Ukraine-Russia war latest: Two killed after Putin's forces launch massive drone strike on Kharkiv
At least two people were killed and 57 injured in a massive Russian drone attack on Kharkiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
According to Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov, 'seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs were carried out in two districts of the city this night'.
A five-storey building caught fire, with over 15 apartments burning, and several houses were struck as well.
Mr Terekhov warned that people could still be trapped under the rubble.
Separately, Russian forces launched a devastating five-hour drone assault on Kyiv on Tuesday in one of the largest attacks of the war on the capital so far.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow 's forces fired over 315 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing seven people.
'Every night, instead of a ceasefire, there have been massive strikes with Shaheds, cruise missiles and ballistics. Today was one of the largest strikes on Kyiv. Odesa, the Dnipro region and Chernihiv region were also targeted,' he said.
Seven children among 57 injured in Kharkiv attack
A nine-minute Russian drone strike on Kharkiv killed at least two people and injured 57, among them seven children, overnight, regional officials reported on Wednesday.
The barrage of 17 drones ignited fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused widespread damage across the city, which lies near the Russian border.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the strikes directly hit apartment blocks, private homes, playgrounds, businesses, and public transport.
'Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken,' he wrote on Telegram.
Emergency crews were seen rescuing residents, providing medical aid, and battling fires in the dark, according to a Reuters witness.
Nine of the injured, including a two-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were hospitalised, regional governor Oleh Sinehubov said.
The attack also damaged a city trolley bus depot and multiple residential buildings.
Russia has not commented on the strikes.
Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, repelled a Russian ground advance early in the war but continues to face regular drone, missile, and aerial bomb attacks.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 07:00
US to cut military aid to Ukraine, Hegseth says
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the upcoming defence budget will reduce military aid to Ukraine, reflecting a major shift in US policy under president Donald Trump.
Mr Hegseth said the administration now favours a negotiated settlement to the conflict over continued military support for Ukraine.
The aid cuts come as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukrainian cities and advances towards new regions.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the US has provided over $66bn in aid to Ukraine.
'It is a reduction in this budget,' Mr Hegseth told lawmakers. 'This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe.'
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 06:30
Cathedral described as 'the soul of all Ukraine' damaged in Russian attack
A Russian attack has damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of Ukraine 's most significant monuments, according to Ukraine's culture minister.
Mykola Tochytskyi announced on Facebook that the overnight attack struck"at the very heart of our identity again". He called the 11th-century cathedral "the soul of all Ukraine" and a shrine that "survived for centuries".
"Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine which survived for centuries and symbolises the birth of our statehood, was damaged," he said.
He added that the blast wave damaged the cornice on the main apse of the landmark. Video from the scene showed pieces of white plaster crumbled to the ground.
This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged, first deputy director general of the site Vadym Kyrylenko told reporters.
Cathedral described as 'soul of all Ukraine' damaged in Russian attack
This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged
11 June 2025 06:00
2 killed in overnight drone attacks on Kharkiv
A Russian drone attack on Kharkiv overnight killed at least two people and injured 54.
Mayor Igor Terekhov reported 17 strikes across two districts, causing fires in a five-storey building with over 15 apartments affected.
Several houses were also hit, and there are fears people may be trapped under the rubble.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 05:18
Russia has been ready to return dead Ukrainian soldiers 'for several days' - Kremlin
Russia has been ready to return the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war 'for several days', the Kremlin has claimed.
Moscow and Kyiv are still in talks on the subject, the Kremlin said
On Saturday Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said the Russian side had shown up at the agreed exchange point with the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian dead soldiers only to find nobody from Ukraine to take them.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of "trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game" around the issue of the exchanges.
The exchange was agreed during a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2. The Kremlin said it did not yet know exactly how many bodies of Russian soldiers Ukraine was ready to hand over.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 05:00
Zelensky calls on Western allies to cut price cap on Russian oil
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is urging Western allies to cut the price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $30 per barrel to increase pressure on Moscow to seek peace.
This comes amid a sharp escalation in Russian attacks on Ukraine, including a major aerial assault on Kyiv.
While the EU has proposed lowering the cap to $45 as part of its latest sanctions, Mr Zelensky called that a 'compromise price' and insisted that stronger economic measures are needed to curb Russia's war efforts.
'Russia's ability to continue the war is equal to its ability to sell its oil and bypass financial barriers,' the president said.
'That is why it is necessary ... to do everything possible to keep the price of Russian oil lower than they can withstand. Each of the partners knows what price cap is needed — $30, no higher. Such a price level will mean real pressure on Russia – they should be forced to seek peace.'
He added: 'Enough compromises with Russia. Every such compromise is a postponement of peace. We are asking for a real reduction in the price of Russian oil, which would bring us closer to ending the war.'
'It is vital that there is no silence in response to the Russian escalation, and it is obvious that there is an escalation,' he said.
'Russia has been steadily increasing the number of lethal weapons in strikes for months now.'
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 04:30
Russian jet suspected of violating Finnish airspace, defence ministry says
A Russian military aircraft allegedly violated Finland's airspace on 10 June, the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
'The investigation into the suspect's airspace breach has been launched immediately,' Finnish defence minister Antti Hakkanen said.
The ministry added the 'Border Guard is investigating the case and will provide more information as the investigation progresses'.
The alleged airspace violation occurred near the city of Porvoo, about 50km east of Helsinki.
On 22 May, two Russian aircraft violated Finnish airspace, while the day prior, Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Su-24 bomber in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 04:05
Poland's new president says Russia is country's 'greatest threat'
Poland's newly elected president Karol Nawrocki has warned that Russia is the 'biggest threat' his country faces, as he expressed a desire to meet with Hungary's Viktor Orban, who is perhaps the European leader most closely aligned with Vladimir Putin.
It was not yet clear what Mr Nawrocki's policy on Ukraine would be, but he reiterated that he opposed Kyiv's plans to join the European Union.
However, Poland supports Ukraine strategically, because 'the greatest threat to me, as an anti-communist, and in my opinion to the entire region, is the Russian Federation', he said.
Mr Nawrocki claimed that 'Ukraine must also understand that other countries – including Poland, Hungary, and other European nations – have interests of their own.'
And in his first foreign interview, given to a Hungarian magazine Mandiner, Mr Nawrocki said that Budapest is a 'very important partner for Poland', adding: 'We are facing serious tasks, such as building the Visegrad Group, which will be an important format for me, as well as strengthening Nato's eastern flank and the Bucharest Nine.'
He added: 'I certainly wish to meet prime minister Viktor Orban, who is a very effective politician, as proven by his repeated election results in Hungary. And I count on good cooperation with him, just as with other countries, in the interest of the region.'
Mr Orban said on Friday that Mr Nawrocki's victory was 'fantastically good', hailing the success of an ally of US president Donald Trump.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 01:00
Ukraine maternity hospital hit in deadly Russian drone strikes
A Ukraine maternity hospital has been hit after Russia launched a deadly wave of drones and missiles in an attack on Odesa early Tuesday morning (10 June).
At least two people were killed and nine injured in the attack with the maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern port city damaged, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said.
The fresh attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war.
Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Ukraine maternity hospital hit in deadly Russian drone strikes
A Ukraine maternity hospital has been hit after Russia launched a deadly wave of drones and missiles in an attack on Odesa early Tuesday morning (10 June). At least two people were killed and nine injured in the attack with the maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern port city damaged, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. The fresh attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 00:00
Pictured: Kyiv suffers one of heaviest Russian attacks of the war
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Russia recruited a teenage spy. His arrest led to a crypto money trail
REUTERS/Illustration/Catherine Tai Russia recruited a teenage spy. His arrest led to a crypto money trail A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT Russia has resorted to using untrained spies after its diplomats and operatives were expelled from Europe in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The case against a Canadian teenager now jailed in Poland reveals how Moscow conducts the operations, and how cryptocurrency funds them. By MARI SAITO, ANNA KOPER, ANTON ZVEREV, FILIPP LEBEDEV and POLINA NIKOLSKAYA Filed June 12, 2025, 10 a.m. GMT WARSAW, POLAND The Canadian teenager was getting anxious. It was May 2024, and he was in Copenhagen, running out of money after leaving Moscow a week earlier. He'd booked the cheapest room he could find in the Danish capital, but the hostel was still more expensive than he'd expected. The teen, Laken Pavan, opened Telegram to type out a message to his handler in Russia's Federal Security Service, which runs the country's spy operations and is known by its acronym FSB. 'Are you able to send BTC today?' Pavan wrote to the man, using the shorthand for bitcoin. Pavan knew the man only as 'Slon,' or elephant in Russian. The man had been assigned to the 17-year-old by FSB officers who had recruited the teen just weeks prior in Russian-occupied Donetsk, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters. 'I have a big problem there are no Bitcoin ATMs in Denmark,' Pavan explained in English. He'd checked around and it would be simpler in Poland, Pavan told his handler. Things were cheaper and he could more easily turn cryptocurrency into cash there. 'Check, I've sent you the first batch of money,' Slon replied. A minute earlier, Pavan's bitcoin wallet showed it had received about $130 worth of the cryptocurrency. Pavan soon responded with a photo of his boarding pass for a flight to Warsaw. A couple days later, intoxicated and suddenly fearful, Pavan asked the receptionist of his budget hotel in Warsaw to call the police. Once officers arrived, he confessed to working with the FSB and planning to pass information about the Polish military to his Russian handler, the court documents show. The Canadian pleaded guilty to charges of helping Russian intelligence and was sentenced in December 2024. Pavan, who turned 18 a few weeks after his arrest, is now serving a 20-month sentence in a Polish prison on the outskirts of Radom, a city 100 kilometres south of the capital. There is no indication from the court documents that he ever obtained or passed along any sensitive information to the Russians. The term he received is even less than the usual 5-year minimum because of his age and because he admitted guilt and cooperated with the investigation, prosecutors said in a post-sentencing statement. At a time when Europe is in a heightened state of alarm over what security agencies across the continent call Russia's 'hybrid war' of sabotage and espionage, Reuters found an emerging trend: Moscow is increasingly recruiting teenagers and complete novices. The hybrid campaign comes as Ukraine and Russia try to strengthen negotiating positions in sporadic peace talks, which have so far produced no breakthroughs. Russian bombing attacks on Ukraine have intensified. So has pressure from Ukraine, including a surprise attack on Russian bombers after what Ukraine's president said was months of work by intelligence operatives working inside Russia. Since the full-scale invasion in 2022, dozens of teenagers in Ukraine and at least 12 teens elsewhere in Europe – in Germany, Poland, Britain and Lithuania – have been arrested in Russia-linked cases of sabotage and spying. Pavan's case, reported in detail for the first time, sheds light on these covert Russian operations and their cryptocurrency trail. The answer to why Moscow has resorted to using untrained agents lies in the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats and operatives from Europe after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. To plug the hole in their operations, Russian intelligence services have shifted to recruiting common criminals or individuals with little spycraft experience, said a senior NATO official. His statement echoed comments last year from Germany's domestic security service. Two European security experts said teenagers are recruited because they're vulnerable, low-cost, and often in need of money. 'These are, in many cases, not trained intelligence professionals,' the NATO official said on condition of anonymity to describe the clandestine operations. The official expects more Russian hybrid warfare, which combines physical warfare with non-military tactics used to undermine an adversary's security and sow distrust and confusion. 'One of the main objectives of the Russian hybrid campaign is to undercut support for Ukraine, and that is both politically, in terms of creating disquiet amongst the population, but also very practically, in terms of the actual concrete support going to Ukraine,' he said. 'I said, who's paying for this trip because I wanted to know what was going on.' Andelaine Nelson, Laken Pavan's mother Reuters reviewed more than 1,400 pages of Polish court documents in Pavan's case, which includes all of the messages between the Canadian teen and his FSB handler – more than 300 in total. The messages, as well as Pavan's testimony to prosecutors, provide a rare, unfiltered view of the sometimes-haphazard nature of such operations, where the FSB is using a mixture of threats and lukewarm incentives. Neither the Kremlin nor the FSB responded to requests for comment from Reuters about Pavan's case, Russia's recruiting tactics of young people or its use of bitcoin to fund operations. Polish prosecutors in Pavan's case also declined to answer questions about the case. Requests to the Polish detention center in Radom to speak with Pavan went unanswered. The bitcoin transactions in the court documents allowed Reuters, with the help of blockchain analysts, to trace the payments, revealing transfers across several wallets. The analysis identified one large cryptocurrency wallet that financed the two wallets which paid bitcoin directly to Pavan. That big wallet has processed over $600 million since its creation in June 2022, four months after the start of the war in Ukraine, the analysis found. Reuters could not ascertain who operates the large upstream wallet. European officials have pointed to Russia for sabotage including cyberattacks and arson, attempted assassinations, as well as espionage in countries allied with Ukraine. Moscow denies involvement and has called such allegations ' empty ' and unproven. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, known as the SVR, did not comment directly on Pavan's case and accused Europe of blindly supporting 'the Kyiv regime's terrorist methods.' Ukraine has similarly recruited youths in Russia for sabotage there, primarily arson, according to Russia's FSB and the Russian Investigative Committee, the federation's main investigative authority. There is no indication those operations have targeted Russian allies, and Ukraine did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. "]] "]] "]] As a child in Parksville on Canada's western coast, Pavan was a quiet boy obsessed with the Canadian military, said his mother, Andelaine Nelson. He idolized his father, who served in Afghanistan and later worked as a combat engineer. She remembers her son researching his ancestry for hints of military service. 'He's been lining up marbles and doing little combat things since he could sit in a highchair,' she said. As a child, he frequently accompanied his father to military events around Canada and abroad, she said. Nelson and Pavan's father split when he was a toddler, and her contact with her son was sporadic for most of his childhood as his father had custody. Their separation, among other family issues, had made her son increasingly angry, Nelson said. Contacted through his lawyer, Pavan's father in Canada declined to comment about his son's case. At the 75th anniversary celebration of D-Day on France's Juno Beach in 2019, Pavan, who was then turning 13, can be seen grinning next to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a photo posted by a local news site at the time. Pavan told prosecutors he joined the Canadian reserves in 2022, when he was 16. Nelson said her son's dream was to work as a combat engineer like his father. Canada's military confirmed that Pavan was a reservist from July 2022 to October 2024. When the war started in Ukraine in 2022, Pavan at first expressed no interest, Nelson said. The court records don't indicate why he came to embrace Russia's cause. Pavan and his mother fully reconnected in 2023. By the end of the year, he was debating strangers online, where he was increasingly supportive of Russia, court records show. In dozens of public Telegram exchanges in pro-Moscow groups from December 2023 through spring 2024 seen by Reuters, Pavan voiced disappointment about his experience as a reservist in the Canadian army and said he believed Russia's war was 'justified.' By March 2024, he mentioned he had a visa for Russia, and suggested another user join the Russian military for citizenship. According to chat logs recovered by Polish prosecutors, Pavan was also messaging moderators of Russian propaganda channels and English-speakers in Russia about fighting for Russian forces in occupied Donetsk. Pavan's mother said she knew nothing about his plans to travel to Russia. 'I had no idea he was even gone,' she told Reuters, only later hearing from her son that he was traveling around Europe with friends. John Kingman Phillips, a lawyer for Pavan's family, said Canadian authorities should have been aware of his plans to travel to Russia and Donetsk and stopped the minor from traveling. Canada's Border Services Agency said citizens have the right to leave the country, although high-risk people could be flagged. Canada's Global Affairs Department said it was aware of the arrest and sentencing of a citizen in Poland but declined to comment on the specifics of Pavan's case. On April 16, 2024, Pavan flew from Vancouver to Moscow via Istanbul and hired a driver to take him to occupied Donetsk. There, he crashed in the basement headquarters of the Interbrigades, a volunteer group, which according to the organisation's social media account was set up in 2014 to gather mercenaries to fight for Russia in Donetsk and the neighboring Ukrainian region of Luhansk and to organize humanitarian projects for civilians. The group's name refers to the Spanish Civil War, when leftists from many countries arrived in Spain to fight for the International Brigades against Francisco Franco's rebels. Pavan was two months shy of 18, fair-haired and lanky. He had inquired about enlisting but was told he had to first turn 18 under Russian law, according to a message he sent a foreign fighter from Spain. For about a week, he volunteered around Donetsk with the Interbrigades and helped rebuild a school. Wilmer Puello-Mota, an American former airman who fled to Russia after being charged with possession of child sexual abuse material, told Reuters he encountered Pavan in Donetsk, where the Canadian tried unsuccessfully to join the Russian army. Puello-Mota, who described the U.S. allegations against him as unfair, is now serving in Russia's military. 'Everybody he talked to down there, we told him, go home,' said Puello-Mota, whose contacts with Pavan appear in the court documents. He said Pavan did nothing more than volunteer for the Interbrigades for a day or two, as the court documents also indicated. Puello-Mota said the espionage allegations made by Poland against the teen made no sense. In late April, Pavan was out drinking in Donetsk when he was arrested. He told Polish prosecutors he was questioned about his family and friends at the police station by men who said they were from the FSB. The men put a bag over his head and drove him to a second location, where they interrogated him again, asking also about his travel plans around Europe. None of them gave Pavan their names. Eventually, he told prosecutors, he was taken to the Central hotel in Donetsk, a tall building with a glass facade in the heart of the occupied city. There he was grilled repeatedly by a group of at least six FSB officers and one man who said he was from Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service. After several days, they gave him instructions. After returning to Europe, Pavan was to lose his passport to conceal his trip to Russia and begin working for Russia's security services. 'This work was to consist of traveling around Europe and taking photos. In Ukraine, on the other hand, I was to enlist in the Ukrainian army; I was to receive detailed instructions for this later, after arriving in Ukraine,' Pavan told Polish prosecutors, according to a copy of his testimony seen by Reuters. The teen did not speak Russian, Ukrainian or Polish. The Russian men used a combination of threats and inducements to get him to agree, Pavan told Polish authorities. In exchange for his work, he'd get Russian citizenship and an apartment in any Russian city of his choosing. If he didn't comply, he would be killed, he told prosecutors. They then introduced Pavan to Slon, his FSB handler. Slon, who appeared to be in his 30s, never gave Pavan his real name. Slon did not respond to calls or to messages sent by Reuters via Telegram. Reuters was unable to contact him on his fake Instagram account. Pavan began messaging Slon on Telegram as he prepared to leave Donetsk. At first, their messages focused mainly on food. Slon's were sometimes in stilted English, as if he were using a translation app. C – Slon LP – Laken Pavan Later, Pavan shared a link to a website about how the British military was no longer accepting soldiers from Commonwealth countries like Canada. It is not clear why he shared the link. The same day in May, Slon sent Pavan details of his flight from Moscow to Istanbul. According to the messages, Slon drove with Pavan to the bus terminal in Donetsk, where Pavan boarded a bus to Moscow. Pavan later told Polish police he was given $2,000 in cash before leaving Donetsk. On May 14, Pavan arrived in Copenhagen via Istanbul. It's not clear why the Danish capital was chosen as his destination. Slon and Pavan messaged daily, with the FSB handler encouraging the teenager to apply for a new Canadian passport, buy a new phone, and set up a fake Instagram account for photos of his travels. Slon also created a fake profile for himself, picking the username '@ and uploaded a photo of a blonde woman as his profile picture. Reuters identified the woman as a 20-year-old Donetsk teacher named Anastasia Protsenko, who told Reuters she was unaware her image was being used for the account and knew no one named Slon. In Copenhagen, Pavan messaged Slon about the people he encountered. Slon seemed particularly interested in Pavan's new friend, an American defense contractor who was traveling through Copenhagen. He encouraged Pavan to continue talking to the American without making him suspicious. But Pavan's money was running out fast in Denmark. He messaged his mother in Canada for funds. 'He told me he had no money, that he hadn't been paid,' Nelson said. Until then, she thought Pavan was traveling with friends. "I said, who's paying for this trip because I wanted to know what was going on.' She said her son never answered her question. After days of Pavan's pestering, Slon finally transferred bitcoins to him on May 20. The next day, he sent more. Pavan's bitcoin wallet shows he received bitcoin worth more than $500 from two wallets on May 20 and 21 last year. In testimony, he confirmed these payments came from Slon's bitcoin wallets. Each time, Pavan said, Slon told the teen his own account needed replenishing first. At the request of Reuters, Global Ledger and Recoveris, both firms with expertise in tracing crypto movements, tracked the two bitcoin payments Pavan received using the wallet addresses listed in Polish court documents. Reuters confirmed the path of the payments. Global Ledger said the payments to Pavan's wallet were made after the two wallets Pavan identified as Slon's in court documents received a similar amount of bitcoins from two intermediaries. Those, in turn, received bitcoins worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from a large wallet set up in June 2022, Global Ledger said. Recoveris also traced the payments back to the large wallet. Recoveris also noted that outgoing transfers from the 'cluster' of wallets identified through Pavan's case took place during Moscow business hours. In three years, the large wallet has processed bitcoins equivalent to $600 million. Global Ledger said during that period, the wallet has transferred bitcoins to a crypto exchange called Garantex, which has been sanctioned by the European Union and the United States for its close association with sanctioned Russian banks. In March, the United States, Germany and Finland took down the online infrastructure used by Garantex. The wallet was active as of June. Reuters could not determine the ownership of the large wallet or the two intermediary wallets that paid into wallets Pavan identified as Slon's, or whether any were used in other sabotage or espionage cases. Global Ledger said the large wallet appeared to be funded by a major mining pool and a custodial service. 'Transactions from wallets linked to the FSB followed a structured laundering pattern, involving fund splitting, mixing with larger sums, and routing through unconnected deposit wallets,' Global Ledger wrote in its report for Reuters, noting methods commonly used to obfuscate the source and use of funds. Related content Insight: Sex toys and exploding cosmetics: anatomy of a 'hybrid war' on the West Russia-linked propaganda campaign pushes to undercut German support for Ukraine How one man became a Ukrainian traitor and Russian spy Ago Ambur, who until January this year served as the head of Estonia's Cybercrime Bureau and now works as chief operating officer at the cyberintelligence firm Glazer Technologies, said the wallets and transaction patterns alone were not enough to indicate that Russia's special services were behind them. 'Attributing a crypto activity to an adversary can be similar to finding a knife at a crime scene. It might match the type the adversary uses, but without fingerprints, DNA or surveillance footage, it remains just a clue,' he told Reuters. Pavan and Slon's last contact was on May 22, 2024, a day after the teen's arrival in Warsaw. In their final exchange, Slon reminded Pavan to apply for a new Canadian passport, and suggested he reach out to his father and his old military commander. The messages did not explain why. Twelve hours later, Pavan was in Polish police custody. Phillips, the lawyer for Pavan's family, said their aim is now to get the teen home to Canada to serve out his sentence. Pavan's family are 'devastated,' Phillips said. If Pavan is not granted early release, he is expected to complete his sentence in January 2026. Recently, Nelson looked online and saw thousands of horrific messages under Reddit and other social media posts about her son's case, calling him an idiot or worse. These people don't know anything about her son, Nelson says, and have no idea how he was detained and threatened by Russian agents. She has tried raising money so Pavan can get on his feet when he returns. The campaign she started has only raised $200. reuters investigates More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives Got a confidential news tip? Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters Teenage Spies By Mari Saito, Anna Koper, Anton Zverev, Filipp Lebedev, Polina Nikolskaya Additional reporting by Tom Wilson, Anastasiia Malenko and Andrius Sytas Photo editing: Simon Newman Art direction and illustrations: Catherine Tai Animations: John Emerson Edited by Lori Hinnant Follow Reuters Investigates
South Wales Argus
2 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Russian military losses top 1m in three-year-old war, Ukrainian military says
The claim by the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces is in line with Western intelligence estimates. Russia has suffered 1 million combat losses in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. This is the devastating human cost Putin is inflicting on his own people. This invasion is a betrayal of his people who are bearing the true cost of this war.#StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 12, 2025 The UK Ministry of Defence also said in a statement posted Thursday on X that Russia has suffered more than one million casualties, including roughly 250,000 killed since it launched the full-scale invasion on February 24 2022. On June 3, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said Russia would likely hit the mark of one million casualties this summer in what it called 'a stunning and grisly milestone'. Russia last reported its military casualties early in the war when it acknowledged that about 6,000 soldiers had been killed. Earlier this year, the General Staff of the Russian armed forces claimed that Ukrainian military losses had topped one million. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last spoke of Ukrainian military losses in February, when he said in an interview that 45,100 troops had been killed and about 390,000 injured. The mutual claims of the other side's losses could not be independently verified. A rescue worker evacuates a woman from a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) The casualty estimates came as Russian forces pummelled Ukraine with drones and other weapons, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed. Ukrainian police said two people were killed and six were injured in the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said. The authorities in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, said 18 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, nurseries and other civilian infrastructure. 'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Mr Terekhov said. Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) Russia has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. Ukraine responded to the Russian attacks with drone raids. Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early on Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and northeastern parts of the more than 1,000-kilometre (over 600-mile) front line. While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. A building is seen on fire after a Russian strike in Odesa, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Services via AP) On Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed its troops captured two more villages in the Donetsk region, Oleksiivka and Petrivske. The Ukrainian military had no immediate comment on the Russian claim. The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as nonstarters, making a quick deal unlikely. In Rome, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte commended US President Donald Trump for his 'crucial' move to start direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, Mr Rutte criticised Mr Putin for appointing his aide Vladimir Medinsky as the top negotiator for the talks in Istanbul. Mr Medinsky ascended through the Kremlin ranks after writing a series of books exposing purported Western plots against Russia and denigrating Ukraine. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte commended US President Donald Trump for his move to start peace talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) 'I think that the Russians sending this historian now twice to these talks in Istanbul, trying to start with the history of 1,000 years ago and then explaining more or less that Ukraine is at fault here, I think that's not helpful,' Mr Rutte said. 'But at least step by step, we try to make progress.' Also on Thursday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, noting the stepped-up Russian attacks send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present,' according to German news agency dpa. Mr Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Former CIA director says Donald Trump's plan for war in Ukraine is ‘naive and unsophisticated'
Donald Trump's plan for peace in Ukraine has been branded 'naive' and 'unsophisticated' by former director of the CIA John Brennan. In the first five months of his second term, the U.S. president has aggressively pushed for peace but refused to offer unconditional support to Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression. Mr Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency while on the campaign trail, but diplomatic efforts have stalled and Russia has recently launched some of its largest attacks of the war so far. The US President recently suggested it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' in a sign of his waning interest in ending the three-year conflict. Speaking on Sky News, Mr Brennan said the U.S. president's approach to forcing through a quick peace deal in Ukraine was 'naive' and 'unsophisticated'. "I think that Donald Trump doesn't know what he will do,' said Brennan when asked what the President will do next to secure peace in Ukraine. Delegations from Russia and Ukraine have met for talks multiple times within the past month. But beyond agreements to exchange of prisoners of war, no major breakthrough has been made towards peace. Mr Brennan and Mr Trump have a tense history, and the former has previously been critical of the U.S. president's foreign policy. During his first term in office, Mr Trump described him as the 'worst' CIA chief in history - and in January he revoked Mr Brennan's security clearance. The former intelligence official was involved in Ukraine during his time in Langley and first visited the country in 2014 - the same year Russian forces invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula. Asked about the strength of the Ukrainian military, Mr Brennan told Sky News: "Pound for pound, [it] punches above the weight of virtually every other military on the globe, I would say including the United States, given the tremendous experience that they've gained on the battlefield". He also suggested that Ukraine's allies were likely aware - at least in part - of the drone attack on Russian airfields deep inside its territory. "I don't doubt for a moment that they were given some additional assistance from Western intelligence and military authorities and capabilities,' Brennan said. "The Ukrainians have done a lot on their own, but I think a lot of this is initially enabled by some ideas that come from their Western allies."
