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Stay informed with the most important Ukraine breaking news today. This page compiles the top headlines and critical updates from across Ukraine, offering a real-time snapshot of key developments.
Whether it’s military updates, political changes, or international reactions — we bring you the latest Ukraine news as it happens. All reports are carefully curated from verified sources and KyivPost correspondents on the ground.
Zelensky also said that he viewed the G7 summit as a “very important” opportunity to see “what kind of pressure we can all exert to stop Putin.”
Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said that he will discuss buying US weapons with Donald Trump at the G7 summit, but added that US military aid was not on the agenda.
“We are not talking to America today about new assistance. Indeed, one of the issues I will discuss with President Trump at the meeting is the defence package that Ukraine is ready to buy,” Zelensky said during a visit to Vienna, from where he was to travel to Canada for this week’s G7 summit.
In a report published on Sunday, the ministry said that North Korea likely incurred over 6,000 casualties after it deployed soldiers to Kursk, which borders Ukraine, in the autumn of 2024.
More than half of the roughly 11,000 troops North Korea initially sent to Russia’s western Kursk region have been killed or injured while fighting Ukrainian troops, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
In a report published on Sunday, the ministry said that North Korea likely incurred over 6,000 casualties after it deployed soldiers to Kursk, which borders Ukraine, in the autumn of 2024.
Israel expanded its military operation against Iran on Friday and attacked nuclear facilities. Tehran responded with drone and missile attacks on Israeli cities. The European press voices concern.
Israel has expanded the military operation it began against Iran on Friday and attacked nuclear and military facilities, as well as oil and gas fields. Tehran responded with repeated drone and missile attacks on Israeli cities including Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There have been numerous casualties on both sides. The European press voices concern.
Political strategy lacking
In a Kyiv Post interview, @AnnaFromUkraine reveals why she believes Russia’s war is faltering – as it’s losing ground, facing internal rifts, and failing to suppress Ukraine’s truth offensive.
Russia and the US held their first talks since the start of the war in Ukraine in February in Riyadh. Two follow-up meetings were held in Istanbul in late February and early April.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that the US has canceled the next round of talks aimed at reducing tensions in bilateral relations between the two.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that the meeting, part of ongoing consultations to resolve issues impacting diplomatic missions, was called off by the US authorities. The official statement was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
Earlier, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, announced that Zelensky will hold several important international meetings during the visit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Vienna on an unannounced visit on Monday, June 16, accompanied by First Lady Olena Zelenska. The arrival was broadcast by Austrian news outlet “Heute“ as they were welcomed at the presidential residence.
Austria’s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen greeted Zelensky and the First Lady with military honors and a joint photo session at the presidential office.
Russian casualties in Ukraine since 2022 are five times higher than those in all Russian/Soviet wars since World War II, analysts assess.
Russian casualties in Ukraine have recently reached a new milestone: one million, which is five times higher than those in all Russian/Soviet wars since WWII combined with around 200,000 fatalities, top US military analysts assess in a latest analysis of the war, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.
Seth Jones and Riley McCabe, Ukraine experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, argue that Russia’s poor battlefield performance presents several vulnerabilities the US could better exploit.
Ukraine has received another 1,245 bodies of fallen citizens from Russia, completing the final stage of repatriation under the Istanbul Agreements, Umerov confirmed.
Russia has transferred the bodies of another 1,245 Ukrainians to Ukraine, bringing the total number of bodies returned under the Istanbul Agreements to 6,057.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) reported on Telegram that this marks the final stage of repatriation as agreed during talks in Istanbul.
Russia says Ukraine must give up Western-supplied weapons to end the war, calling foreign military aid “reckless” and a threat to global security.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine surrender all Western-supplied weapons as part of a ceasefire deal, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview published Monday.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United States and European countries have supplied Ukraine with billions in military and humanitarian aid. According to the Kiel Institute, EU members have provided about €137 billion ($159 billion), while the US has given €114 billion ($132 billion).
The EU has paid over €200B to Russia for energy since 2022. Fossil fuel bans are underway, but nuclear dependence remains a costly challenge.
The European Union is moving to end all fossil fuel imports from Russia as part of its efforts to cut economic ties following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Still, since the invasion began, EU countries have paid more than €200 billion ($232 billion) to Russia for energy supplies.
Imports of coal and oil are already banned under EU sanctions, and gas imports are planned to be phased out by 2027.
Record numbers of high-flying Russian drone swarms are overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses, forcing it to come up with new countermeasures.
Russia has once again adjusted its drone warfare tactics against Ukraine, launching record-breaking waves of deadly Shahed drones at higher altitudes, making them significantly harder to intercept.
According to the CNN report, seven of Russia’s largest drone attacks in the war have occurred in the past four weeks alone, as Moscow increases both the volume and complexity of its assaults.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
China and Central Asian states hold summit in Kazakhstan without Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazakhstan on Monday to attend the second China-Central Asia Summit, Beijing’s state media reported.
State news agency Xinhua reported at around 12:30 pm Kazakh time (0730 GMT) that the Chinese leader had touched down in the capital, Astana.
The General Staff of Ukraine confirmed the strike targeted a key Russian military-industrial site used to produce and launch drones against Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure.
Smoke was seen rising over Yelabuga city in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic on Sunday, June 15, amid drone attacks that reportedly targeted a Shahed drone manufacturing plant.
Local Telegram channels, including Astra, suggested the Alabuga plant, known for producing Shahed drones, may have been struck. Multiple videos posted on social media show smoke billowing from areas allegedly near the facility.
The major issues are oil prices, Russian influence on Iran… And the “loss” of interest in the war (though both current wars are interrelated).
A full-fledged Israeli attack on Iran is just as much of a “declared” war as the Russian “Special Military Operation” against Ukraine; everyone knew it would break out and even predicted the time quite accurately.
There is another point worth recalling here: on April 12, US President Donald Trump actually issued an ultimatum to Tehran: if a new nuclear deal is not reached within 60 days, something like a “different reality” will come for Iran. It did come on June 13 – exactly 60 days later.
Iran unleashed a barrage of missile strikes on Israeli cities early Monday, after Israel struck military targets deep inside Iran, with both sides threatening further devastation.
Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel over its massive air strikes killed five Ukrainian nationals, including three children, in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, Kyiv said Sunday.
The five were killed Saturday in the “massive” Iranian strikes when a missile hit a residential building in the city, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.
Kyiv’s military administration called the attack a “deliberate tactic of terror.” Air defenses downed 125 drones, but impacts and debris were recorded in multiple locations.
Russian forces launched 138 Shahed strike UAVs and decoy drones of various types against Ukraine from 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 15, to Monday morning, June 16, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The main direction of the strike was the Donetsk region, as per the report, shared via Telegram.
A Russian soldier accused of executing a captured Ukrainian fighter during a frontline assault has become the first to face trial in Ukraine for a battlefield war crime.
Dmitriy Kurashov, a former Russian prisoner recruited into the army, pleaded guilty in a Zaporizhzhia court to killing 41-year-old Ukrainian soldier Vitalii Hodniuk, known by the callsign “Penguin”, in January 2024. He was serving with a “Storm-V” assault unit made up almost entirely of convicts.
According to three of his former unit members, Hodniuk emerged from a foxhole unarmed and knelt in surrender when Kurashov shot him with a burst from his rifle. Kurashov initially denied the charges, blaming another soldier, but changed his plea in court, claiming he wanted to shorten proceedings despite still informally protesting his innocence.
The Kremlin is actively preparing for an offensive that will create a “buffer zone” in frontline areas. This development may trigger complex humanitarian challenges due to the limited recourses.
The Kremlin has used the latest round of Istanbul talks not to seek peace but to buy time to regroup for the summer offensive and focus on plans to create a buffer zone in frontline regions, particularly in the north and east of Ukraine (the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions).
The buffer zone strategy, first publicly mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a means of ensuring safety for Russia’s border regions with Ukraine, has taken on new aggressive dimensions. Russian public officials, such as Dmitry Medvedev, have openly called for expanding this zone westward, transforming what was initially described as a defensive measure into an expansionist doctrine. While some analysts consider it a diversionary strategy to disperse and weaken Ukraine’s forces, the risk of a real territorial seizure should not be underestimated and requires a response that extends beyond just military planning.
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine: “Unfortunately, the US blocked G7 sanctions on Russia last week. I expect some language on the war that will be at least OK, or perhaps somewhat better.”
WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump is set to have a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and other world leaders in the margins of the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Canada, White House officials confirmed on Sunday, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.
Trump arrived in the Canadian Rockies late Sunday evening expressing optimism about potential trade agreements and dealmaking as the world leaders’ gathering comes at a pivotal moment when global trade relationships and international security concerns - in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Middle East instability - intersect, potentially reshaping diplomatic alliances and economic partnerships.
Israel-Iran war raising oil prices - which is good news for Russia.
Oil prices extended gains Monday as Israel and Iran pounded each other with missiles for a fourth day and threatened further attacks, stoking fears of a lengthy conflict that could reignite inflation.
Gold prices also rose back towards a record high thanks to a rush into safe havens, but while most equity markets dropped further into the red, the losses were limited on hopes that the conflict would not spread through the Middle East.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Protests were organized in all 50 US states, with organizers heralding them as the largest of their kind since Trump returned to office in January.
Over five million people took part in “No Kings” demonstrations in more than 2,100 cities and towns across the country, officials estimated, with an additional 300 “Kick Out the Clowns” rallies of a similar anti-Trump nature across the US.
The huge outpouring of disdain for the current administration dwarfed US President Donald Trump’s birthday party in Washington, on which he spent more than $45 million in taxpayer funds.
“It’s a different landscape in defense these days,” said Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who claimed that the reason for the redirection was to protect Americans and US assets.
Speaking to a Fox News panel during a broadcast of US President Donald Trump’s military parade over the weekend, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth admitted that his department diverted air defenses meant for Ukraine to the defense of Israel, instead, claiming it was for the safety of American people and assets there.
When asked if he had re-directed those assets to the Middle East, Hegseth said, “Yes, we did.”
Macron said Sunday he would ask Trump at the upcoming summit whether he was open to further sanctions against Russia. Zelensky is among the invited guests and hopes to speak to Trump as well.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he would ask his US counterpart Donald Trump at the upcoming G7 summit whether he was open to further sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“In my view, the question is whether President Trump is open to advancing much stronger sanctions on Russia if it refuses to respond” to proposals for a ceasefire, Macron told reporters on a trip to Greenland.
