Ukraine-Russia war latest: 7 killed as Kyiv and Moscow trade heavy overnight drone strikes

Independent

25-05-2025

Three children killed in latest Russian drone attack
In Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, three children were killed, aged 8, 12 and 17, according to the emergency service.
Twelve were injured in the attacks, the service said. Deaths were also reported in the Khmelnytskyi region, in western Ukraine.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a student dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit by a drone and one of the building's walls was on fire.
In Dniprovskyi district, a private house was destroyed and in Shevchenkivskyi district, windows in a residential building were smashed.
The attacks over the past 48 hours were among the most intense Russian aerial strikes on Ukraine since the February 2022 full-scale invasion. The last in a three-day prisoner swap was expected to take place later on Sunday.
Holly Evans25 May 2025 07:33
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Arpan Rai25 May 2025 07:00
Seven killed in overnight Russian attack on Ukraine
A massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Ukraine for a second consecutive night, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, officials said early today.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said "there are already 10 injured in the capital" as of 3am Sunday. Soon afterward, Ukraine's emergency service said four people were killed and 16 were injured, including 3 children, just in the Kyiv region.
Mr Klitschko said a student dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit by a drone and one of the building's walls was on fire. In Dniprovskyi district, a private house was destroyed and in Shevchenkivskyi district, windows in a residential building were smashed.
The attack took place on the third day of a planned prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, the only tangible outcome from peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month which have so far failed to produce a ceasefire. The exchange has been a rare moment of cooperation between the warring sides.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:47
Zelensky says refusing ceasefire 'repeatedly'
Volodymyr Zelensky has responded to a large scale attack from Russia and said the attacks show his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has refused ceasefire repeatedly.
'Putin has refused to cease fire repeatedly. It gains him nothing, except taking lives every single day. Every day gives new grounds for sanctions against Russia. Every day proves that without pressure on Russia, the war will continue,' he said in his nightly address.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:45
UK and allies expose Russian cyber attacks on logistics firms aiding Ukraine
The UK and allies from 10 countries have exposed what they say is a campaign of malicious cyber activity by Russia against logistics and tech firms involved in delivering foreign assistance to Ukraine.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ, said a unit within the Russian intelligence service, GRU, had targeted defence organisations, as well as IT services, maritime, airports, ports and air traffic management systems firms in a range of Nato countries.
The UK, along with the US, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France and Netherlands have signed and published an advisory on the issue to raise awareness of the campaign.
UK and allies expose Russian cyber attacks on logistics firms aiding Ukraine
The National Cyber Security Centre and counterparts in other countries have issued an advisory on the issue.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:30
Trump's negotiations with Putin mean Europe needs to prepare for a second cold war
It is always painful to abandon longstanding certainties. The transatlantic security bond has, for 76 years, been one such certainty.
Now, Donald Trump and his Maga acolytes have brutally shattered this certainty. The transatlantic partnership is unravelling in front of our eyes: in the space of 100 days, Trump has undermined Nato's collective stance on defence; hit the global economy with tariffs; threatened the territorial integrity of dedicated allies Canada and Denmark; interfered in the internal affairs of allies with his brazen support for European right-wing populist parties; and departed from well-established multilateral bodies including the World Health Organisation, the International Criminal Court and the UN Climate Change Conference.
In a series of hammer blows, Trump has shattered the rules-based global order.
Trump's negotiations with Putin mean Europe needs to prepare for a second cold war
The on-going conversations over Ukraine show the president continues to pull the US defence rug from under our feet – Europe must stand alone or fail, write General Sir Richard Shirreff and Dr Stefanie Babst, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:15
Russia 'executed Ukrainian prisoners more than 150 times'
Kyiv's military intelligence agency have said that Russian forces have executed Ukrainian prisoners more than 150 times.
Intelligence officials said they had received reports of multiple instances where a 'direct orders to kill' prisoners of war had been received by Putin's troops.
According to the agency, these acts are 'not isolated incidents' but part of a deliberate and systematic policy of the Russian leadership.
In March, the United Nations also reported a growing number of cases in which Russian forces deliberately killed or maimed Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered or attempted to surrender.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:12
Putin hopes to increase exports of weapons
Russia needs to strengthen its position in the global arms market by increasing exports of weapons, country's president Vladimir Putin said.
In televised remarks, he also said the country's military complex needs more state support to develop its potential.
"The portfolio of orders for Russian military products is now serious. It is tens of billions of dollars. And it is necessary to actively increase the volume of export deliveries," Mr Putin said.
He also singled out weapons that utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI).
"The future of the global arms market lies with such technology. Strong competition will unfold here, and is already unfolding, for which we must be prepared," Mr Putin said.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 06:00
Three killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine
At least three people have been killed and 11 others have been injured as Russian forces attacked Kyiv and other cities early this morning, officials said.
Officials in the Kyiv region said three people died in two small towns outside the capital.
The Russian attacks spanned a string of regional centres, including Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, as well as Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west.
In Kyiv, Timur Tkachenko, head of the city's military administration, said 11 people were injured in drone strikes.
A five-storey apartment building was hit in the Holosiivskyi district just outside the city centre, triggering a fire that damaged the building's exterior.
A private home and a business centre were damaged in strikes on other districts.
It was the second consecutive night that a mass attack took place.
Arpan Rai25 May 2025 04:59
Overnight attacks show Russia is blocking ceasefire, says Zelensky
A huge attack overnight on Ukraine by Russian drones and ballistic missiles was a fresh demonstration that Moscow is blocking a ceasefire deal to end the war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"It was a tough night for all of Ukraine," Mr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
"With each such attack, the world becomes convinced that the reason for the war being dragged out is Moscow," he wrote. "Only additional sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire."
The war-hit nation has been under relentless Russian attacks this week.
Russia launched dozens of attack drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv yesterday in one of the biggest combined aerial attacks on the Ukrainian capital of the three-year war, damaging several apartment buildings and injuring 15 people.