Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-04-2025

Years of peacebuilding show that women significantly enhance peace processes. Can Ukraine learn from this and boost women’s roles in shaping peace?

Peace agreements that include women are 35% more likely to endure for at least 15 years — a compelling statistic that underscores why gender equality in peacebuilding is not just a moral issue, but a strategic one.

After the UN Security Council’s landmark adoption of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000 – a cornerstone in including gender in peace and security efforts – research into women’s impact on peacebuilding has gradually increased. 

‘A symbol of national identity’: Poland has celebrated 234 years of Europe’s first constitution

May 3, known as the Constitution Day in Poland, marked the adoption of Europe’s first democratic constitution in 1791 by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The document modernized the Polish state by ushering in a series of pioneering political reforms.

It was the world’s second democratic constitution after the United States in 1788.

An overwhelming majority of Hungarian citizens support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, despite the stance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

An overwhelming majority of Hungarian citizens support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, despite the stance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who initiated a public opinion survey in the country on the matter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“By the way, Orbán’s opposition organized an open survey for all Hungarians. Seventy percent support Ukraine joining the EU. So, the people of Hungary are with us. You know he conducted his own survey – supposedly showing people were against it. He controlled that poll. But there’s another poll, and it shows 70% in favor of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said during a conversation with journalists.

Russia has the means to bring its war in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion,” Putin claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not arise.

In a fragment of an upcoming interview with Russian state television published on Telegram, Putin said that Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion”.

The EU condemned Russia’s move to resume flights to Abkhazia without Georgia’s consent, calling it a violation of Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The European Union has condemned Russia’s decision to resume passenger flights to Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, calling it a violation of the Black Sea nation’s territorial integrity, as the move was made without Tbilisi’s consent.

Abkhazia broke away from Georgia’s control in a 1993 war that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, during which hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians fled the region. 

Trump’s next 100 days begin with a US-Ukraine investment deal seen as a strategic win. Both nations align on rebuilding Ukraine and pushing back against Russia.

Apparently, Trump’s next one hundred days are starting off much better than the first. Granted it’s a very low bar. On Wednesday, April 30, Ukraine and America signed something that is akin to an agreement. Both sides were encouraged. The Ukrainian side said:

“Truly, this is a strategic deal for the creation of an investment partner fund,” said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. “This is truly an equal and good international deal on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”

Trump again demonstrates that his vanity knows no limits.

US President Donald Trump posted on Friday a spoof picture of himself dressed as the pope on his Truth Social platform after joking that he would like to be the next Catholic pontiff.

The president is seen in what appears to be an AI-generated color image, with his right index finger pointed toward the sky, wearing papal regalia, including white robes, a gold crucifix pendant and the miter hat.

As part of Russia’s plan to undermine cohesion in Europe, it hopes to pull Serbia away from its path toward the EU by emphasizing traditional Orthodox ties.

In late April, the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), Porfirije, was on an official trip to Russia. While there, he seized every opportunity to highlight the close ties between the two nations, a reminder that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) remains the center of gravity for Russian influence in the Western Balkans.

On April 23, Porfirije sat down for dinner with Russian Patriarch Kirill and President Vladimir Putin. Throughout the conversation, Putin continuously emphasized a desire “to strengthen... [shared] traditional values and spiritual foundations.” One of the central ideas, referenced often, was the perceived ongoing Western attack against traditional Christianity and Christian values. Russian Patriarch Kirill stated explicitly that “things that are happening to human morality in the West today... [are] the work of the devil,” and Porfirije doubled down, insisting that “centers of power from the West do not wish to nurture the identity of the Serbian people or their culture.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia on May 7–10 for WWII victory events and talks with Putin on strategic ties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia on May 7-10 and join Vladimir Putin at the 80th commemoration of the Allied victory against Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

The Russian president’s office said Xi would also hold bilateral talks with Putin on “developing partnerships and strategic ties” and on “issues on the international and regional agenda”.

Welcome to the era of performative diplomacy. Trump is perfecting the art – to paraphrase Hamlet – of making the play the thing wherein to catch the conscience of kings.

Australia’s greatest ever political strategist, Mark Textor, recently said to me: “People say that Donald Trump is erratic and unpredictable. That’s wrong. In fact, he does the same thing in every situation: disrupt and then deal.”

Textor, who at one point was advising the prime ministers of four countries at once, is unsurprisingly and very much on to something. We are now in a period where, for the world’s most powerful person, striking a deal and everything that goes with it is the most valuable political currency. With deal-making at its core, we have entered the era of performative diplomacy.

Ukraine’s Air Force struck a Russian command post near occupied Bakhmut, weakening Moscow’s control over the Pokrovsk front.

Ukrainian Air Forces struck the command post of Russia’s 6th Motor Rifle Division near Bakhmut, significantly impacting the situation on the Pokrovsk axis. Enemy losses have not been disclosed.

“The Ukrainian Air Force recently carried out a powerful strike on the command post of the enemy’s 6th Motor Rifle Division in the area of Bakhmut, temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.

Ukraine destroyed a $50M Russian Su-30 warplane near Novorossiysk using a naval drone, the world’s first such aerial kill, and downed a second during an operation in Crimea.

Ukrainian forces destroyed a second Russian aircraft within 24 hours during a strike on the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the evening of Saturday, May 3.

“A brilliant downing of a Russian military aircraft by our naval drone — proof of Ukraine’s capabilities. Our [armed forces] very precisely carried out an operation against military targets in Crimea: minus another, the second Russian aircraft in one day,” Zelensky said.

The ports of Odesa and environs will be key to any significant post-war recovery in Ukraine. Already much headway has been made in the area of security.

There are many stories of resistance to the Russian invasion by the Ukrainians. Not only the soldiers at the front, but also the unknown heroes who continued to work in their place so that the State could continue to function. This is the case of the ports of Odesa, an essential artery for Ukrainian exports.

“Eighty percent of the country’s exports came out of the Ukrainian ports,” says Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov, the man responsible for ports and river and rail transport from the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion until May 2024. Then he followed the fate of the Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky rejected Putin’s proposed three-day truce as a theatrical move tied to Russia’s May 9 celebrations, saying Ukraine won’t play along without a real plan for peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed a three-day truce ordered by Russian leader Vladimir Putin as theatrics, but said Kyiv was ready for a full ceasefire.

Moscow said the truce, set to coincide with its World War II commemorations on May 9, was aimed at testing Kyiv’s “readiness” for long-term peace. It also accused Zelensky of making a “direct threat” to events on the holiday.

Russian drones attacked Kyiv, sparking fires in three districts and injuring 11 people, including two teenagers.

In the early hours of Sunday, May 4, Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian capital, sparking fires and causing destruction in the Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi districts.

Eleven people were injured, including two children aged 14 and 17, according to the State Emergency Service (SES). The head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, confirmed their ages.

Romania holds a rerun presidential vote after last year’s far-right win was annulled over Russian interference claims

Polls opened in Romania on Sunday in a rerun of November’s annulled presidential election, with a far-right candidate again expected to win the first round.

The Constitutional Court cancelled the last vote won by NATO critic Calin Georgescu, who has been barred from the rerun, with fellow far-right politician George Simion now looking like the favourite.