Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

“A simple scheme involving fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries is being used to cover up these anti-Russian activities,” the Kremlin’s foreign intelligence service alleges.

Russia said Thursday it had evidence that Serbian defense companies were supplying Ukraine with ammunition, in a rare rebuke of a country Moscow considers an ally.

The Balkan nation with close historical links to Russia has maintained an official policy of neutrality throughout Moscow’s three-year offensive on Ukraine and has denied arming either side.

Over half of the approximately 2,500 Azovstal defenders captured by Russia in 2022 have been returned to Ukraine, but none were included in the latest round of prisoner exchanges.

Ukraine’s Deputy Head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Andrii Yusov, reported that 1,279 Azovstal defenders have been released from Russian captivity since 2022, including 455 members of the Azov regiment.

These comments were made on air yesterday by Yusov during an appearance on Radio Liberty.

Zelensky accuses China of blocking the supply of DJI Mavic drones to Ukraine and Europe, but providing them to Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said China has stopped selling drones to Kyiv and other European nations, while continuing shipments to Russia.

Drones have been a defining feature of the War in Ukraine, providing both sides with the opportunity to see the battlefield and strike deep behind enemy lines. Ukraine was initially entirely dependent on imported Chinese drones, such as the DJI Mavic, but now has the capacity to manufacture a large number of drones domestically.  

Germany’s Federal Prosecutor has filed charges against three men who are suspected of planning a hit on a former Ukrainian soldier in Frankfurt am Main on behalf of Russia in 2024.

On June 19 last year, three men entered the “Celona” café in Frankfurt am Main, where they had arranged to meet a former member of Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU). Instead, they were arrested by special forces from the Hessian State Criminal Police Office (LKA), who had them under surveillance after the ex-AFU member became suspicious and reported the group’s initial approach.

When arrested, according to an LKA spokesperson cited by the German WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung media outlets, they were found to be in possession of a large quantity of cash, several passports, and GPS tracking devices.

The .338-caliber “Chernivtsi-Ashdod” Ruger sniper rifle, donated through the Vengeance Guard project will see service with Ukraine’s 8th Separate Rifle Battalion.

Volunteers from the “Vengeance Guard” project, Yury Chornomorets and Dmytro Batyshchev, have handed over a long-range “Chernivtsi-Ashdod” sniper rifle, named after the two cities in Ukraine and Israel, to paratroopers of Ukraine’s Airborne Assault Forces.

The rifle – a .338 (8.6 mm)-caliber Ruger – was handed over on May 28 in Kyiv and for use by the 8th Separate Rifle Battalion.

Out of its First Quarter total budget expenses of $27.9 Billion, the Kyiv government outlay for defending against Russia’s full-scale invasion was $20.8 Billion, or 74.6%.

Ukraine spent $20.8 billion to defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion, or about 75% of its total state budget expenditures of $27.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025, the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute analytic center estimated.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, the key stakeholder in spending for the military, laid out $16.4 billion – 78.8% of the $20.8-billion invoice for the war in the first quarter.

Despite Kremlin claims of stability, Russia faces soaring inflation, a shrinking economy, and a falling ruble – signs of deep crisis, warns economist Volodymyr Lugovskyy.

German Chancellor Merz says sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine is possible, lifting range limits, and pledging joint production to boost Kyiv’s long-range strike ability.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on Wednesday, said Germany is no longer ruling out supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles.

“Of course, it’s within the realm of possibility,” he said during a broadcast on ZDF, one of Germany’s main public television broadcasters.

Daily updates from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) regarding frontline developments and casualty figures amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As of May 28, Russia has lost 984,940 troops after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 – including 1,050 troops over the past day, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

The figures are approximate estimations – potentially the reason why troop losses over the past day differed by 90 compared to the figures from the previous day.

Moscow has offered to hold a second round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it wants to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.

The Kremlin said Thursday, May 29, that it is waiting for a response from Kyiv on a proposed round of peace talks scheduled for Monday in Turkey.

Moscow has offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it plans to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.

Ukrainian partisans scouted a key aircraft engine plant in St. Petersburg and passed intel to Ukraine’s forces to help target Russia’s military aviation.

The Ukrainian resistance movement “Atesh“ reported a successful reconnaissance mission at a strategic defense facility in St. Petersburg — the “UEC-Klimov” plant, which manufactures and repairs engines for Russia’s combat aviation.

According to the partisans, their agents were able to thoroughly study the territory and production capacities of the plant, which they say is critical for the Russian military.

New details say Gurtsiev died in a blast during a meetup with a man from a gay dating app, who allegedly carried a bag with a hidden bomb planted by unknown individuals.

Zaur Gurtsiev, a Russian major who ordered the bombing of Mariupol in 2022 and was later rewarded with a political appointment, was killed early Thursday, May 29, in a grenade explosion in Stavropol.

According to the Russian media outlet Agency. Novosti, Gurtsiev died in the blast alongside another man near a residential building at 85/19 Chekhov Street. The two were reportedly drinking on a bench when an unidentified individual detonated a grenade.

Russia said Wednesday it wanted new talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday to present its plan for a peace settlement, but Kyiv said it needed to see the proposal in advance.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” to dialogue ahead of an anticipated meeting between officials from both sides in Istanbul on Monday.

“We are in contact with Russia and Ukraine....We are telling them not to shut the door as long as it remains open,” the Turkish presidency on Thursday quoted him as saying.

As the plight of ordinary Ukrainians resulting from Russia’s ongoing attacks on their country falls off Western news coverage a group of Italian bike enthusiasts decide to do something about it.

In Italy, as in many other European countries, attention towards the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion has decreased with greater coverage being given by newspapers to the Gaza crisis and the resulting “psychological fatigue” towards the continuous images of suffering.

This has not, however, discouraged the group of doctors and humanitarian workers belonging to the International Rescue Programme to take action. Led by an anaesthetist from Padua, Mauro Migliore, a group of volunteers have organized a nine-person humanitarian motorbike rally to demonstrate Italian support for the suffering caused by the war.

Over 20 Russians and Belarusians in Serbia face statelessness after long citizenship delays, trapped without travel rights despite years living, working, and raising families in the country.

More than 20 Russians and Belarusians living in Serbia have become “stateless” after not being granted the Serbian nationality they had applied for.

Most have lived in Serbia for more than a decade — buying property, starting businesses and raising children born in the country — where they are now basically trapped, unable to leave.

The claim was made just days after the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said that the missiles and nuclear weapons have not been positioned in Russia’s client state.

Speaking on the sidelines of Moscow’s sponsored international security summit on Wednesday Alexandr Volfovich, Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council said Moscow and Minsk had jointly decided to deploy Oreshnik missiles to Belarus by the end of 2025.

TASS cited Volfovich as saying, “By year’s end, I believe the decision regarding the placement of Oreshnik, which was agreed upon by our heads of state, will become a reality. These issues have been resolved, and the locations within Belarus have been finalized. Preparations are proceeding as planned.”

Trump said on Monday that the Russia Ukraine war was not his, the US should never have been involved, perhaps forcing European leaders to step up – at last.

Shortly after his two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters, “This isn’t my war. We got ourselves entangled in something we shouldn’t have been involved in.”

Then, in his post phone call discussion with European leaders, he allegedly said, “I think Vladimir does not want peace.”

Russia claims to have intercepted nearly 50 Ukrainian drones overnight, with explosions reported near Moscow and a key military-linked plant catching fire in St. Petersburg.

Russia claims it intercepted and destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones between the evening of May 28 and the morning of May 29, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

As per the ministry’s report shared on Telegram, the drones were reportedly downed in the following areas:

Trump’s global trade war has roiled financial markets with a stop-start rollout of levies that are aimed at punishing economies that sell more to the United States than they buy.

A US federal court on Wednesday blocked most of Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president had overstepped his authority with the across-the-board global levies.

The opinion marks a significant setback to the Republican leader as he bids to redraw the US trading relationship with the world by forcing governments to the negotiating table through tough new tariffs.

Although his departure was expected – Musk was only allowed to serve up to 130 days per year – it came shortly after he publicly criticized Trump’s new budget plan.

Elon Musk said he is stepping down from his role in the Trump administration after leading a major push to slash the size of the US government.

In a post on his social media platform X, the billionaire thanked President Donald Trump for the chance to work as head of Trump’s unofficial “department of government efficiency,” or DOGE.

There are no more excuses to delay using seized Russia’s assets to pay for the costs of Ukraine’s defense against its aggression.

For the past three years plus, I have been active in various campaign groups trying to GET RUSSIA TO PAY, specifically for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and utilizing therein the $330 billion in CBR assets immobilized in Western jurisdictions.

Morally it seems like a no brainer - Russia is clearly the aggressor (see various UN resolutions), it should pay for the close to $1 trillion in damage it has done to Ukraine and the costs of the war, which are close to $350 billion now in terms of Western financial support given to Ukraine to help in its defense.

Farmers are worried the EU’s regional and agricultural support systems won’t be adequately shielded from the impact of Ukraine’s accession to the Union.

This article is part of our special report EUYou – Europe is you.

As the European Union weighs Ukraine’s path to membership, mounting concerns are being voiced across the bloc over the potential impact on cohesion policy and agricultural funding – two pillars of EU solidarity. In Hungary, these fears are voiced particularly strongly.

Bipartisan Senate legislation highlights Moscow’s growing strategic alignment with its partners, underscoring the need to treat their coordination as a unified threat.

WASHINGTON DC – A bipartisan pair of leading US Senators has recently introduced a bill urging the Trump administration to develop a whole-of-government strategy to disrupt growing cooperation among Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.

The legislation is titled The DISRUPT Act of 2025 and is authored by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and David McCormick (R-PA).

Ukraine has unveiled Sky Sentinel, a fully automated AI-controlled turret that has already downed Russian drones without human intervention, in a scalable system that could be as common as the Shahed.

Ukraine has developed and successfully tested the Sky Sentinel – an AI-powered, fully automated turret designed to shoot down Russian drones and missiles.

According to developers cited by United24 media, the system is capable of operating without human involvement.

The EU wants to create a hi-tech hub to boost security in the Black Sea region.

The European Union has proposed a new plan to challenge Russian aggression in the Black Sea region.

It wants to create a hi-tech hub to boost security in the Black Sea by gathering information from multiple countries to monitor this strategically important region.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Western insider reporting about Kremlin demands to end the war in Ukraine continues to align with repeated public statements from Kremlin officials outlining Russia’s demands, indicating that Russia’s goal of Ukrainian capitulation and destruction of NATO remains unchanged.
• Putin reportedly maintains his demand that Ukraine cede all of the four oblasts that Russia has illegally annexed but not fully occupied, even as Kremlin officials have signaled that Russia has territorial ambitions beyond these four oblasts.
• Putin continues to demonstrate his willingness to achieve his war aims militarily through a prolonged war in Ukraine during which Russian forces would continue to only make gradual, creeping advances.
• The Kremlin continues to promote its long-standing false narratives that the threat of NATO expansion forced Russia to invade Ukraine in 2022, and that NATO continues to threaten Russia’s security.
• The Kremlin continues to promote Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envisioned Eurasian security architecture — a Russian-led bloc aimed at countering the West and NATO.
• Russia and Belarus reduced the scope of the September 2025 Zapad-2025 joint Russian-Belarussian military exercise and relocated the main maneuver away from Belarus’s western borders, likely to promote a veneer of cooperation and distract from Russia’s limited military capacity outside of the Ukraine theater.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to forward an unofficial Russian ideology formulated on Russian nationalism and to try to unify Russian society in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces conducted a series of long-range drone strikes targeting Russia’s defense industrial base (DIB) on May 27 and 28.
• Ukraine’s Western allies continue to provide military aid to Ukraine.
• Ukrainian authorities recently identified a Russian servicemember responsible for the execution of two Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in January 2025.
• Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Velyka Novosilka.