Zelenskiy aides visit US as Ukraine strikes Russian-held territory
By Olena Harmash and Aleksandar Vasovic
KYIV (Reuters) -Senior Ukrainian officials visited Washington on Tuesday seeking U.S. support against Russia, as Kyiv showed its ability to fight on by setting off an explosive device under a bridge that has become a symbol of the Kremlin's claims on Ukrainian territory.
A day after talks in Istanbul that made little progress towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine, Kyiv launched what appeared to be one of its biggest waves of coordinated attacks of the conflict.
Ukraine's SBU security service said it had hit a road and rail bridge that links Russia and Crimea below the water level with explosives. The extent of any damage was not clear but there were no immediate signs of traffic disruption.
The bridge is a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, built after he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a precursor to the latest conflict.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones and shelling targeting the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and the Kherson region in the south damaged electricity substations, leaving at least 700,000 people without power, Russia-installed officials said.
Underlining the gulf between the two sides after more than three years of war, the Kremlin said work on trying to reach a peace settlement was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrived in the United States along with Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svrydenko.
Ukraine says Moscow is stalling the peace talks and Yermak signalled that he would press Ukrainian demands for tougher sanctions on Russia.
"We will actively promote issues that are important for Ukraine. Our agenda is rather comprehensive," Yermak said on the Telegram app after arriving in Washington.
"We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia."
Yermak said the officials would also discuss a deal that gives the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral projects and sets up an investment fund that could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
DRONE ATTACKS
Kyiv appears determined to show U.S. President Donald Trump that it can still fight on, despite the rising death toll and destruction in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
Ukraine's attack on Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions followed multiple Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that have at times left millions of Ukrainians without power during the war.
"There is no electricity throughout the region," Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, said.
"The Ministry of Energy ... has been instructed to develop reserve sources of electricity as soon as possible. Healthcare facilities have been transferred to back up power supply sources."
The attack followed drone strikes at the weekend on Russian military airfields, some of which housed long-range nuclear-capable bombers.
Ukraine's success in striking deep into Russia has prompted calls by some Russian military bloggers for a harsh response.
A Russian artillery strike on the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday killed three people and wounded 25, local officials said.
"That's all one needs to know about the Russian wish to end this war," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Moscow has responded to such accusations by saying Ukraine is not making a genuine effort to seek peace.
At Monday's talks in Istanbul, Russia told Ukraine it would agree to end the war only if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. Ukraine rejects the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender.
"The (peace) settlement theme is extremely complex, it consists of a large number of nuances...," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that "it would be wrong to expect any immediate solutions and breakthroughs here".
(Writing by Timothy HeritageEditing by Gareth Jones)
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Newsweek
21 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Putin Suffers His Worst Week of 2025
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. "God loves the Trinity," said Ukrainian intelligence chief Vasyl Malyuk, in a boast about Kyiv's third Kerch Bridge attack but he could also have been talking about the number of setbacks Russian President Vladimir Putin has been dealt in recent days. Malyuk said Tuesday's strike on the bridge linking Crimea with Russia was months in the planning and came on the heels of a drone operation, which Kyiv said had taken out a third of Russia's aircraft bomber fleet. Ukraine's drone strike had left Kremlin officials "angry and alarmed" over the vulnerability of a nuclear-capable air fleet far from the battlefield, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Russia's investigative committee has launched a terrorism investigation into the collapse of two bridges in the border region following incidents likely to heap pressure on the Russian president. "It's certainly a bad week for the Russian people and for the Russian military," retired U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Murrett told Newsweek. Putin has had several bad weeks during his full-scale invasion, such as the destruction of the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva in April 2022, Russia's retreat from Kherson in November that year and Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region in August 2024. Oleg Ignatov from the International Crisis Group told Newsweek this week's incidents delivered the worst setback for Putin for 2025 in terms of military damage and the impact on public morale. Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment. This image from 2016 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin outside of Moscow. This image from 2016 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin outside of It Matters Ukraine's drone attacks on military airfields deep inside Russian territory and the targeting of the bridge, which serves as a symbol of Moscow's occupation of Crimea, delivers a PR boost and possible leverage for Kyiv amid peace talks that the Russian president has been accused of stalling. What To Know Overnight Saturday, two bridges collapsed in Russia's western regions bordering Ukraine, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, according to local authorities. It is not clear whether what their causes are or if the two collapses are even linked or but Russia's investigative committee said they were being investigated as potential terrorist attacks. Ignatov, senior Crisis Group analyst for Russia, said Ukraine was likely behind sabotage attacks targeting the bridges although Kyiv has not commented on the incidents. In one incident in Bryansk's Vygonichi district, about 60 miles from the Ukrainian border, a road bridge gave way crushing the moving train underneath and injuring at least 66 people, Russian authorities reported. Bryansk's governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said the bridge had been "blown up." In another incident overnight into Sunday, a bridge collapsed in the Kursk region as a freight train was passing over it, injuring one of the drivers, according to the acting governor of the region. In a third incident that night, a Russian military freight train was blown up near the occupied city of Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. Operation Spiderweb On the eve of talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a drone attack across Russia. Targeted were the Olenya air base in Russia's Murmansk region, the Diaghilev airbase in the Ryazan region, the Ivanovo air base in Ivanovo region and the Belaya air base in the Irkutsk region over 2,500 miles from the Ukraine border. Dubbed Operation Spiderweb, the attacks 18 months in the planning saw 117 drones launched from concealed trucks, hit 41 aircraft, disabled a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet and inflicted $7 billion damage, according to Kyiv. Zev Faintuch, head of research and intelligence at international security firm Global Guardian, told Newsweek the operation was a huge intelligence coup and probably not a one-off. He said this operation can be seen as an opening move in a strategic campaign involving deception, covert prepositioning and strategic psychological warfare. Ukraine may have many more of these prepositioned containers ready with hundreds or thousands of drones for subsequent attacks, and even if it didn't, the Russians are now on the lookout, Faintuch added. Murrett, deputy director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, told Newsweek that from a tactical military standpoint, they were very effective attacks that had dealt a significant blow to Moscow's military machine. He said Ukraine is demonstrating new tactics and what he describes as 21st-century war fighting that has an impact far beyond their borders. Sources close to Russian officials told Bloomberg that damage inflicted on the warplanes including targets on Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 bombers "is likely to rattle decision makers around Putin." Kerch Bridge Attack A day after the Russian drone operation, Malyuk, chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said his agents had mined the supports of the Kerch bridge which is a critical supply and transport route for Moscow's forces. He suggested the structural integrity of the bridge is in a critical condition after 1,100 kilograms (nearly 2,500 pounds) of explosives in TNT equivalent were detonated in the early hours of Tuesday. Imagery captured on June 3, 2025, by the U.S. satellite firm Planet shows Russia's Olenya air base, one of five bomber bases targeted by a Ukrainian drone raid on June 1, 2025. Imagery captured on June 3, 2025, by the U.S. satellite firm Planet shows Russia's Olenya air base, one of five bomber bases targeted by a Ukrainian drone raid on June 1, 2025. Planet Labs PBC The SBU released an image of the bridge which did not indicate damage to the roadway. Russian opposition outlets pro-Russian milbloggers circulated footage which showed another naval drone strike against the bridge on Tuesday afternoon. Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope for Ukraine, which provides aid to the war-torn country said that the drone attacks and the Kerch Bridge explosion had undermined Putin's image. "The damage that was done on Sunday to the Russian Air Force could only be possible with tactical nuclear weapons," he told Newsweek, adding that the biggest headache for the Kremlin now was to figure out if other military sites are vulnerable to further Ukrainian attack. What People Are Saying Ukrainian intelligence chief Vasyl Malyuk: "God loves the Trinity, and the SBU always finishes what it starts. We struck the Crimean Bridge in 2022 and 2023. Today, we continued this tradition—this time underwater." Robert Murrett, retired U.S. Vice Admiral: "Putin's had several bad weeks. It's certainly a bad week for the Russian people and for the Russian military." Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of nonprofit Hope for Ukraine: "For Putin it's personal because he is a former FSB agent, and is being outplayed by a former comic [Volodymyr Zelensky]. Putin will respond by increasing strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine, but that is all he can do at this time." What Happens Next Ukraine's drone attack on Russian airfields was likely intended to disrupt the Kremlin's position that it has the upper hand and can dictate the terms of any peace deal, according to the Crisis Group's Ignatov. "It's an attempt to change the narrative that Ukraine is losing the war gradually," he said.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Slashing CISA Is a Gift to Our Adversaries
DURING MY TENURE as the commander of U.S. Army Europe, I visited Estonia and its fledgling Cyber Defense Centre in Tallinn. What I saw there in 2012 left a lasting impression. A small nation, Estonia aspired to be an entrepreneurial country using digital capabilities. But in 2007, The Russians took aim at those new capabilities, and Estonia experienced the world's first full-scale cyberattack directed by a hostile state. After the nearly month-long digital onslaught, the Estonians learned, adapted, and built a stronger digital fortress to resist future attacks. What Estonia taught me nearly two decades ago remains true today: Cyber resilience is not a luxury for modern nations; it's a strategic necessity. Which makes President Trump's recent decision to gut the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) even more dangerous. After a decade of our intelligence community ranking cyberwarfare among our top national security threats, dismantling the agency tasked with defending our digital homeland is reckless and shortsighted. Share Russia's 2007 attack against Estonia was, at heart, a response to a political issue. The Estonian government had decided to relocate a Soviet-era World War II monument—known as the Bronze Soldier—from downtown Tallinn to a military cemetery. For non-Russian Estonians, the statue represented Soviet occupation. For the country's Russian-speaking minority and the Kremlin, it was a symbol of victory over fascism. Moscow seized on Estonia's decision, portraying it as an affront to Russian history, and mounted a diplomatic pressure campaign to prevent the relocation. Violent protests by ethnic Russians resulted in hundreds of injuries and arrests and many smashed shop windows and overturned cars. But when the real assault finally arrived, it came across the internet. The Russian cyberattack was coordinated, sweeping, and relentless. It began on April 27, 2007, the day the monument was moved, and proceeded in stages over three punishing weeks. First came the hits on government websites—those of the president, prime minister, parliament, and key ministries. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks crippled official communications. Citizens couldn't access public information. Government workers couldn't rely on internal networks. Soon, the attack spread to the media. Major newspapers like the Postimees and television broadcasters went dark online. For a population already rattled by protests and political tension, the loss of reliable information was deeply destabilizing. The digital blackout created an environment ripe for disinformation, fear, and confusion. Then the banks were targeted. Estonia's largest financial institutions, including SEB Eesti Ühispank and Hansapank, were overwhelmed. Online services were paralyzed. ATMs were rendered inoperable. People couldn't pay bills, access salaries, or transfer funds. The economic pulse of the country faltered in real time. In the final phase, the attackers turned to emergency responders and core infrastructure. Phone lines to emergency services were jammed. Legislative portals froze. Critical databases were either wiped or locked. The tiny country was on the edge of digital paralysis. Estonia survived. But it had learned the hard way that in the twenty-first century, the front line isn't always geographic. Sometimes it's algorithmic. Join now WHEN I VISITED THE CYBER CENTER in Tallinn, all I could think of was what if this happened in the United States. Imagine being in an emergency room with a family member. Suddenly, hospital systems crash. Doctors can't access medical records. Prescriptions, allergies, previous diagnoses—all inaccessible. This isn't speculative. In 2019, a ransomware attack forced numerous systems used by the Springhill Medical Center in Alabama offline. A newborn died during the outage because staff couldn't access critical information in time. Picture rush hour in Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles. Traffic lights fail. GPS systems malfunction. Subway control systems stall. In 2020, a technical problem briefly disrupted 911 emergency services across fourteen states; it's not hard to imagine that outcome replicated deliberately by the agents of a hostile power. In recent years, hackers in China and Russia have breached transit computer systems in New York City and D.C. Imagine finding your online bank account has vanished. Your retirement fund is frozen. Your paycheck hasn't arrived. In 2016, North Korean hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank. It could just as easily have been Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, or the Social Security Administration. Now imagine all this happening during a national election. Your polling location's digital rolls are wiped. Machines jam or misreport. Your county's election website—normally the trusted source of real-time results—is offline. And as chaos unfolds, disinformation floods your social media feed, engineered to deepen mistrust. This is what CISA was created to prevent. Keep up with all our articles, newsletters, podcasts, and livestreams: ESTABLISHED UNDER the Department of Homeland Security as the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) in 2007 and re-established by an act of Congress as an independent agency with its current name in 2018, CISA has become America's nerve center for digital defense. It works with state governments to secure election infrastructure, warns utilities and hospitals of incoming threats, coordinates real-time responses to attacks on financial systems and energy grids, and builds partnerships between government and the private sector to harden areas of vulnerability. It is not just a tech agency—it is the digital equivalent of NORAD, or the hurricane warning center in the National Weather Service. When Chris Krebs, then the director of CISA, publicly confirmed that the 2020 election was 'the most secure in American history,' he was fired by President Trump. That was a warning sign. Now the proposed cuts in funding and personnel threaten to systematically dismantle CISA's capacity to defend the nation's infrastructure—physical, electoral, medical, financial. This isn't bureaucratic belt-tightening. It's a strategic retreat in the middle of a war. After the 2007 attack, the Estonians rebuilt based on the lessons they had learned. They digitized the government with blockchain technology, built a secure national ID system to protect citizens' data, and backed up the entire state apparatus with encrypted servers in Luxembourg—a 'data embassy' that ensures national continuity even in a digital blackout. They also organized a 'Cyber Defense Unit,' an all-volunteer corps of engineers, IT professionals, and reservists trained to mobilize during digital emergencies. Cybersecurity in Estonia became a whole-of-society effort. And it worked. Estonia became not only a model for other democracies, but a core contributor to NATO's understanding of cyber conflict. Their center of excellence isn't just a think tank—it's a war college for digital defense. When I visited, I was struck by the seriousness with which they approached what many in the United States still considered a technical or marginal concern. They knew better, because they had lived it. Join now While the context of cyber conflict and security is technology, the core issue at play is trust. Society depends on a foundational level of trust to function. Trust that your vote counts. That your hospital can save your child. That your bank account is secure. That the lights turn on and the water is clean. Cyberattacks aim to break that trust—not just with damage, but with doubt. If we undermine CISA, the agency responsible for safeguarding that trust, we don't just weaken our defenses—we invite the next attack. And we won't be able to claim we were caught off guard. The warnings have already come—loud and often. From SolarWinds to Colonial Pipeline, from the (largely pre-empted) attempts to interfere with the 2020 election to the continuous probing of our energy grid, we've seen the signs. Cyber warfare is not a tomorrow problem. Estonia faced it in 2007 and responded with unity, innovation, and urgency. The United States now risks doing the opposite—dividing, defunding, and deflecting as threats continue to grow. Slashing CISA's capabilities sends the worst possible message to adversaries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea: 'Come on in. Our guard is down.' As someone who has commanded American troops, advised NATO allies, and seen firsthand the consequences of digital vulnerability, I urge the Trump administration—and the American people—to reconsider. Because in this new battlespace, it's not just about who has the most tanks, planes, or drones. It's about who can protect their people, their institutions, and their way of life in a world where war is already being waged with ones and zeroes. And right now, we're pulling our sentries off the wall. Share
31 minutes ago
New German leader plans to discuss Ukraine and trade with Trump in Oval Office visit
WASHINGTON -- Germany's new leader is meeting President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the U.S. on board with Western support for Ukraine, help defuse trade tensions that pose a risk to Europe's biggest economy and further bolster his country's long-criticized military spending. Trump and Chancellor Friedrich Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a 'decent' relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in Trump's first term. The 69-year-old Merz is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics. Merz also comes to office with an extensive business background — something that could align him with Trump. A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany's defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called 'democratic backsliding," saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions. Merz will want to avoid an Oval Office showdown of the kind that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa experienced in recent months. Asked about the risk of a White House blow-up, Merz spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said on Monday that the chancellor is 'well-prepared' for the meeting and that he and Trump have 'built up a decent relationship, at least by phone" and via text messaging. Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceasefire while rejecting the idea of 'dictated peace' or the 'subjugation' of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia. The White House official said Trump on Thursday will stress that direct peace talks must continue. In their first phone call since Merz became chancellor, Trump said he would support the efforts of Germany and other European countries to achieve peace, according to a readout from the German government. Merz also said last month that 'it is of paramount importance that the political West not let itself be divided, so I will continue to make every effort to produce the greatest possible unity between the European and American partners.' Under Merz's immediate predecessor, Olaf Scholz, Germany became the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Merz has vowed to keep up the support and last week pledged to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any range limits. At home, Merz's government is intensifying a drive that Scholz started to bolster the German military after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In Trump's first term, Berlin was a target of his ire for failing to meet the current NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and Trump is now demanding at least 5% from allies. The White House official said the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month is a 'good opportunity' for Germany to commit to meeting that 5% mark. Scholz set up a 100 billion euro ($115 billion) special fund to modernize Germany's armed forces — called the Bundeswehr — which had suffered from years of neglect. Germany has met the 2% target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027. Merz has said that 'the government will in the future provide all the financing the Bundeswehr needs to become the strongest conventional army in Europe.' He has endorsed a plan for all allies to aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure. Another top priority for Merz is to get Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, moving again after it shrank the past two years. He wants to make it a 'locomotive of growth,' but Trump's tariff threats are a potential obstacle for a country whose exports have been a key strength. At present, the economy is forecast to stagnate in 2025. Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. That was about $85 billion more than what the U.S. sent to Germany, a trade deficit that Trump wants to erase. The U.S. president has specifically gone after the German auto sector, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany last year, while the Germans purchased $10.2 billion worth of vehicles and parts from the U.S. Trump's 25% tariff on autos and parts is specifically designed to increase the cost of German-made automobiles in hopes of causing them to move their factories to the U.S., even though many of the companies already have plants in the U.S. with Volkswagen in Tennessee, BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama and South Carolina. There's only so much Merz can achieve on his view that tariffs 'benefit no one and damage everyone' while in Washington, as trade negotiations are a matter for the European Union's executive commission. Trump recently delayed a planned 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union, which would have otherwise gone into effect this month. One source of strain in recent months is a speech Vice President JD Vance gave in Munich shortly before Germany's election in February, in which he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy on the continent and said there is no place for 'firewalls.' That term is frequently used to describe mainstream German parties' refusal to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany, which finished second in the election and is now the biggest opposition party. Merz criticized the comments. He told ARD television last month that it isn't the place of a U.S. vice president 'to say something like that to us in Germany; I wouldn't do it in America, either.'
