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Russia’s war against Ukraine
The bodies of Ukrainian servicemen who fought in Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as in Russia’s Kursk region — where Ukraine launched an incursion in August last year — were returned to Ukraine on June 11, 2025, as part of the first confirmed swap under a new agreement reached during negotiations in Istanbul last week. (Security Service of Ukraine / Handout/ Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukraine’s SBU releases fresh video of Operation Spiderweb, teases ‘new surprises.’ “The SBU is hitting and will hit (Russia) where it considers itself unreachable!” SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said. “We are working on new surprises, no less painful than the Operation Spiderweb.”
Zelensky urges ‘stronger’ EU sanctions on Russia, lower oil price cap. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the upcoming 18th EU sanctions package “could be stronger,” especially in targeting Russian oil tankers and the financial sector.
Ukrainian drones strike targets in Russia, including gunpowder plant, General Staff says. The Tambov Gunpowder Plant, one of Russia’s main manufacturers of gunpowder and explosives for small arms, artillery, and rocket systems, reportedly caught fire following the drone strike.
US-Russia talks to be held in Moscow ‘very soon,’ Russian ambassador claims.
“I can confirm that the next round of negotiations between the delegations will take place very soon in Moscow,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev said.
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Serbia’s Vucic, Romania’s Dan travel to Ukraine in their first official visits.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will visit Ukraine on June 11 to take part in the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit in Odesa, Serbia’s Presidential Office announced.
Russia boasts world’s top nuclear force, must improve ground forces, Putin claims. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Moscow possesses the world’s most advanced nuclear systems but must strengthen its ground forces.
Drapatyi ends tenure as Ground Forces chief, says he leaves with ‘clear conscience.’ Mykhailo Drapatyi described the state of the Ground Forces at the time of his appointment on Nov. 29, 2024 as mired in “managerial stagnation.”
Russia’s nuclear deterrent against US not ‘significantly‘ affected by Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, official claims. “Our nuclear deterrence potential against the U.S. and any other potential adversary has not suffered significant damage,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
Read our exclusives
Ukraine war latest: Ukraine strikes targets in Russia, including gunpowder plant
Ukrainian drones struck multiple military targets in Russia, including the Tambov Gunpowder Plant, overnight on June 11, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.
Photo: Astra / Telegram
Ukraine bracing for ‘painful’ reduction in US military aid after Hegseth announces cuts
A reduction in U.S. military aid to Ukraine would be “painful” and could have potentially “dire consequences” for the global order, Ukrainian lawmakers and soldiers have told the Kyiv Independent.
Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images
Putin’s suspected daughter found working in anti-war galleries in Paris
Described by many as a “very nice and well-mannered girl,” Luiza Rozova is the daughter of a Russian woman named Svetlana Krivonogikh and, according to investigative journalists, Vladimir Putin.
Photo: X
Author Yuri Andrukhovych on Ukrainian dissident art in Soviet times
In Soviet times, being a pro-Ukrainian artist was dangerous. The Soviet secret police were particularly brutal in Ukraine, given that it was a country with a long history of resistance to Russian rule.
Photo: Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Human cost of Russia’s war
Ukraine repatriates bodies of 1,212 fallen soldiers. The remains of soldiers were returned from multiple front-line regions, including Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Sumy oblasts.
12 injured in Russian drone attack on Kharkiv, day after fatal drone bombardment. Twelve are injured, including 4 children as a result of a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv overnight on June 12.
Casualties mount after Russia’s June 7 strike on Kharkiv. Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv with KAB guided bombs the evening of June 7, killing a woman and a man and injuring at least 18 people. The total confirmed death toll stands at five as of June 11.
Opinions and insights
America’s weak strongman
“Many Americans fear Trump, so they imagine that others must, too. But no one outside America fears Trump as such,” writes Timothy Snyder, an American author and historian.
Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
International response
Republicans press Pentagon chief over Trump’s plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Politico reports. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on June 11 stood by the administration’s approach, portraying a U.S.-brokered peace deal as a sign of strength and admitting that any agreement would inevitably leave “plenty of people on both sides” dissatisfied.
Ukraine to get $2.26 billion from UK for arms purchases, PM says. The new funding will be used to buy Rapid Ranger air defense systems and Martlet light multipurpose missiles, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
Vucic offers to help rebuild Ukrainian cities, reaffirms support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “I would like to take one or two cities or regions that we could rebuild. I think that would be very clear and noticeable to the Ukrainian people,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.
EU, Germany boost Ukraine’s energy efficiency fund with 18 million euros. The EU provided 13 million euros ($15 million) of the new funding, while Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) provided 5 million euros ($5.7 million).
What Russia’s 1 million casualties mean for Ukraine
In other news
Russia sentences top Navalny ally Volkov to 18 years in prison in absentia. The accusations raised against Leonid Volkov ranged from “discreditation” of the Russian military, ties to an allegedly “extremist group,” and the rehabilitation of “Nazism” to involving underage persons in rallies and vandalism.
Ukraine grants Poland permission to exhume 1939 war graves in Lviv. In a reciprocal gesture, Ukraine has received Poland’s approval to carry out its own search and exhumation activities in the Polish village of Yurechkova.
Kyiv, not Kiev — Kyiv Independent community helps rename street in Oregon.
Photos shared with the Kyiv Independent show the newly installed blue-and-yellow street sign, reflecting both the correct Ukrainian transliteration and the national colors of Ukraine.
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