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Russia’s war against Ukraine
A mother and daughter say goodbye to each other as civilians are evacuated from the front-line city of Pokrovsk by the National Police’s “White Angels” unit in Donetsk Oblast on June 19, 2025. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Russia just accidentally admitted to its staggering troop losses in Ukraine. A senior Russian official on June 19 inadvertently confirmed the enormous losses incurred by Moscow’s forces during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine must accept Moscow’s demands or ‘surrender,’ Russia’s ambassador to UK says. Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrei Kelin, said Russia is continuing its offensive and sees no need to stop hostilities, publicly acknowledging Moscow’s disregard for U.S.-backed ceasefire efforts.
‘100 days of Russian manipulations’ — Ukraine blasts Moscow over disregarding US ceasefire effort. A hundred days since the U.S. and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire, “Russia continues to choose war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on June 19, urging international pressure to push Moscow toward peace.
Ukraine, Russia carry out another POW exchange under Istanbul deal. “These are warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service. Most of them had been held captive since 2022,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, without revealing their numbers.
‘Unwanted by their homeland’ — Ukraine confirms Russia returned bodies of its soldiers disguised as Ukrainian. “This is yet another proof of how Russia treats its people with contempt,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
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Putin-Trump meeting currently not on the table, Kremlin says. “Until the necessary ‘homework’ is done to remove the irritants in our relations with the United States, it makes no sense to organize a meeting,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
North Korea considers sending 25,000 workers to Russia to help produce Shahed drones, media reports. In return, Pyongyang is reportedly seeking drone operation training.
Russia’s prison chief sentenced in absentia for torture chambers in Kherson Oblast. Arkady Gostev, head of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, was found guilty of orchestrating the transformation of captured Ukrainian prisons into torture sites.
Ukraine documents 366 cases of war-related sexual violence, most victims women. The victims include 231 women, 134 men, and 19 children, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.
Russian losses ‘entirely justified,’ Zelensky says. The president said on June 19 that he held talks with the SBU about deep strikes in Russia. “Russia must continue to suffer entirely justified losses due to its aggression.”
Read our exclusives
Trump’s peace push falters in both Ukraine and the Middle East — for similar reasons
Five months into Trump’s presidency, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East intensify rather than end. Trump’s failure to bring peace is a result of his chaotic, incoherent and incompetent approach, analysts say.
Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
There’s loads of video of Israeli air defenses, and none of Ukraine’s — this is why
Footage of Russian attacks on Ukraine are very different — there are no international media teams filming from hotel balconies, and no footage of air defense systems launching interceptor missiles.
Photo: Jose Colon / Anadolu via Getty Images
Once firm, support for Ukraine among its neighbors wavers amid a populist surge
Once resolute Poland is seeing rising skepticism toward Ukraine, underscored by President-elect Karol Nawrocki’s election victory. Slovakia’s pro-Ukrainian government was ousted by Russian-friendly populists in the 2023 parliament elections, and Czechia may face a similar fate this year.
Photo: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Diplomacy in crisis: G7 letdowns reveal limits to Western solidarity on Ukraine
The Ukrainian delegation headed into the summit, held in the remote community of Kananaskis, Canada, with an air of cautious optimism and hopes of winning renewed international support. Instead, Trump left, Russia slammed Kyiv with ballistic missiles, and optimism quickly turned to anxiety.
Photo: Suzanne Plunkett-Pool/Getty Images
Human cost of Russia’s war
Death toll in Russia’s mass strike on Kyiv rises to 30 dead, 172 wounded. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the updated casualty figures from Russia’s June 17 attack during his evening address.
‘Massive’ Russian drone attack on residential buildings in Odesa injures 13. Russian forces struck residential buildings in Odesa overnight on June 20, injuring at least 13 people, including three emergency workers, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.
American volunteer 1st US civilian killed in Russian strike on Ukraine, NYT reports. Fred Grandy, a 62-year-old American artist and volunteer who was killed in Russia’s mass missile attack against Kyiv on June 17, appears to be the first U.S. civilian killed by a Russian strike on Ukraine, the New York Times (NYT) reported on June 19.
Russia kills 1, injures at least 27 across Ukraine over past day. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 40 drones, while 48 disappeared from radars or were intercepted by electronic warfare.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,008,240 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,080 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
International response
Trump administration doesn’t like working with Zelensky’s top aide, Politico reports. “All the people here who want to withdraw and abandon Ukraine are thrilled to have Yermak around,” one source told Politico.
‘If we don’t help Ukraine further, we should start learning Russian,’ EU diplomacy chief says. Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas cited a sharp increase in Russia’s military spending, noting that Moscow is now allocating more money to defense than the EU combined, and more than its own health care, education, and social policies put together.
EU reportedly eyes riskier investments for frozen Russian assets to boost Ukraine aid. According to Politico, the proposed plan would redirect the frozen Russian assets into a special investment fund under EU control, allowing for higher returns without confiscating the principal.
Putin, Xi to agree to meet in China as they sneer at G7 summit fractures. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed their upcoming meeting and noted the supposed “rough edges” that emerged among G7 leaders during the recent summit, said Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov, on June 19.
Russia says South Africa invited Putin to G20 summit despite ICC arrest warrant. South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a signatory to the Rome Statute, meaning it is obliged to arrest Vladimir Putin if he enters the country.
Finland votes to withdraw from landmine treaty, citing Russian threat. The vote aligns Finland with its Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, whose parliaments have already approved similar exits from the treaty.
Spain rejects NATO 5% defense spending push, calls proposal ‘unreasonable.’ “Committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
In other news
Russia ‘on the verge’ of recession, Kremlin economy minister warns. “According to current business perceptions, we are already, it seems, on the verge of a transition to a recession,” Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Zelensky appoints Brigadier General Shapovalov as new Ground Forces chief. Brigadier General Hennadii Shapovalov, born in 1978 in Kirovohrad Oblast, is a career officer who graduated from the Military Institute of Tank Troops in Kharkiv and later studied at the National Defense University of Ukraine.
Argentina says it uncovered Russian spy network linked to late Prigozhin’s group. The La Compania network, which is allegedly linked to the Russian government and the Kremlin’s Project Lakhta, was led by Russian nationals Lev Konstantinovich Andriashvili and his wife Irina Yakovenko, who are both residents of Argentina, according to Argentine authorities.
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