Ukraine-Russia war latest: New prisoner swap agreed in Istanbul includes return of ‘heroes of Mariupol'
North Korea's deployment to Ukraine will be 'significant battlefield inflection' – ISW
North Korea's deployment of its troops to Ukrainian territory will represent 'significant battlefield inflection', the Institute for the Study of War.
'The North Korean and Russian military commands authorising the deployment of North Korean forces to Ukrainian territory would mark a significant battlefield inflection that may improve Russian forces' ability to sustain simultaneous offensive operations in multiple directions, which the Russian military has traditionally struggled to conduct,' the US-based think tank said in its latest assessment.
According to the South Korean intelligence, North Korea may deploy an unspecified number of additional North Korean forces to Russia to fight against Ukraine as early as July or August 2025 and that North Korea continues to arm Russia with artillery ammunition and missiles.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 06:33
Britain must 'actively prepare' for a war on home soil, major government review warns
The UK must prepare for the possibility of a ' wartime scenario' on home soil, a major new government review has warned.The National Security Strategy, published on Tuesday, has issued the grim warning as events in the Middle East and Russia's war with Ukraine continue to add to international instability.
It comes just 48 hours after Iran threatened to target UK bases following the US attack on its nuclear facilities, before a ceasefire was announced last night.
The strategy also recommends that UK citizens undergo 'national resilience exercises' in preparation for attacks at home.
UK must 'actively prepare' for a war on home soil, major government review warns
The new National Security Strategy has been published with a grim warning as international turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine continues
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 06:29
EU leaders seek a big boost in Ukraine military support but make little progress on Russia sanctions
European Union leaders called for even greater efforts to help meet Ukraine's pressing military needs, and expressed support for the country's quest to join their ranks.
The talks, however, made little headway with new sanctions against Russia, slowing EU's key agenda for months now.
At a summit in Brussels yesterday, the leaders said it was important to deliver more "air defense and anti-drone systems, and large-caliber ammunition, to help Ukraine, as it exercises its inherent right to self-defence, to protect its citizens and territory against Russia's intensified daily attacks."
They also underlined the need to help support Ukraine's defence industry, which can make weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than its European counterparts.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the meeting via videolink.
The leaders said the bloc "remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine's path towards EU membership."
That message comes a day after Nato leaders refrained from putting a reference to Ukraine's hopes of joining the military organisation in their summit statement, due in large part to US resistance.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:58
Zelensky welcomes home fresh batch of Ukrainian prisoners of war
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed home a new batch of the country's soldiers taken captive by Russia as the two sides exchanged more prisoners of war yesterday.
'We are continuing the exchanges, another stage has taken place. Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022,' he said in a post on X.
'We are doing everything possible to find each person, to verify the information on every name. We must bring all our people home,' he said, just days after he said Russia had sent some of its own dead soldiers to Ukraine in a swap of fallen soldiers.
He also shared an emotional video of the Ukrainian soldiers reuniting with their loved ones upon return to the country at an undisclosed location.
The returned soldiers are seen draped in Ukrainian flags, hugging and crying their loved ones, calling their family members, drinking a beverage and smoking.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:43
Chinese reporter injured in Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk, Russia says
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine injured a war correspondent from the Chinese news outlet Phoenix TV, Russian authorities said late last night,
"A Ukrainian drone today struck the village of Korenevo in the Korenevsky district," acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, said on Telegram.
"A 63-year-old correspondent, Lu Yuguang, who went to the border area on his own, was injured."
Mr Khinshtein said in a later post that the journalist had skin cuts to his head and after treatment, refused hospitalisation.
Russia's foreign ministry called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international organisations to "promptly respond and give a proper assessment" of the incident.
"The targeted attack.... indicates the intention of the Kyiv regime to silence and de facto destroy representatives of any media that seek to convey objective information," Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry's spokesperson, said in a Telegram post.
According to Russia's state and official media outlets, Lu has been reporting on the war since its early days. Russia launched the war with a full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.
Lu told Russia's state news agencies that he was feeling fine.
"Western journalists are not visible at all (in Kursk)," Lu said in a video posted by TASS on social media, with his head in bandages, "We, Chinese journalists, want to convey what happened in the Kursk region."
Russia has also urged for an intervention from the United Nations on the incident.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:32
North Korea could send troops to Russia for summer offensive, says South Korea
North Korea may send more troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine this summer, South Korean lawmakers have claimed citing the country's intelligence agency.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes Russia may be readying to mount a large-scale assault against Ukraine in July or August, South Korean member of parliament Lee Seong-kweun told reporters.
This assessment is based on new round-up of troops by the North Korean military, and the visit of a top Russian presidential security official.
Pyongyang is likely to receive technical advice on satellite launches and missile guidance systems in return, the briefing said according to Mr Lee.
Russia and North Korea have said their cooperation is based on a treaty signed by Vladimir Putin and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, which includes a mutual defence pact.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 05:07
Russia and Ukraine carry out new round of prisoner swaps
Russia and Ukraine completed another round of prisoner exchanges, officials in both countries said yesterday, part of an agreement struck in Istanbul recently between the two sides.
Both sides exchanged the same number of prisoners, but there was no word on how many soldiers were involved, Russian state RIA news agency said.
Ukraine's coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war said majority of the prsioners had been captive and in Russian custody for more than three years.
The swap included injured soldiers and those with health complaints. The youngest is 24 and the oldest is 62, it said, adding that more exchanges are expected soon.
Many of them were taken prisoner in the Ukrainian city Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a lengthy siege in 2022.
27 June 2025 04:20
Kremlin says no progress towards next Russia-Ukraine peace talks
The Kremlin has said there was no progress yet towards setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported yesterday.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was in favour of continued US mediation effort, another news agency, Tass, reported.
Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on 16 May and 2 June that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers.
But they have made no progress towards a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for.
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 04:05
Trump would join peace talks between Putin and Zelensky, says Erdogan
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Donald Trump told him he would attend potential peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia in Turkey.
But it all depends on if Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to take part, Mr Erdogan said.
On his return flight from a Nato summit at The Hague, where he met Mr Trump for the first time since the latter returned to office, Mr Erdogan said he told the US president Ankara aims to bring the Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in Turkey for peace talks.
"He (Trump) said, 'if Russian president Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a solution, then I will also come," Mr Erdogan told reporters, according to his office.
"We will hold the necessary contacts and God willing realise this meeting as soon as possible."
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 04:03
The myriad countries arming Russia and Ukraine – and the billions it costs
Donald Trump has suggested that the US could send more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, and has not ruled out providing the war-torn country with a new military support package.
Speaking at the Nato summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, the president said 'we'll see what happens' when asked whether Washington would add to the $8 billion pledged by Nato allies.
"They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots," the US president said. "And we're going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We're supplying them to Israel, and they're very effective, 100 per cent effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.'
Here, The Independent takes a look at what weapons the US and other countries have been sending to Ukraine and Russia as the war show no signs of ending soon.
The myriad countries arming Russia and Ukraine – and the billions it costs
Arpan Rai27 June 2025 03:59
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
A broken housing market is driving inequality right across Europe – and fuelling the far right
Housing is as personal an issue as it gets. Homes are where we take refuge from the outside world, express ourselves, build relationships and families. To buy or rent a house is to project your aspirations and dreams on to bricks and mortar – can we see ourselves sitting outside in the sunshine on that patio? It can also be a deeply frustrating process – can we afford that house? For more and more of us, the answer is no. Experienced at such an individual level, it's easy to think that rising costs are a problem particular to your community, city or country. But unaffordable house prices and rents are a continent-wide issue. According to the European Parliament, from 2015 to 2023, in absolute terms, house prices in the EU rose by just under 50% on average. From 2010 to 2022, rents rose by 18%. As an editor, I wanted to know some of the stories behind these stats and, as a person who lives in a very expensive city (hello from London!), hear some solutions. I commissioned a range of housing experts to contribute to a series, The housing crisis in Europe, describing what the situation looks like in some of Europe's most expensive cities. Agustín Cocola-Gant writes about how changes to policy after the 2008 financial crisis encouraged wealthy foreigners to buy second homes or short-term rentals in Lisbon, pricing locals out of their city. Now some Portuguese families rent rooms, not flats. In a reversal of roles, it's the newcomers who have it worse in Amsterdam, according to Amber Howard. Older, long-term residents live in secure and affordable social housing while younger people and recent arrivals, often on lower incomes, are left to the costly and insecure private housing sector. While social housing stock has dropped over time, private stock has increased as politicians sought to encourage wealthier residents to move into the city. It's a similar story in Budapest, says Csaba Jelinek. Social housing was sold off after the end of the cold war, and private ownership was championed as a rejection of socialist values. What this has meant in practice is older Hungarians investing in housing and driving up prices and rents for younger generations. One city not facing an affordability crisis is Vienna. As Justin Kadi writes, since the 1920s the city has had a stable stock of social housing for tenants of all incomes. Like in Amsterdam, newcomers rent privately, but social housing has had a damping effect on rents. You don't need to be a housing expert to see the dynamics playing out in Europe's housing market. Over more than 40 years, housing policy has favoured those who invest in homes at the expense of those who live in them. This power imbalance is at its most stark in countries with big institutional investors – such as private equity, hedge, insurance and pension funds – as Tim White explores in his piece. When houses are not homes but assets, there is a transfer of wealth from those who have not to those who have. Across Europe – and much of the rest of the world – property has become a driving force of inequality. In turn, inequality is a driving force of resentment. Far-right politicians have tapped into this anger for their own political gain, as reported by the Guardian in a previous series of reports from the frontlines of Europe's housing crisis. As the European commissioner for jobs and social rights, Nicolas Schmit, commented: 'The housing problem divides our societies, and it may be a risk for our democracies.' Housing policies are set at a national level, but the European Union can set frameworks and support access to finance. In 2024, all housing ministers from member states signed a declaration calling for a 'new deal' on affordable and social housing. There are solutions, and there is political will, and in the meantime let's hope this series will go some way to helping those who face unaffordable housing across Europe realise they're not alone. Kirsty Major is a deputy Opinion editor for the Guardian
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Russia and Ukraine trade more long-range drone attacks that are a hallmark of their war
Russian forces launched 363 Shahed and decoy drones as well as eight missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said Friday, claiming that air defenses stopped all but four of the drones and downed six cruise missiles. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that 39 Ukrainian drones were downed in several regions overnight, including 19 over the Rostov region and 13 over the Volgograd region. Both regions lie east of Ukraine. Long-range drone strikes have been a hallmark of the war, now in its fourth year. The race by both sides to develop increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones has turned the war into a testing ground for new weaponry. The Ukrainian air force said that 359 incoming drones were either intercepted or electronically jammed. The Ukrainian attack forced three Russian airports to briefly suspend flights, officials said. The authorities also briefly closed the Crimean Bridge overnight as drones targeted Crimea. Neither Russia nor Ukraine reported any major damage or casualties in the attacks. Russia manufactures Shahed drones based on an original Iranian model, churning out thousands of them at a plant in the Tatarstan region. It has upgraded the Shaheds with its own innovations, including bigger warheads. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact, like a missile. The incessant buzzing of the propeller-driven Shahed drones is unnerving for anyone under its flight path because no one on the ground knows exactly when or where the weapon will hit. Being outgunned and outnumbered in the war against its bigger neighbor, Ukraine also has developed its own cutting-edge drone technology, including long-range sea drones, and has trained thousands of drone pilots. Smaller, short-range drones are used by both sides on the battlefield and in areas close to the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Those drones, fitted with onboard cameras that give their operators a real-time view of possible targets, have also struck civilian areas. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a report published Thursday that short-range drone attacks killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between the start of the war and last April. Almost 90% of the attacks were by the Russian armed forces, it reported. The strikes not only spread fear among civilians but also severely disrupt daily life by restricting movement and limiting access to food and medical services, the report said. ___
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Tehran is coming back to life, but its residents are deeply shaken
In the heart of the Iranian capital, the Boof cafe serves up refreshing cold drinks on a hot summer's must be the most distinctive iced Americano coffees in this city – the cafe sits in a leafy corner of the long-shuttered US embassy. Its high cement walls have been plastered with anti-American murals ever since Washington severed relations with Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis – which still cast a long shadow over this tortuous the charming Boof cafe, Amir the barista says he'd like relations to improve between America and Iran. "US sanctions hurt our businesses and make it hard for us to travel around the world," he reflects as he pours another iced coffee behind a jaunty wooden sign - "Keep calm and drink coffee."Only two tables are occupied - one by a woman covered up in a long black veil, another by a woman in blue jeans with long flowing hair, flouting the rules on what women should wear as she cuddles with her a small snapshot of this capital as it confronts its deeply uncertain future."The Americans have been opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran from the very beginning", declared Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his recorded speech broadcast on Thursday from the IRIB state TV compound a short drive carries out wave of arrests and executions in wake of Israel conflict'We are exhausted' - how Iranians are feeling after fragile ceasefire"At its core, it has always been about one thing: they want us to surrender," went on the 86-year Ayatollah, said to have taken shelter in a bunker aer Israel unleashed its unprecedented wave of strikes targeting Iran's nuclear and missile sites and assassinating senior commanders and scientists. We watched his speech, his first since President Donald Trump suddenly announced a ceasefire on Tuesday, on a small TV in the only office still intact in a vast section of the IRIB compound - all that's le is a charred skeleton of an Israeli bomb slammed into this complex on 16 June, a raging fire swept through the main studio which would have aired the supreme leader's address. Now it's just ash. You can still taste its acrid smell; all the TV equipment - cameras, lights, tripods - are tangles of twisted metal. A crunching glass carpet covers the said it targeted the propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic, accusing it of concealing a military operation within - a charge its journalists gaping shell seems to symbolise this darkest of times for can also see it in the city's hospitals, which are still treating Iranians injured in Israel's 12-day war. "I am scared they might attack again, " Ashraf Barghi tells me when we meet in the emergency department of the Taleghani General hospital where she works as head nurse."We don't trust this war has ended" she says, in a remark reflecting the palpable worry we've heard from so many people in this Israel bombed the threshold of the nearby Evin prison on 23 June, the casualties, both soldiers and civilians, were rushed into Nurse Barghi's emergency we know about the Iran-Israel ceasefire"The injuries were the worst I've treated in my 32 years as nurse, even worse than what I saw in the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s," she recounts, still visibly strike on the notorious prison where Iran detains most of its political prisoners was described by Israel as "symbolic". It seemed to reinforce Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's repeated message to Iranians to "stand up for their freedom"."Israel says it only hit military and nuclear prison but it's all lies," insists Morteza from his hospital bed. He had been at work in the prison's transport department when the missile slammed into the building. He shows us his injuries in both arms and his the ward next door, soldiers are being cared for, but we're not allowed to enter there. Across this sprawling metropolis, Iranians are counting the cost of this confrontation. In its latest tally, the government's health ministry recorded 627 people killed and nearly 5,000 is slowly returning to life and resuming its old rhythms, at least on the surface. Its infamous traffic is starting to fill its soaring highways and pretty tree-lined side in its beautiful bazaars are opening again as people return to a city they fled to escape the bombs. Israel's intense 12-day military operation, coupled with the US's attacks on Iran's main nuclear sites, has le so many shaken."They weren't good days, " says Mina, a young woman who immediately breaks down as she tries to explain her sadness. "It's so heart-breaking, " she tells me through her tears. "We tried so hard to have a better life but we can't see any future these days."We met on the grounds of the soaring white marble Azadi tower, one of Tehran's most iconic landmarks. A large crowd milling on a warm summer's evening swayed to the strains of much-loved patriotic songs in an open air concert of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. It was meant to bring some calm to a city still on and critics of Iran's clerical rulers mingled, drawn together by shared worry about their country's future."They have to hear what people say," insists Ali Reza when I ask him what advice he would give to his government. "We want greater freedoms, that's all I will say."Despite rules and restrictions which have long governed their lives, Iranians do speak their minds as they wait for the next steps by their rulers, and leaders in Washington and beyond, which carry such consequences for their Doucet is being allowed to report in Iran on condition that none of her reports are used on the BBC's Persian service. This law from Iranian authorities applies to all international media agencies operating in Iran.
