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

The Renew Democracy Initiative is driving critical support to help Ukraine defeat the Putin Regime. CEO Uriel Epshtein shares what the organization has achieved to advance Ukraine’s victory.

Two startling World Food Programme statistics reveal the gap between the image of international solidarity with Ukraine’s innocents and the situation on the ground:

Over half of all towns within 10km of the frontlines do not have a functioning market. And more than half of all towns within 30km of the frontlines lack necessities such as food, water, electricity and medicine.

Ukrainian drone attacks and sabotage operations have destroyed Russian air bases, fuel depots, radar systems, and command centers.

Ukraine is testing approaches to destroy the Kerch Bridge, built by Putin as a symbol of Russia’s claim to Crimea. Having damaged it three times already, Kyiv is preparing for the coup de grâce.

It is now the fourth year of Russia’s so-called special military operation. But now, it’s Kyiv that is carrying out special operations against Moscow, week after week.

On June 1, Ukraine smuggled containers into Russia and launched remotely controlled drones that struck Russian long-range bombers, causing an estimated $7 billion in damage and weakening Moscow’s ability to bomb Ukrainian cities. The campaign was named Operation Spiderweb. Soon after, Ukraine attacked Russia’s Kerch bridge in occupied-Crimea with underwater explosives.

From geopolitics to battlefield updates, we bring you 11 key moments shaping the future of Ukraine and its allies.

At least 30 persons were convicted of political crimes in Russia in June, their combined sentences totaling almost 270 years of imprisonment.

On the basis of the research of the Russian association OVD-Info, we have identified 30 cases of Russian citizens sentenced for political reasons to effective prison terms from 1 to 22 years (almost 270 years in total) in June 2025 and serving them in various detention centers. These statistics do not claim to be exhaustive but only reflect a part of the reality.

[Here are some examples:]

Russia is struggling to defend its foothold in the South Caucasus

News has been filtering through of an Armenia - Azerbaijan - Türkiye deal over the Zangezur corridor - this follows the visit of Armenian PM Pashinyan to Türkiye last month.

A few conclusions herein:

The Kremlin is organizing the deployment of a group of military engineers from the Lao People’s Army to carry out demining work in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) said Friday the Kremlin is trying to involve Laos in Russia’s war against Ukraine under the cover of “humanitarian projects.”

According to HUR, Russia is looking for new ways to continue its invasion as its military suffers heavy losses and its resources become exhausted.

As war costs grow and key recovery measures face delays, the IMF warns that Ukraine’s soaring 2025 defense needs may derail reforms and erode hard-won economic stability,

Ukraine has successfully passed the eighth review of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, which has now passed the half-way mark. However, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has created further shocks which the program may have limited capacity to absorb.

Despite slippages in reforms under the four-year program, Ukraine’s authorities have still succeeded in stabilizing the economy and drastically increasing domestic revenues. But defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion dictates its own laws of resourcefulness, posing Ukraine a new challenge – the 2025 Supplementary Budget.

Some reflections on the role of RFE/RL in bringing the voice and hope of freedom to the peoples subjugated by Moscow’s communist rule.

From the editors: Founded in 1949 during the Cold War, Radio Free Europe targeted Soviet satellite states, while Radio Liberty, established in 1951, focused on the different peoples of the Soviet Union. Initially funded covertly by the CIA until 1972, the two merged in 1976. RFE/RL was headquartered in Munich from 1949 to 1995, and then in Prague. The Soviet authorities jammed their signals until 1988. In 2025, the Trump administration decided to stop funding RFE/RL.

On July 4, 1950, Radio Free Europe transmitted its first program from Munich, Germany. It was 30 minutes in length and broadcast to Czechoslovakia.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• The Russian Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Major General Mikhail Gudkov was killed on 02 July 2025 in the Kursk oblast inwestern Russia. Gudkov, appointed as a Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy on 28 March 2025, waskilled in a Ukrainian strike on a Russian command post.
• It is likely Gudkov was directing marine infantry units attempting to establish a buffer zone in the Ukrainian oblast of Sumy. Russia’s advances in Sumy have slowed due to Ukrainian counterattacksand significant Russian losses.
• Gudkov was the former commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s 155th Marine Infantry brigade. Gudkov is reportedly the second senior Russian general to be killed in 2025, the fifth general killed in the last 12 months, and the sixteenth Russian general killed sinceRussia launched its illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• The loss of so many high-ranking officers is likely to have had the effect of undermining command and control in parts of the Russian Armed Forces. This has likely contributed to Russian tactical andoperational difficulties during the conflict.

A large number of the drones seemed to bypass Kyiv, heading toward Ukraine’s western regions, with Khmelnytskyi region – home to the Starokostiantyniv air base – as a primary target.

Russia launched 322 drones at Ukraine overnight, with the main wave of attacks targeting the city of Starokostiantyniv in western Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region, Ukraine’s military said Saturday, July 5.

The Air Force reported that Russian forces used both strike drones and decoy drones launched from six directions, including Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and Shatalovo inside Russian territory.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Wednesday that a comprehensive review was underway to determine which weapons systems would be affected.

Making it easier for Putin to kill

People will pay for this decision with their lives, Handelsblatt (Germany) warns:

The Borisoglebsk airfield is a key base for Russian fighter jets and bombers, including Su-34, Su-35S, and Su-30SM warplanes, according to a statement from Ukraine’s General Staff.

Ukrainian forces struck a Russian military airfield in the Voronezh region on Saturday, destroying a warehouse with guided bombs and damaging at least one aircraft, Ukraine’s military said.

The attack targeted the Borisoglebsk airfield, a key base for Russian fighter jets and bombers, including Su-34, Su-35S, and Su-30SM warplanes, according to a statement from Ukraine’s General Staff.

Poland’s foreign ministry has sent the Russian embassy an official note of protest against Moscow’s air attacks on Ukraine’s population following a strike which damaged the Polish consulate in Kyiv.

Poland’s foreign ministry has sent the Russian embassy in Warsaw an official note of protest against Moscow’s air attacks on Ukraine’s population following a strike which damaged the Polish consulate in Kyiv.

In a social media post on Friday, the Polish foreign ministry said: “The [Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs] has handed a note to the Russian embassy protesting against the airstrikes on the population of [Ukraine]. As a result [of last night’s strikes], the building of [the Polish embassy in Ukraine] was damaged.” 

Trump, who has faced criticism for easing pressure on Moscow since returning to office in January, suggested his patience may be running out.

US President Donald Trump said Friday he is considering new sanctions against Russia, after expressing frustration with a recent phone call with Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine.

“I was very unhappy with my call with President Putin. He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good,” Trump told reporters while traveling on Air Force One.

Ukrainian covert activities are being taken to the next level. Now all of Russia’s sanctions-evading oil tankers are in the sights of Kyiv’s special services.

Operation Spiderweb epitomized Ukraine’s relentless campaign of asymmetrical and unconventional warfare against Russia. But an equally effective covert operation has taken aim at the heart of Russia’s illicit shadow fleet of oil tankers. Operating under flags of convenience to dodge Western sanctions, these ships are Moscow’s lifeline, ferrying oil to fund its war machine. And Ukraine is striking them worldwide.

In a series of audacious attacks spanning the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and the Baltic, Ukraine has conducted a series of maritime sabotage attacks targeting these vessels. Pinpoint demolition attacks have targeted critical systems – engines, steering, and propulsion shafts – with surgical precision. The result is a masterclass in disruption, exposing the fragility of Russia’s maritime logistics and tightening the noose on its war economy.

The two countries’ intelligence services report that Russia is deploying banned chemical weapon drones to flush Ukrainian troops into the open, where they become vulnerable to attack.

European media outlets, including bankier.pl, reported that Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans presented the findings of a joint assessment made by the Dutch and German intelligence agencies into the use of chemical agents by Russian forces in Ukraine to the Dutch parliament on Friday.

Brekelmans said the report made it clear that Moscow viewed the use of chemical weapons as a “normalized, standardized and widespread” tactic, which should result in stronger sanctions and removal from its position on the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).