Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-30-2025

Western countries have for years accused Russian intelligence of cyberattacks and interfering in their political systems, including election campaigns.

Russia on Wednesday slammed what it called “unfounded accusations” by the French government that it hacked President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign in 2017. 

“We strongly reject the unfounded accusations by the French side,” the Russian embassy in France said on Telegram, after Paris accused Moscow of being behind cyberattacks against France during the last decade. 

Ukraine is set to sign a pivotal resource agreement with the US that preserves full ownership of resources, excludes debt obligations, and launches a 50/50 investment fund for reconstruction.

Ukraine is expected to sign a long-awaited critical minerals agreement with the United States on Wednesday that retains key gains for Kyiv compared to previous draft proposals, according to a draft of the pact viewed by Kyiv Post.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko arrived in Washington earlier on Wednesday in hopes of signing the agreement. The Ukrainian Cabinet is legally required to ratify the pact and is ready to approve it as soon as possible, a government source confirmed to Kyiv Post. 

Poroshenko called the bank’s decision absurd.

Ukraine’s central bank, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) declared the business reputation of former President Petro Poroshenko flawed.

The NBU said its decision was based on sanctions imposed on Poroshenko by the Ukrainian government in February.

Syrsky says Russian forces are intensifying attacks in the Pokrovsk sector, trying to break through defenses and reach the Dnipropetrovsk region, while suffering heavy losses.

Russian troops are attempting to break through Ukrainian defenses and reach the administrative border of the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrsky.

In a Facebook post, he said that despite Moscow’s statements about a ceasefire for the May holidays, Russian forces have sharply escalated hostilities, concentrating their main efforts in the Pokrovsk sector.

Russia has recently intensified its land advances in Ukraine and stepped up aerial bombardments, causing dozens of civilian deaths, despite US attempts to broker a ceasefire deals.

Russia said Wednesday it had captured the village of Nove in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as Moscow steps up its military offensive amid US mediation efforts. 

“As a result of active offensive operations, units of the Western military group liberated the settlement of Novoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Russia’s Ministry of Defense wrote on Telegram, using the Russian name for the village.

Hungary’s legislature has voted to leave the ICC, calling the international judicial body a “politicized institution that has lost its impartiality and credibility.”

In a vote confirmed by the foreign minister, the Hungarian legislature approved Budapest’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), moving toward the full exit Hungary announced after refusing to follow an ICC arrest warrant when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited in early April.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed that the sometimes-rogue EU and NATO member’s ICC exit on Tuesday, April 29.

The deal will see Kyiv and Washington jointly invest in Ukraine’s rich but underdeveloped resources through a 50/50 fund, a Ukrainian official said.

Ukraine is expected to sign a long-awaited critical minerals agreement with the United States on Wednesday, sources have confirmed to Kyiv Post and other publications. 

The deal – which US President Donald Trump has described as “money back” for American aid to Ukraine – will see Kyiv and Washington jointly invest in Ukraine’s rich but underdeveloped resources through a 50/50 fund, a senior official in the presidential administration told AFP. 

Ukraine’s “Dronepad” project has already taken down over a dozen of Russia’s Merlin-VR drones, with estimated enemy losses surpassing Hr.3.6 billion, according to the “Return Alive” foundation.

A Ukrainian drone team “Dronopad” [Drone Fall] destroyed two of Russia’s most expensive Merlin-VR reconnaissance drones – each valued at over $300,000 – in just 30 minutes.

The Ukrainian Army Assistance Fund “Come Back Alive” published a video of the strike on Telegram. Kyiv Post could not independently verify the time or location of the footage.

Kyiv Post visited Orbita – a city that was meant to become home to tens of thousands of nuclear power plant workers, like Chornobyl, Pripyat or Enerhodar – but it was abandoned during construction

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has also detained the firm’s deputy director and former officials involved in the production and subsequent evaluation of the defective rounds.

Ukraine has arrested the management of an arms maker and former defense officials for supplying the military with 120,000 rounds of defective mortar rounds in 2024.

The arrests were likely connected with Kyiv’s recall of 120mm mortar rounds from the front in late 2024, where errors reported at the time included faulty fuses, low-quality firing pins, weak propellant, low-grade explosives and cheap packing materials that let in the damp.

Their cooperation agreement provides for the “exchange of experience, ideas and political practices between the two parties.

SOFIA - The pro-Russian nationalist party Vazrazhdane (Revival) has signed an agreement for joint cooperation and equal partnership with the ruling party United Russia of Vladimir Putin. This was announced by Vazrazhdane in a press release about their delegation’s visit to the Russian capital Moscow at the invitation of Putin’s party.

“The agreement provides for the exchange of experience, ideas and political practices between the two parties, and is an important positive step towards the restoration of full-fledged Bulgarian-Russian relations,” the party stated. The agreement was signed by the deputy chairman of Vazrazhdane Tsoncho Ganev, who is also Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, and Vladimir Yakushev - deputy chairman of the Upper House of the Russian State Duma.

Ukraine nationalized subsidiaries of Russian banks right after Russia’s invasion, but the fight for their cash abroad – and compensation for the war – is still ongoing.

The Ukrainian Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) is seeking to seize Hr.2 billion ($48 million) that belonged to Russian bank subsidiaries it nationalized after the 2022 full-scale invasion that is blocked in foreign jurisdictions.

The sum includes funds in euros and dollars held in bank accounts around the world and in the payment systems of Visa and Mastercard, the DGF press service exclusively told Kyiv Post.

The Secretary of the US Department for Homeland Security claimed the two suspects had voted “illegally” during last year’s presidential election.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a cost-cutting agency headed by billionaire Elon Musk, a major donor to US President Donald Trump’s election campaign.

It has been reported that, with the help of DOGE, US immigration services have arrested two Ukrainian nationals in the US for allegedly voting illegally in the November 2024 presidential election.

India’s government said Wednesday that Russia had been informed that India would be represented by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

India said Wednesday that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would attend Russia’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow, taking up an invitation that had been also extended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said this month that Modi had been invited to the May 9 parade, but had not confirmed if he would attend.

Former HUR Deputy Head Pavlenko said a Kremlin fake nuclear threat in 2022 was used to manipulate Western aid to Ukraine, causing the first long-term arms delivery freeze after the Kharkiv offensive.

Russia has covertly used nuclear blackmail to influence Western countries, and one such ploy led to the suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine in the fall of 2022, according to Ukrainian Maj. Gen. Ilya Pavlenko.

Pavlenko served in the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) counterintelligence department and later as deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).

In an interview with Kyiv Post, Ukrainian drone operator “Potter” shares how he survived a deadly Russian FPV drone ambush and reveals how Moscow’s troops are refining their battlefield tactics.

A Ukrainian drone operator with the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, call sign “Potter” told Kyiv Post how evolving Russian drone tactics nearly cost him and his team their lives during a rotation mission in the Kharkiv sector of the front.

“The [expletive for Russians] are constantly changing their tactics and it’s hard to keep up.”

Located in the Vladimir Oblast, the plant produces ammunition ignition equipment and components for the Russian Navy and aviation essential to Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

In a nighttime operation, drones from  Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) hit the Murom Instrument-Making Plant, a critical facility supporting the Russian military, an SBU source told Kyiv Post.

Located in the Vladimir Oblast, the plant produces ammunition ignition equipment and components for the Russian Navy and aviation, essential to Moscow’s ongoing war efforts against Ukraine, the source said.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has stepped up domestic weapons and ammunition production none more so than those in the east closest to the Ukrainian front line.

Estonia is the latest Eastern European country to step up weapons production and in particular for 155mm artillery ammunition that has proved so essential in combating current and potential Russian aggression.

The government in Tallinn announced this week the setting up of a new explosives factory and manufacturing company “Hexest AS” to make RDX / Hexogen, an essential explosive component along with TNT for the filling of 155 artillery ammunition. Earlier this year Estonia received the first batch of a planned 18 Caesar 155mm self-propelled howitzers assigned to the newly created 3rd Self-propelled Artillery Battalion.

Tuesday, April 29, marked 100 days since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President for the second time - a perfect opportunity for the press to take stock.

Tuesday, April 29, marked 100 days since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President for the second time - a perfect opportunity for the press to take stock. Trump’s actionism in both domestic and foreign policy gives commentators plenty to reflect on.

The populist who hemorrhaged popularity

Drones struck Russia overnight, causing explosions in Kursk, a massive fire at a possible explosives plant in Murom, and temporarily shutting down three airports.

In the early hours of Wednesday, April 30, Russia was hit by another wave of Ukrainian drone attacks. As a result, at least three airports temporarily suspended operations, while explosions and fires were reported in multiple regions.

According to Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Volunteer Army “South,” a military warehouse likely used by Russian forces was struck in the city of Rylsk in the Kursk region, resulting in a powerful detonation.

Moldova, along with Ukraine and Georgia, applied to join the EU shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The European Union is preparing to advance Moldova’s membership process, potentially decoupling it from Ukraine’s dead-locked bid, as Hungary continues to oppose Kyiv’s accession, an EU official said.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that a potential “decoupling” of the two countries could happen as early as in June when key enlargement decisions are expected in Brussels.“No member state is against starting to open the first cluster with Moldova,” Kos said on Monday, acknowledging Hungary’s continued veto over Ukraine’s accession.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• On 28 April 2025, Russia’s President Putin unilaterally announced a full ceasefire in the Ukraine war, to cover the full 72-hour period of 8, 9 and 10 May. This coincides with Victory Day on 9 May, Russia’s commemoration of victory in the ‘Great Patriotic War’ (Second World War). Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy called for an immediate, full, and unconditional’ ceasefire lasting at least 30 days’ in response.
•  As with Putin’s unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire, this announcement is almost certainly intended to demonstrate a constructive approach in ongoing talks, without incurring significant costs to Russia’s battlefield position. Putin also likely seeks to reduce the potential for Ukrainian strikes to affect Victory Day commemorations. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Victory Day parades have been cancelled in multiple Russian cities, primarily those cities in regions that border Ukraine.

The remarks came days after Trump expressed doubts about Putin’s intentions following a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.

US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin still hopes to seize all of Ukraine, but claimed he would not succeed due to Putin’s “respect” for him.

“I think that he - let’s say he respects me. And I believe because of me he’s not going to take over the whole [country]  - but his decision, his choice, would be to take over all of Ukraine,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News.

North Korea on Monday confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia, with its soldiers assisting Moscow in reclaiming territory in the border region of Kursk.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia against Ukraine have been killed and thousands more wounded, a Seoul lawmaker said Wednesday, after Pyongyang officially confirmed deploying troops to aid Moscow.

“So far, North Korean troop casualties are estimated at around 4,700, including approximately 600 deaths,” MP Lee Seong-kweun, a member of parliament’s intelligence committee, told reporters after a briefing by the country’s spy agency.

“I was happy to see with my own eyes a destroyed enemy drone,” the pilot shares.

A newly released video captures the moment a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot, call sign Denfix, shoots down a Russian Shahed drone in broad daylight.

The video, published by Ukraine’s Air Command West on Facebook, shows the fighter launching a missile, which hits the target mid-air, and a plume of smoke passing the aircraft. Kyiv Post could not independently verify when or where the footage was taken.

Ukrenergo issued a 5-year Green and Sustainability-linked Eurobond in 2021 but has had to renegotiate its terms following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Ukraine’s state-owned electricity transmission system operator Ukrenergo has renegotiated terms for “green bonds”, issued in 2021 under previous CEO Volodymyr Kudrytsky, following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. The 5-year Green and Sustainability-linked Eurobond was worth a total of $825 million at a 6.875 percent yield. 

Ukrenegro reported it had agreed terms with an ad hoc group representing approximately 40% of the bond holders, offering them two options: a bond buyback or a bond swap. 

Bipartisan congressional group drafts “Russia-North Korea Cooperation Sanctions Act”; State Department agrees, saying North Korea “bears responsibility for perpetuating Russia-Ukraine war.”

A bipartisan group of over a dozen US lawmakers united in a call for immediate sanctions on North Korea over its support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.

The group led by Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, and Democrat Gerry Connolly, the chair of the US delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, recently introduced a landmark legislation called “Russia-North Korea Cooperation Sanctions Act” urging the Trump administration to document, report, and act upon “all significant activities” by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in its support to Russia and its proxies in Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.

The comment comes amid reports the United States suggested to freeze the front lines and accept the Russian control of the Crimean peninsula that it seized in 2014, something Zelensky has refused.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Tuesday for a “fair” end to the war with Russia without “rewards” for Vladimir Putin, pushing back against demands for Kyiv to make territorial concessions.

“We all want this war to end in a fair way -- with no rewards for Putin, especially no land,” Zelensky said via videoconference at a summit organised by Poland.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities have increased recently despite US President Donald Trump’s push for peace, with at least 164 civilians killed in March alone.

At least 45 people were injured in a major drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight, local officials said Wednesday, April 30. 

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 16 strikes hit the city by 11:26 p.m. local time Tuesday, damaging apartment buildings, private homes, a medical center, and other civilian infrastructure.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian Security Council Secretary Dmitry Medvedev stated on April 29 that Russia’s war in Ukraine must end in Russian “victory” and the “destruction” of the current Ukrainian government. Senior Kremlin officials continue to signal that Russia has greater territorial ambitions than just the occupied areas of Ukraine, particularly in areas bordering the Black Sea.
• Senior Russian officials reiterated the longstanding, false Russian narrative that the Ukrainian government is illegitimate, likely in order to set conditions to manipulate ceasefire negotiations and renege on any future Russian-Ukrainian agreements at a time of Russia’s choosing.
• Russian officials are setting conditions to baselessly accuse Ukraine of violating Russia’s unilateral May 8 to 11 ceasefire, as the Kremlin has done during previous ceasefires, while rejecting Ukraine’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
• Kremlin officials within Putin’s inner circle continue to threaten NATO as Putin himself refrains from doing so — likely as part of Kremlin efforts to justify future Russian aggression against NATO to the Russian population.
• Putin promoted his previously proposed Eurasian security architecture on April 29 as part of Russian efforts to create an alternative Russian-led bloc that furthers Putin’s goals of destroying NATO and weakening the West and its allies.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced in Belgorod and Sumy oblasts and near Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Velyka Novosilka.

The latest “reprioritization” of funds from the UN will roll back programs previously targeting six million recipients to 4.8 million.

As funding for the UN is shrinking, coinciding with austerity measures ushered in by US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, the UN announced that it will scale back humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine, an official from the global body’s Humanitarian Affairs Office said Tuesday.

In January, AFP reported, the UN had asked for $2.63 billion in funding to assist six million people who need aid in Ukraine, but due to a “sharp contraction” in humanitarian funding, “the UN and its partners... have further reprioritized” its operations in Ukraine to reach 4.8 million people with $1.75 billion, Joyce Msuya of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the UN Security Council.

Rubio: “We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict.”

The White House on Tuesday reiterated a warning that it was on the brink of exiting mediating efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, unless there were “concrete proposals from both parties,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce voiced Rubio’s statement during her daily press briefing. “We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” she said.

A few months before the latest poll, the Pew Research Center found that only 16% of people in France trusted Trump, 30% in the UK, and the highest support came from Hungary, at 37%.

The percentage of Ukrainians who do not trust US President Donald Trump has nearly doubled since American elections five months ago, reaching 90 percent in the latest polling by the New Europe Center.

One hundred days into Trump’s administration, his domestic approval rating have also plummeted to the lowest levels of any American president in about 70 years.