washington and Trump now backs a proposal that freezes the current front line, which favors Moscow. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” then suddenly quit on April 23, leaving talks to subordinates.
A betrayal of Ukraine will cost America the world.
When the Soviet Union faced growing instability and a national re-awakening of its subjugated satellite states, Mikhail Gorbachev made a comment which was powerful in spite of its brevity: “Our power comes from the perception of our power.” It wasn’t exactly a new insight – for millennia people have understood the importance of soft power – but in its historical context it was prescient, because the edifice of Soviet power was ultimately brought down by the mere perception of weakness at the edges of its empire. His observation resonates with what is in front of us now.
The collapse of US soft power
The war at the zero-line is unlike any other conflict when unmanned aerial systems UAS (drones) are factored in.
The war in Ukraine has, without question, taught us many lessons, none of which is more important than the impact drones and robotics have had on tactics, operations, and strategy.
The concept of drones is not new. Most people are aware of nation-state capabilities from over two decades of large platforms like the US Predator remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) being used in various conflict zones. However, the advent of the small drone platforms accessible to the public that have become a weapon of choice is far less understood.
The 42-year-old Russian man, who used to live in Ukraine, could face life in prison if found guilty of the charges.
A man suspected of killing a Russian general in a car bombing outside Moscow on Ukraine’s orders has been charged with terrorism, Russia’s investigative committee said on Sunday.
“Ignat Kuzin has been charged with committing a terrorist act,” the investigators said in a statement, adding that a request for his arrest has been sent to court.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Trump and Zelensky face-to-face at the Vatican offered the world a moment of humanity. The photos of the two presidents – listening – can transform narratives within American culture.
If there exists a leader more indefatigable and unflappable than Volodymyr Zelensky, let the case be made. Who else in our time has faced unceasing assassination attempts from a brutal invading superpower, endured public scorn and betrayal from a former allied nation, and yet continues to embody magnanimity, dignity, and composure as the president of Ukraine?
Everything you need to know about this man was captured on April 26, in a series of photographs of him and President Trump at the Vatican, gathered to honor the life of Pope Francis. But not just Zelensky. The images reveal something positive, but undefinable, something we have not seen to date from the President of the United States in the context of his relationship with the Ukrainian president.
Witnesses said the ramp may have been triggered by another child pulling a lever inside the vehicle. Others said the door may have opened on its own.
A four-year-old boy died Saturday, April 26, after being struck by a ramp at an exhibition of captured military equipment from the war in Ukraine, Meduza reported, citing local media reports.
The child was visiting the exhibit in Komsomolsk-on-Amur city with his father when he approached an American-made M113 armored personnel carrier, which had been seized by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Trump’s cheerleader and dismantler-in-chief Elon Musk has even said the team behind CBS’s flagship “60 Minutes” show deserves prison.
With lawsuits and tirades about “the enemy of the people” Donald Trump has launched a frontal assault on the mainstream media, while empowering conservative bloggers and podcasters to get his radical agenda across.
The president has stepped up his long-established hostility towards TV news channels like CNN and newspapers such as The New York Times, but even the respected Associated Press news agency has been under intense fire.
A sample of reflections from the European media on Ukraine being forced to give in on terms suitable for Trump and Putin.
Donald Trump has announced that Washington and Moscow have agreed on terms for ending the war in Ukraine: “I think we have a deal with Russia,” the US president said on Wednesday, adding that Russia was making a big concession by agreeing to end the war now rather than seizing the whole country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said that Russia was in principle ready to conclude an agreement. Trump had previously lambasted Zelensky for refusing to cede on his country’s right to keep Crimea.
Just a pseudo peace
This is 0.5% lower than independent estimates, showing the overall slowdown of the economy due to Russia’s attacks.
Ukraine’s real GDP grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, the National bank of Ukraine (NBU) – Ukraine’s central bank – reported.
The figure is lower than alternative estimates of real GDP growth of 1.1% in the first quarter, published by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER).
Under fire from the US president’s team, representatives of the free press meet and reaffirm their commitment to core values.
The White House Correspondents’ Association staged its annual gala on Saturday in a muted celebration amid mounting concerns about press freedom under President Donald Trump.
The dinner, while still as packed as previous years, took on a more somber, understated atmosphere with no president cracking self-deprecating jokes and no comedian.
The push for stronger measures comes amid growing frustration in Washington over the Kremlin’s continued aggression, including deadly missile strikes on Kyiv, Sumy and Kryvyi Rih earlier this month.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said lawmakers are ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if the Kremlin refuses to pursue an “honorable, just and enduring” peace with Ukraine.
In a post on X, Graham thanked US President Donald Trump and his administration for “working diligently to end the war in Ukraine” calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion “barbaric.”
Russian aerial attacks have escalated despite calls by US President Donald Trump for a ceasefire to halt more than three years of fighting.
Russian forces launched a drone attack on the city of Pavlograd in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, killing one person and injuring a 14-year-old girl, local officials said Sunday, April 27.
Russian aerial attacks have escalated despite calls by US President Donald Trump for a ceasefire to halt more than three years of fighting.
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks on the fighting since the start of Moscow’s offensive in 2022. The war has devastated swathes of eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people.
Russia is ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff at a meeting on Friday, the Kremlin said Saturday.
“During yesterday’s talks with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Putin has stated that several times in the past.
Reports of North Korean fighters in Ukraine had circulated since fall 2024, but Moscow previously dismissed them as “hype.”
Russian officials on Saturday confirmed that North Korean soldiers have been fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine - the first time Moscow has publicly acknowledged their involvement.
Reports of North Korean fighters in Ukraine had circulated since fall 2024, but Moscow previously dismissed them as “hype.”
Moskalik was killed in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow, hours before Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Russia’s FSB security service said on Saturday it had detained a suspect over the killing of a senior Russian military officer on Friday by a car bomb.
The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for the killing of 59-year-old Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
When you know exactly where you stand, it makes it easier to spring forward and carry out a determined strategy. Now Ukraine knows where it stands with Trump.
While counterintuitive, the withdrawal by President Donald Trump of the United States from peace negotiations – and even from materially supporting Ukraine – may be beneficial to Ukraine and its allies.
That is a conclusion many senior decision-makers and policy analysts in Ukraine have come to and it has several reasons. It’s also a position that challenges the mistaken legacy tendency of seeing Ukraine and the war through Western eyes still fixated on Russia as some great power, which it no longer is.
The independent news site has identified more than 1,500 foreigners from all over the world who came to Moscow to fight for Russia, and how the Kremlin tried to hide its recruitment process.
The independent Russian news site “Important Stories (iStories)” studied a leak from Moscow’s medical database – the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System (EMIAS) – that was revealed after the capital’s city halls IT systems were hacked by the “DumpForum” group in April 2024.
Examination of the data revealed that, in Moscow alone, more than 1,500 foreign mercenaries from almost 50 countries were recruited for Russia’s war in Ukraine between April 2023 and May 2024. This is despite Russian President Vladimir Putin having declared in September 2023 that, “We have no need to invite people from outside to fight… 300,000 [Russian] citizens have signed contracts who came as volunteers.”
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Speaking to Kyiv Post, Ambassador Kurt Volker warns against “illogical” concessions and enticements to Russia, arguing that the focus should be on squeezing Putin’s ability to finance the war.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Kurt Volker, a former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations during the first Trump administration, on Saturday warned his ex-boss against “underestimating” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions. He called for the US President to consider punishing the aggressor for continuing the war against Ukraine, instead of rewarding him.
Speaking to Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent, Ambassador Volker said that the current US administration was deluding itself in believing that Putin would be rational and would want to end the war.
