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

Europe is now in the midst of a sea change. Where that change will lead depends very much on the outcome of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.

Europe is in the early years of a new era. The continent is now witnessing a great struggle between two Europes: liberal and anti-liberal, internationalist and nationalist, the Europe of integration and that of disintegration. Who wins will be decided by the strength and skill of domestic political forces, but also by external developments over which Europeans have little or no control.

This still nameless new period of European history began on Feb. 24, 2022, with Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Beginnings in history, as in romance, are crucial. In the first seven years after 1945, the US-led West created most of the key international institutions we have to this day, including the UN and NATO. The European Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1952, set the course for what eventually became the European Community. In the first seven years after 1989, Europe and the US effectively decided to extend the existing Euro-Atlantic order, including NATO and a European Community that was deepened to become today’s European Union, to much of the eastern half of the continent.

The US and Europe have benefited dramatically from containing a rogue Putin. Why are some now urging that he keep the loot and be let loose again?

Although not as prominent as Davos, Bilderberg or the UN General Assembly, the three-day annual GLOBSEC (Global Security) Conference is the world’s leading platform for strategic dialogue on global security and transatlantic cooperation. On its 20th anniversary, 1,500 leaders, policymakers, and experts from more than 70 countries met in June to discuss, among other topics, the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

The conference format provided both public panels and closed sessions with strict rules of confidentiality. What emerged is the elephant that had always been there but obscured by circular language – victory or something else?

Piddubne was home to around 500 people before the conflict and lies just seven kilometres (four miles) from the border of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia said Sunday it had captured another two settlements in eastern Ukraine, one in the Donetsk region and one in the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia’s claims.

Australia’s role in Ukraine has gone largely unrecognized. That must change. It hasn’t featured in our politics, nor was it raised in the last Federal election.

Attending a party for 250 war amputees, each missing one, two or even three limbs, as I did in Kyiv on May 31 is a stark reminder of war’s toll. I’ve gotten to know Max, a platoon leader in Ukraine’s elite 82nd Airborne, who lost a leg to a mine in November 2023. I helped sponsor his rehabilitation. He arranged the invitation.

These men aren’t seen as victims. In Ukraine, they are called Superhumans, a term that reflects a bold psychological and physical rehabilitation effort to help amputees return stronger. With music, laughter and defiance, the term felt accurate.

Macron and Starmer will also co-chair talks on a “reassurance force” for Ukraine, bringing together countries “willing” to strengthen Kyiv’s defenses against Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron is to begin a state visit to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, where he is set to address the British Parliament and co-chair a meeting on Ukraine as London seeks to strengthen its ties with Europe after Brexit.

King Charles III has invited the French leader and his wife, Brigitte, on a three-day official visit during which Macron is to hold joint discussions with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the 37th Franco-British Summit on Thursday.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have downed 120 Ukrainian drones across Russia overnight on Sunday morning, with reports indicating that flights were grounded as a result.

Moscow claimed to have downed 120 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions overnight between Saturday and Sunday. 

Reports from Russian aviation authorities suggested that airports were shut down and flights were grounded as a result of the attack. 

A Special Tribunal to prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression would fill a legal gap, deter future wars, and help uphold global justice.

When Russian aggression began in 2014 and escalated with a full-scale invasion in February 2022, it marked not only the start of a brutal war – it became a defining test of the international legal order. Eleven years later, as Ukrainian soldiers defend their homes and families, the world faces a deeper question: will the architects of this aggression ever be held to account?

War crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide are rightly investigated by the International Criminal Court. But the crime of aggression – the deliberate decision to launch an illegal war – falls into a dangerous legal void. The ICC can prosecute this crime only if both the aggressor and the victim state have accepted its jurisdiction. Russia has not. As a result, the one crime that made all others possible could remain forever unpunished.

Vitaliy Kim, the mayor of southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv, said Sunday’s attacks targeted the city’s port infrastructure, damaging warehouses and the power grid.

Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine had been subjected to a “massive” Russian drone strike on Sunday morning, according to the city’s mayor. 

Mykolaiv, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Odesa and 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Kherson, is a city in southern Ukraine that hosts ports and maritime factories. 

More than 50% of the 600 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine have suffered direct damage to their buildings and infrastructure during the war, its president, Andy Hunder, says.

[From the editors: The following is a statement made in Kyiv on July 4 by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Andy Hunder.]

As Americans celebrate Independence Day, here in Ukraine, we endured a night of terror – 500 Russian aerial attacks across the country, including in central Kyiv.

Despite warnings of a looming recession and high inflation, they and many other Russians feel their economy has adapted successfully to Western sanctions.

For Sergei Duzhikov and Maria Tyabut, a middle-class couple living in a town just outside Moscow, Western sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine have been manageable.

The pair drive a Chinese car, vacation in Venezuela and buy “Camembert” cheese made in Russia.

Karol Nawrocki as the Polish president might pave the way to internal conflict in Poland. And any internal conflict in Poland is detrimental to Polish-Ukrainian relations and great for the Kremlin.

Poland is a deeply divided country. That’s no secret. A good example of this is the former Polish President and Solidarity legend Lech Wałęsa, who has recently said he isn’t going to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of the President-Elect Karol Nawrocki. One of the most famous Poles alive has called the President-Elect a disgrace for Poland. Lech Wałęsa says that he is going to keep voicing his opinion about Karol Nawrocki around the world. Whether his words will have any impact on foreign officials remains to be seen. One wonders if the Polish icon criticizing Karol Nawrocki so openly is a sound strategy for Poland.  

Polish political scene is a movie script

The Ukrainian president hinted at the US’s willingness to help Kyiv bolster its air defenses following a deadly strike on the country between Thursday and Friday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has described his Friday phone call with US President Donald Trump as “probably the best conversation we have had” and “the most productive.”

Zelensky said soon after the call that the two addressed air defenses and joint arms production without referring to the recent arms halt. The call took place after Trump said he’s “disappointed” by his call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin a day prior. 

The statement on Saturday came after Russia launched major aerial assaults on two consecutive nights after a phone call between Trump and Putin on Thursday.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia’s “large-scale drone and missile attacks” after Moscow launched major aerial assaults across Ukraine for two consecutive nights. 

The first of the two strikes started on Thursday evening, with the first waves of drones arriving in Kyiv soon after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.