Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-21-2025

The order for unspecified “modern ammunition” from Russia’s sanctioned Imperial Tula Arms Plant comes during a defense expo in Minsk.

Belarus’s Ministry of Defense has signed a deal to receive unspecified “modern ammunition” from Russia’s sanctioned Imperial Tula Arms Plant.

The ministry announced the deal in a Facebook post today as Belarus hosts the MILEX-2025 international defense exhibition in Minsk.

Three years ago, there were no Ukrainian-made robots to clear land mines. Now there are dozens – but foreign partners are still sending theirs, with a long way to go and civilians still being killed.

Ukrainian engineering company XTI Engineering has unveiled a new de-mining tractor, the latest in a new trend of domestic manufacturing: Three years ago, the country produced no equipment to remove land mines. Now there are many kinds from several local producers.

XTI Engineering’s HART 5100 remotely operated system, made with 80% local components, is significantly more affordable than foreign alternatives, the company said.

Russia is amassing troops near the Kharkiv region, possibly preparing new assaults; Ukraine’s Defense Forces say they’re monitoring the situation and ready to respond.

Russia is amassing troops near Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and potentially preparing for fresh offensives, according to Andriy Pomahajbus, Chief of Staff of Ukraine’s 13th “Khartia” Operational Brigade.

Speaking to Suspilne, Pomahajbus said Russia is attempting to move personnel closer to the front line and launch assault operations, though he said these efforts have been largely unsuccessful so far.

An official source in the Ukrainian Border Guard revealed that the service has detained tens of thousands of men trying to leave the country since the start of the war.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said it detained around 45,000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022. 

“Another 4,000 citizens were detained at checkpoints for attempting to illegally cross the border using forged documents or by falsifying other grounds that would give them the right to cross the border,” a spokesman for the service, Andriy Demchenko, told AFP on Wednesday.

A man in Sevastopol was sentenced by a Russian court to 18 years in a strict regime for allegedly collaborating with the Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR)

A court in occupied Sevastopol has sentenced a Ukrainian man for collaborating with Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR).  

The man was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) before being able to complete his mission, the Russian Crimean Prosecutor’s Office claimed. It did not publish his name.

The US has reportedly pushed back against including stronger commitments to Ukraine and firmer legal language condemning Russia’s war in the G7 finance ministers’ draft statement.

As the Group of Seven nations (G7) finance ministers meet in Canada this week, the United States is reportedly pushing back against language that would commit the group to further support for Ukraine.

According to Politico, citing two officials involved in the negotiations, Washington has objected to including stronger commitments for aid to Kyiv in the draft communiqué.

The Ukrainian lawyer and former politician was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday outside a school in a wealthy suburb of Madrid, Spain.

Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov was shot dead in Spain near Madrid. According to police reports, the killer (or killers) fired several shots, one of which hit Portnov in the head and was fatal.

Portnov was wanted by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and had been under US sanctions for several years. At the same time, Ukrainian social networks met Portnov’s murder with a standing ovation.

Warsaw’s push to revoke beneficial terms for Ukrainian exports in response to local farmers’ demands is likely to cause billions of future losses for Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the mechanism allowing duty-free import of goods from Ukraine will cease to apply at the beginning of June, and the trade between Ukraine and the EU will return to pre-invasion terms.

“When we won the elections, one of our first decisions was to force an immediate correction of the [autonomous trade measures] ATM mechanism to introduce some quotas, but that was only the beginning,” Tusk said during the plenary session of the Sejm, according to Polish TV channel tvn24.

Ukraine has asked the EU to impose new oil and banking restrictions on Russia, going beyond its 17th package of sanctions.

Ukraine has asked the EU to go beyond the 17th package of sanctions against Russia and, among other restrictions, cut the Russian oil price cap by half to $30.

According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, it is necessary to deter Russia and restore lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine and in Europe during wartime.

Russia has consistently rejected a 30-day halt in fighting proposed by the West and outlined hardline demands for a wider peace settlement.

The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected Ukrainian and European accusations that it was stalling Ukraine peace talks, saying it plans to name its conditions for a ceasefire, but declining to give a time frame.

Moscow has for weeks defied Western pressure for a full, unconditional and immediate truce in Ukraine, where its more than three-year offensive has killed tens of thousands of people.

Ukraine’s SBU says it caught an FSB oprative, a so-called “mole,” who got a job at a defense plant in Odesa region to steal classified vehicle tech and spot air defense sites for Russian intelligence.

At a defense enterprise in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) uncovered a so-called “mole” working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), who, according to the investigation, attempted to steal advanced military developments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU).

The man, recruited by the Kremlin, was tasked with obtaining classified documents related to the production of components for Ukraine’s newest military vehicles. To fulfill this mission, he got a job at a local factory that fulfills defense contracts.

The fire broke out in an unused cooling tower at the power plant. Two people were found dead at the scene.

A fire broke out Monday, May 21, at the Bila Tserkva Thermal Power Plant in Ukraine’s Kyiv region, killing two people, officials said.

The blaze began around 1 p.m. local time in an inactive cooling tower at the plant, according to the Bilotserkivska City Territorial Community.

Trump first ordered the project a week after returning to the White House in January. The system would place missile interceptors in space to defend against ballistic and hypersonic weapons.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump’s plan to build a “Golden Dome” missile shield is mostly a decision for the United States to make, softening earlier criticism that the idea could destabilize global security.

Trump first ordered the project a week after returning to the White House in January. The system would place missile interceptors in space to defend against ballistic and hypersonic weapons.

A Russian commander reportedly asked his subordinate to shoot his comrade if he refused to comply with orders.

A newly released audio recording allegedly captures a Russian military commander ordering the maiming of one of his own soldiers.

The intercepted communication was published by the “I Want to Live” [Хочу жить] project, a Kyiv-backed initiative facilitating the surrender of Russian and Belarusian troops.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Russian Security Council Secretary and former Defence
• Minister Sergey Shoygu’s military contract has reportedly been extended for a further 5 years to run until 2030, when he will turn 75 years old. Shoygu, a close ally of Putin, reportedly missed Russia’s 09 May 2025 Victory Day parade in Moscow for health-related reasons.
• The Russian state increasingly resembles a gerontocracy; a form of rule in which the senior leaders are significantly older than most of the adult population. The majority of Russia’s senior leadership, including Putin (72), are aged in the vicinity of, and exceeding, Russia’s reported 2023 average male life expectancy (approximately 68 years.
• Putin has highly likely sought to keep close personal allies in positions of power to better ensure perceived regime stability, as well as his own survivability. Political appointments derive from patronage and long-term loyalty to Putin, as opposed to being merit-based, likely engendering dissatisfaction and frustration amongst the younger generation of ambitious potential leaders. This also significantly undermines the effectiveness and efficiency of leadership decisions, which are likely made not by the most capable, but by those with the most longstanding acquiescence and commitment to, as well as deriving the most benefit from, Putin’s authoritarianism.

The shooting happened at 9:15 a.m. local time near the entrance of the American School of Madrid. Police say Portnov was shot five times. Early reports suggest there were three shooters involved.

Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, was shot and killed Wednesday morning in Madrid, Spanish authorities said. Portnov, who was under US sanctions, was 51 years old.

A Spanish police source told AFP that Portnov was shot in the back and head by several attackers as he was about to get into a vehicle outside the American School of Madrid, in the upscale town of Pozuelo de Alarcón. The attackers reportedly fled into a nearby wooded area.

Putin claims Kursk Oblast has been “completely liberated” and pushes bizarre wartime narratives near the Ukrainian border, while mixing freely with undistanced, non-quaranteened locals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly visited Kurchatov in Kursk Oblast, less than 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Putin met with “volunteers” and the region’s acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein. The exact date of the visit wasn’t disclosed, only that it took place “the day before.”

The EU and the UK have approved a new round of sanctions against Russia, but without the US. Kyiv Post’s Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo comments for TVP World.

In an application of Grand Strategy, Ukrainian drones reportedly strike Russia’s sanctioned Bolkhov Semiconductor Plant, key to its military-industrial tech industry.

Ukraine’s military is doing better than battlefield statistics of Russian casualties, equipment destroyed, may lead you to believe, as much of the war is going on away from the front lines, in what Ukraine is doing in executing a better Grand Strategy than corrupt Kremlin generals can apparently conceptualize.

An overnight strike by Ukraine behind enemy lines, along with partisan activity and information sharing from allied aerial surveillance over the Black Sea, illustrates how Kyiv is not just inventing new drone tactics on the front lines, it is mastering Grand Strategy any nation should be expected to implement across the border into the aggressor nations industrial targets, if not artificially and unilaterally limited.

In this report, Corrie Nieto breaks down the real meaning behind these talks – and why many Ukrainians see them not as steps toward peace, but as tools of manipulation.

Images aired on the Rossia 24 channel showed a relaxed and smiling Putin sitting around a large table decked with tea and sweets, with people from the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the border region of Kursk on Tuesday, several weeks after Russian forces pushed Ukrainian troops out of the area, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

“Vladimir Putin made a working visit the previous day to the Kursk region,” where he met with the interim governor and others, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The strike occurred during a training session near the Russian border. Over 10 were wounded. Ukrainian authorities are investigating command decisions and security lapses.

A Russian missile strike hit a military shooting range in Ukraine’s Sumy region on May 20, killing six servicemembers and injuring more than 10, according to the National Guard of Ukraine.

The attack occurred during training exercises at the shooting range of a military unit near the town of Shostka. The National Guard shared the information Wednesday on its official Facebook page.

Polish prosecutors say Pavel K. offered help to Russian intelligence and gathered information on security at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, used for travel by Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky.

Polish prosecutors have indicted a man accused of helping Russian intelligence plan a possible attempt to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, officials said Tuesday.

The suspect, identified only as Pavel K., is charged with working with Russian military intelligence and preparing an assassination attempt. Prosecutors said the case has been sent to the Warsaw District Court following the completion of a pre-trial investigation on May 20.

RFE/RL lost a major portion of its financing after President Donald Trump’s administration cut off funding in March, accusing the media outlet of pushing a liberal agenda.

The European Union will provide emergency funds to keep Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) operational after the Trump administration froze funding for the global pro-democracy broadcaster.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday that the bloc’s foreign ministers had agreed to a €5.5 million contract to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe.

For more than ten years Russia has pursued its war intended to destroy its democratic neighbor and its latest full-scale invasion goes beyond a thousand days.

The Kremlin’s full-scale war on Ukraine, now grinding through day 1181, has become a monument to Vladimir Putin’s strategic myopia and imperial obsession. Russian losses have surpassed a staggering one million casualties -– killed, wounded, or captured – according to leaked US Defense Department documents.

This grim milestone – coupled with the destruction of nearly 1,000 anti-aircraft systems and vast stockpiles of tanks, artillery, and munitions – underscores a brutal truth: Russia’s military is bleeding out, and Putin’s dream of subjugating Ukraine is a doomed and forlorn fantasy.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Senior Russian officials continue to deny the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president, government, and constitution and Ukraine’s sovereignty despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent efforts to feign interest in peace negotiations to end the war.
• Medvedev also reiterated long-standing Russian demands tantamount to Ukraine’s complete capitulation.
• Ukraine’s Western allies continue to provide military aid to Ukraine and support Ukraine’s defense industry.
• The European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) announced several sanctions packages against Russia on May 20.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed Colonel General Valery Solodchuk’s recent appointment as Central Military District (CMD) commander on May 20.
• Russian forces recently advanced in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, near Chasiv Yar and Toretsk, and in the Zaporizhia direction.

Trump responded to Zelensky’s latest sanction calls, telling reporters “that’s going to be my determination – nobody else’s.”

WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the decision to strengthen sanctions on Russia over its refusal of a ceasefire is “going to be my determination – that’s going to be nobody else’s determination.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office while announcing plans for the “Golden Dome,” a national ballistic and cruise missile defense system, Trump responded to a question on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest comments on sanctions following a call between the pair a day before.

Bipartisan group introduces what experts describe as ‘essential step’ towards returning Ukrainian kids and ensuring that Putin is not allowed to hold children in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

WASHINGTON DC – A bipartisan group of leading US Senators on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling for the return of all abducted Ukrainian children before any peace agreement is finalized, ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The issue has been at the center of an international war crimes arrest warrant against key Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin.

The top US diplomat told senators that the US is working closely with NATO allies with Patriot batteries to arrange their transfer to Ukraine.

WASHINGTON DC – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Tuesday that President Donald Trump has made “no concessions” to the Kremlin, dismissing criticism of the administration’s Ukraine policy, and said the administration is working to bring more air defense missile systems to Kyiv.

Rubio, who had just returned from a Ukraine-focused Europe trip Monday night, spent most of his Tuesday testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriation Committees as lawmakers grilled him over the current US administration’s Ukraine policy.

The survey out of Harvard resulted in a 71% approval among Democrats, and 59% of Republicans. Even right-wing Trump fans this month have been split 50/50.

The vast majority of Americans, both Democratic and Republican voters, believe that the administration of US President Donald Trump and Congress should continue to provide military support for Ukraine, a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey shows.

A resounding 62 percent of participants believe that the US should continue supplying weapons to Ukraine and imposing tougher sanctions on Russia.