Last news • War in Ukraine
The most well liked areas are the Pokrovsk and Lyman instructions: map from the Normal Workers
Over the previous day, 176 fight engagements occurred on the entrance traces, with greater than half of them occurring within the Pokrovsk, Lyman, and Toretsk instructions. The enemy launched over 5,000 artillery strikes and deployed nearly 2,800 kamikaze drones.
Editor's observe: This can be a creating story and is being up to date.
Russian forces struck residential buildings in Odesa in a single day on June 20, injuring at the least 13 folks, together with three emergency employees, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported.
The assault, which the service described as "huge," rang out round 1 a.m. native time. The assault drones struck over 10 targets, together with seven residential constructing, and led to a number of large-scale fires.
On the web site of one of many assaults, a 23-story residential constructing caught hearth between the 18th and twentieth flooring, and led to the evacuation of over 600 folks.
In a separate assault on a four-story constructing throughout the metropolis, three firefighters had been injured when structural parts collapsed on the responders. The constructing is described as being "utterly engulfed in flames," in response to the State Emergency Service.
The three injured firefighters are at the moment hospitalized in steady situation. Further data on the assaults in addition to casualties are being clarified as search efforts beneath rubble and particles proceed.
Odesa, a port metropolis on Ukraine’s Black Beach with a inhabitants of round 1 million, has been a frequent goal of Russian assaults all through the full-scale struggle.
On June 10, a missile and drone assault on Odesa killed two folks and injure eight.
Russia has continued to extend the frequency and severity of its assaults on Ukrainian cities, whereas rejecting a ceasefire in Ukraine. In a single day on June 17, Russia launched one in all its largest assaults on Kyiv for the reason that begin of full-scale struggle in February 2022, killing 30 folks and injuring 172 others.
The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova
Russians eliminated the one ship with "Kalibr" missiles on board from the Mediterranean Sea – Navy
As of the morning of June 20, 2025, Russian ships haven’t been recorded within the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. As a substitute, 2 Russian Federation ships are within the Mediterranean Sea.
As of June 2025, Ukraine has documented 366 circumstances of sexual violence dedicated in reference to Russia's full-scale warfare, the Overseas Ministry reported on June 19, citing knowledge from the Prosecutor Common's Workplace.
The assertion was printed on the Worldwide Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Battle, marked yearly on June 19.
The victims embody 231 girls, 134 males, and 19 kids. The documented crimes span rape, sexual torture, pressured nudity, and different violent acts, lots of which occurred in occupied territories or in the course of the early levels of Russia's invasion.
Sexual violence in battle is prohibited below the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their further protocols, which mandate the safety of civilians, particularly girls and kids. It’s also acknowledged as a warfare crime below worldwide legislation.
Ukraine's Overseas Ministry stated Russia is "grossly violating worldwide humanitarian legislation" and the authorized framework established by a number of U.N. Safety Council resolutions.
The ministry stated that Moscow has employed sexual violence "as a weapon of warfare" to terrorize civilians, destroy communities, and weaken resistance.
Ukraine's Everlasting Consultant to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, raised the difficulty on the Safety Council in April 2024, warning that such violence is getting used in opposition to each civilians and prisoners of warfare.
In June 2024, the Kyiv Unbiased recognized two Russian troopers implicated within the rape of girls throughout Russia's occupation of components of Kyiv and Kherson oblasts in March 2022.
One among them, Mykola Senenko, was formally charged by Ukraine's Prosecutor Common's Workplace for a rape dedicated in Kherson Oblast.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov
Strike on Odesa: enemy UAV destroyed a four-story constructing, folks could also be below the rubble
In Odesa, on account of an "Orlan-10" strike drone hit, a large-scale hearth broke out, destroying a residential four-story constructing. Individuals could also be below the rubble, emergency providers are working on the scene.
As Israel and Iran proceed to commerce salvos, dramatic footage of air defenses battling ballistic missiles have flooded the web.
A number of outstanding on-line commentators have in contrast the movies popping out of Israel with these from Ukraine, questioning why Russian assaults like these on Kyiv are portrayed in comparatively sparse element, whereas these from cities like Tel Aviv present the total, terrifying spectacle of contemporary warfare.
Ivan Kyrychevskyi, a navy professional with the Protection Specific suppose tank, informed the Kyiv Unbiased that the accounts elevating questions seem like a part of a disinformation marketing campaign trying to downplay Russia's violence and the struggling of Ukrainian civilians.
A number of the variations in footage is just all the way down to the sorts of weapons getting used, Kyrychevskyi provides.
"Shahed drones and even Russian missiles concentrating on Kyiv and different cities don’t all the time create the sort of dramatic visible impact folks anticipate, like outstanding trails within the sky," he stated.
However there's much more to it than simply smoke trails.
What do movies from Israel and Ukraine present?The movies coming from Israel have been each horrifying and spectacular — some filmed dwell by worldwide media groups have proven Israeli air protection programs launching interceptors at incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, all in HD high quality.
Reside on Fox Information as Tel Aviv comes underneath an enormous ballistic missile assault. pic.twitter.com/TCltXbpVgw
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) June 13, 2025
Numerous different movies filmed by civilians additionally present Israeli air defenses in motion near their launch websites, notably in Tel Aviv.
Footage of an Iranian ballistic missile hitting downtown Tel Aviv this night. pic.twitter.com/7UzzW0M52G
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 13, 2025
Footage of Russian assaults on Ukraine are very totally different — there are not any worldwide media groups filming from resort balconies, and no footage of air protection programs launching interceptor missiles.
There are many movies of the assaults. After the newest strike on Kyiv in a single day on June 17, which killed 28 folks, there was footage of drones slamming into residential buildings.
🚨 A direct strike by a Russian-Iranian Shahed drone on an condo constructing stuffed with civilians in Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/8GYrh3X9ri
— Ostap Yarysh (@OstapYarysh) June 17, 2025
There are additionally loads of movies of the devastating aftermath.
Trump: Russia needs to be within the G8. I don’t need to impose sanctions.
Putin: Yay. Let’s lob missiles into Kyiv residential buildings at evening and homicide numerous sleeping Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/h77mFO8pl1— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 17, 2025
However there’s by no means something just like the sorts of movies that we’ve got seen popping out of Israel lately, and for good cause.
Filming Ukraine's air defensesIn Ukraine, filming and publishing the work of air protection programs is strictly prohibited, as such data might help the Russian military to find navy positions.
"When folks document the work of air protection programs, the enemy can really see the picture of the identical missile launch in actual time, and decide the situation of the launcher very precisely, and might strike again," Air Power spokesperson Yurii Ihnat informed the Kyiv Unbiased.
"Massive air protection programs are precedence targets for the enemy. So they’re all the time looking for out the place our air protection is, what place it’s in. And we’ve got to always change our positions in order that the enemy doesn’t know the place we’re."
On March 24, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, adopted legislative modifications to introduce prison legal responsibility for sharing the areas or actions of the Armed Forces, together with air protection items.
Breaking the regulation might be punished by as much as 12 years in jail. Ukraine's navy and safety companies can movie and publish movies however all the time take away or blur something that may very well be used to find air defenses.
"We (Air Power) usually present air protection work. We ask the troopers themselves, if potential, to movie it for us. However we all the time edit out the dangerous components," Ihnat stated.
Israel doesn’t have such a regulation.
Why is it authorized in Israel, and unlawful in Ukraine?This basically boils all the way down to the truth that Israel has one of the refined networks of air protection on the planet and has much less to concern from Iran finding its programs than Ukraine does of Russia.
Ukraine is among the largest nations in Europe, with an unlimited territory of 603,628 sq. kilometers, making it tough to cowl fully with air protection programs. In distinction, Israel's a lot smaller dimension, round 22,000 sq. kilometers, permits for denser and extra environment friendly deployment of air defenses just like the Iron Dome.
"Israel's air protection system has principally been developed in Israel and is a tightly built-in functionality consisting of radars, management facilities, and interceptor batteries," Iain Boyd, the director of the Heart for Nationwide Safety Initiatives on the College of Colorado, informed the Kyiv Unbiased.
Ukraine's state of affairs may be very totally different — it at present operates an ad-hoc mixture of Soviet-era and Western-supplied air protection programs. These embody legacy programs such because the S-300, Buk-M1, and Osa, in addition to trendy Western programs like Patriot, NASAMS, IRIS-T.
The Patriot air protection programs — the one system efficient in opposition to ballistic missiles — particularly have proved to be a game-changer for Ukraine, whose Air Power beforehand needed to depend on outdated Soviet-era variations to shoot down aerial targets.
Ukraine at present has solely eight Patriot programs, two of that are at present not in service, in line with the New York Instances.
As a result of the tools — together with the ammunition — are restricted in quantity, every is extraordinarily valuable for the protection of Ukrainian cities and as such their areas are shrouded in secrecy.
"There are two foremost causes for the specific ban on filming the work of air protection in Ukraine," retired navy officer and protection professional Viktor Kevliuk informed the Kyiv Unbiased.
"To stop the intentional or unintentional publicity of an air protection place that our enemy is looking, and to cover the outcomes of strikes from the enemy."
With a lot at stake, Ukraine's civilians abide by the foundations, with solely a handful of circumstances of individuals being prosecuted for breaking them.
A video on YouTube highlighted by Ihnat captures the angle towards those that do movie Ukraine's air defenses.
The lyrics to the track? "Who's filming air protection? F**kwits, f**wits."
Hello, that is Chris. Thanks for studying this text. The Kyiv Unbiased doesn't have a rich proprietor or a paywall. As a substitute, we depend on readers such as you to maintain our journalism funded. In case you preferred this text, take into account joining our community today.
The Kyiv IndependentChris York
Night time assault on Ukraine: penalties of strikes on Odesa and Kharkiv proven on-line
Russian troops carried out a large drone assault on Ukraine on the night time of June 20. In Odesa, residence buildings and automobiles have been broken, and a fireplace broke out on the coast. In Kharkiv, 5 non-public homes have been broken.
Fred Grandy, a 62-year-old American artist and volunteer who was killed in Russia's mass missile assault in opposition to Kyiv on June 17, seems to be the primary U.S. civilian killed by a Russian strike on Ukraine, the New York Instances (NYT) reported on June 19.
Russia launched an enormous assault on Kyiv in a single day on June 17, pounding the capital with a whole lot of kamikaze drones and a number of missiles in a nine-hour assault that left 28 useless and round 140 injured.
Among the many vicitms was Grandy, a U.S. citizen who arrived in Kyiv in Might to volunteer to clear away rubble after Russian assaults. He had hoped to volunteer in Ukraine for 5 – 6 months, his sister informed the NYT.
"He was an individual who wished to make a distinction so badly," Grandy's sister Siestka Reed mentioned. "I talked to him about 5 days in the past, and he informed me that he felt he was proper the place he must be."
Throughout the assault, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported {that a} 62-year-old U.S. citizen had died close to one of many assault websites, however the particulars of their loss of life remained unclear. The U.S. State Division and Ukrainian authorities later confirmed {that a} U.S. citizien had been killed, the NYT reported.
In accordance with Ukrainian authorities, Grandy died after sustaining shrapnel wounds.
Earlier than arriving in Kyiv, Grandy had labored as a bartender, bouncer, and builder. He was additionally an artist, fashioning hen homes and planters out of reclaimed wooden and flowers out metallic. In accordance with his household, his want to volunteer in Ukraine stemmed from his dismay at U.S. Presidend Donald Trump's lack of help for Kyiv.
Grandy was upset by Trump's remedy of President Volodymyr Zelensky and withdrawal of navy help, Reed informed the NYT.
"He thought, you simply don't let a bully try this stuff, and also you don't simply abandon individuals," Reed mentioned.
"Then he noticed how onerous they fought to avoid wasting their nation, or are combating nonetheless. It was simply onerous to know strolling away, you already know? And he simply believed that folks want a hand up."
Russian drone and missile assaults should not new, however in Might and June, mass strikes on civilian targets surged. Russia has launched various record-breaking assaults on Ukrainian cities in latest weeks, leading to a whole lot of casualties.
Moscow's escalating aerial assaults have even straight harmed U.S. enterprises and people. An workplace utilized by the U.S. aerospace and protection big Boeing was hit in a mass strike on Kyiv launched in a single day June 9-10. The Monetary Instances (FT) reported that Russia intentionally focused the positioning.
Grandy's loss of life marks the primary time a U.S. civilian has been killed in a Russian aerial assault in opposition to Ukraine.
In the meantime, Trump's curiosity in securing a ceasefire in Ukraine seems to have fizzled out. He left the G7 Leaders Summit in Canada early, jettisoning a much-anticipated assembly with Zelensky, and barely responded to the mass assault on Kyiv.
Trump refuses to sanction Russia and is reportedly obstructing congressional efforts to toughen sanctions on Russian oil income.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov
Kharkiv beneath drone assault: three injured, together with two teenage women
Head of OVA reported three injured because of 8 drone strikes on the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kharkiv. Among the many injured are women aged 12 and 17.
Key developments on June 19:
A senior Russian official on June 19 inadvertently confirmed the staggering troop losses incurred by Moscow's forces throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN, Russian Ambassador to the U.Okay. Andrey Kelin was requested about Moscow's maximalist intentions in Ukraine and its capacity to recruit sufficient troopers to satisfy them.
Regardless of ongoing U.S.-led peace efforts, Russia continues to demand Ukraine withdraws from the 4 partially occupied areas — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — as a precondition for negotiations.
In the meantime, based on figures from Kyiv, Russia has suffered greater than 1 million lifeless, wounded, and lacking troopers for the reason that begin of its full-scale invasion.
Kelin dismissed the 1 million casualties determine however did affirm that "about 600,000" Russian troopers had been preventing in Ukraine, a quantity which tallies with Ukrainian estimates from January.
The quantity is definitely decrease than the 700,000 (Russian President Vladimir) Putin claimed in June 2024, and the 617,000 he claimed in December 2023.
Kelin was then requested about Russian military recruitment.
"I'm not a specialist on this space, however as I perceive it we’ve 50-60,000 a month, these volunteers who’re coming, recruiting, posting, they usually wish to get engaged on this factor (in Ukraine)," he replied.
He didn’t clarify why the scale of the Russian military preventing in Ukraine has gone down regardless of what would quantity to round 250,000 additional troops being recruited and despatched to the entrance for the reason that starting of the 12 months.
In keeping with figures from Ukraine's Basic Employees, Russia has misplaced 217,440 troops since Jan. 1, 2025.
The discrepancy tallies with Western evaluation of Russia's staggering losses.
"They lose someplace within the ballpark of 35,000 to 45,000 folks per 30 days, and maybe they recruit slightly bit north of that quantity," George Barros, Russia crew lead on the Institute for the Examine of Conflict (ISW), advised the Kyiv Unbiased earlier this month.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg SukhovUkraine, Russia perform one other POW change underneath Istanbul dealUkraine has introduced residence a bunch of troopers launched from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced on June 19, marking one more in a latest collection of exchanges with Moscow.
"These are warriors of the Armed Forces, the Nationwide Guard, and the State Border Guard Service. Most of them had been held captive since 2022," Zelensky mentioned, with out revealing their quantity.
The change follows 4 comparable swaps carried out final week in accordance with Ukraine-Russia agreements reached at peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.
As within the different latest instances, the newest swap targeted on severely in poor health and wounded prisoners of warfare (POWs), Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Remedy of POWs mentioned.
"We’re working to carry our folks again. I thank everybody who helps make these exchanges potential. Our aim is to free each single certainly one of them," Zelensky mentioned.
Russia's Protection Ministry additionally introduced a prisoner change with the Ukrainian facet, with out specifying the variety of troopers concerned.
"Each defender launched at present has severe medical diagnoses and sicknesses ensuing from their accidents and captivity," the Coordination Headquarters mentioned.
A major a part of the launched captives defended Mariupol through the Russian siege in 2022, whereas others fought elsewhere within the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kyiv oblasts. All of them are privates or non-commissioned officers.
The oldest of the launched captives was 63 years previous, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets mentioned, including that one other, a 45-year-old service member, was launched on his birthday.
The Istanbul deal was reached through the second spherical of direct talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul at first of the month.
Whereas no political breakthrough was achieved, either side agreed to a phased change of prisoners and the repatriation of fallen troopers' our bodies. As a part of that settlement, Russia pledged to return the our bodies of as much as 6,000 Ukrainian service members and residents.
Moscow has handed over 6,057 our bodies to Ukraine in a number of levels over the previous few days. Kyiv later mentioned these additionally included fallen Russian troopers.
The June 2 agreements got here after the largest-ever POW swap in late Could, when 1,000 prisoners had been exchanged on either side.
Ukraine repeatedly referred to as for a prisoner change in an all-for-all format, however Russia continues to reject the supply.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek
Zelensky appoints Brigadier Basic Shapovalov as new Floor Forces chiefPresident Volodymyr Zelensky on June 19 appointed Brigadier Basic Hennadii Shapovalov as the brand new commander of Ukraine's Floor Forces, following the resignation of Mykhailo Drapatyi earlier this month.
Drapatyi stepped down on June 1 after a Russian missile strike killed at the least 12 Ukrainian troopers at a coaching floor in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He described the casualties as younger recruits who "ought to have realized, lived, and fought — not died."
Zelensky accepted Drapatyi's resignation and appointed him Commander of the Joint Forces on June 3. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, with the Floor Forces promising accountability if misconduct or negligence is confirmed.
Shapovalov, born in 1978 in Kirovohrad Oblast, is a profession officer who graduated from the Navy Institute of Tank Troops in Kharkiv and later studied on the Nationwide Protection College of Ukraine. He additionally acquired coaching on the U.S. Military Conflict Faculty.
Shapovalov beforehand led Ukraine's South Operational Command in 2024 and was appointed in February 2025 as Ukraine's consultant to the NATO Safety Help and Coaching for Ukraine (NSATU) mission in Germany.
Drapatyi, in his remaining remarks as Floor Forces chief on June 11, mentioned he had overhauled greater than half of the command's senior management, launched a revamp of recruitment facilities, and pushed by way of reforms targeted on decentralization, accountability, and modernization.
Zelensky mentioned Drapatyi's new position would permit him to focus "completely on fight points" as Ukraine faces intensifying Russian assaults throughout a number of fronts.
The Kyiv IndependentDmytro Basmat
North Korea considers sending 25,000 employees to Russia to assist produce Shahed drones, media studiesNorth Korea is contemplating sending as much as 25,000 employees to Russia to help within the mass manufacturing of Shahed-type assault drones, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported on June 19, citing unnamed diplomatic sources within the West and Russia.
The employees could be despatched to the Alabuga Particular Financial Zone in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, the place Moscow operates a facility for assembling Iranian-designed Shahed drones. In return, Pyongyang is reportedly searching for drone operation coaching.
Shahed drones, identified for his or her low price and heavy explosive payloads, have been used extensively by Russia since late 2022 to assault Ukrainian cities. The Alabuga web site has been repeatedly struck by Ukrainian forces in an try and disrupt manufacturing.
The media report follows a collection of speedy developments in army cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. Russian Safety Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea on June 17, reportedly on a "particular project" from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After assembly Kim, Shoigu mentioned that Pyongyang had agreed to ship 1,000 fight engineers and 5,000 army builders to Russia's Kursk Oblast to help in reconstruction.
Ukraine managed part of Kursk Oblast following a cross-border offensive in August 2024. Russia regained a lot of the misplaced territory throughout a March 2025 counteroffensive that included backing from North Korean forces. In keeping with estimates, North Korea has suffered over 6,000 casualties through the offensive operations.
Ukraine's army intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, mentioned on June 9 that Pyongyang and Moscow have agreed to begin establishing home manufacturing of Shahed-136 drones on North Korean soil.
Kim stays a vocal ally of Putin, supplying not solely troopers but in addition artillery, drones, and ballistic missiles. Throughout Russia's Could 9 Victory Day Parade in Moscow, Putin personally greeted North Korean troops, although Kim didn’t attend.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk
'Undesirable by their homeland' — Ukraine confirms Russia returned our bodies of its troopers disguised as UkrainianRussia handed over some our bodies of its personal troopers to Ukraine underneath the guise of Ukrainian casualties throughout a latest change of the deceased, Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko introduced on June 19.
"Sure, we’ve information. We’ve established the names of those troopers and officers who’re undesirable by their homeland," Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
The invention was made after the handover of stays underneath an settlement reached through the June 2 talks in Istanbul. In complete, Ukraine acquired 6,057 our bodies of its fallen troopers as a part of the phased change. Russia, based on Kremlin aide and negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, took again 78.
One of many our bodies returned to Ukraine, labeled No. 192/25, was wearing a Russian army uniform and carried a Russian passport issued to Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev, born in 1974.
Alongside the passport, officers discovered a army ID indicating Bugaev had served within the 1st Battalion of the thirty ninth Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade.
In keeping with Klymenko, Bugaev went lacking throughout heavy preventing close to Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast in March 2025. His household had been trying to find him for months. Klymenko mentioned Russia had situated Bugaev's physique however selected to "dump" it among the many Ukrainian lifeless.
"That is one more proof of how Russia treats its folks with contempt, throwing their our bodies onto the our bodies of Ukrainian troopers," Klymenko mentioned.
"This exhibits how little human life means to Russia. Or possibly it's only a strategy to keep away from paying compensation to the households. However they should pay anyway: we’re returning these our bodies."
The official has not talked about the full variety of Russian troopers' our bodies given to Ukraine.
The June 2 negotiations in Istanbul resulted in essentially the most expansive prisoner and physique change settlement of the full-scale warfare, though no ceasefire was reached.
Russia accused Kyiv on June 7 of rejecting a proposed physique return, publishing footage allegedly exhibiting Ukrainian corpses saved in refrigeration models. Ukraine dismissed the claims, saying the footage was filmed on Russian territory, not at a chosen handover web site.
Kyiv has persistently referred to as for an "all-for-all" change of prisoners of warfare, however Moscow has to date refused to conform to a complete swap.
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