The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
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Russia’s war against Ukraine
A boy and his mother walk past a destroyed tank at an open air exhibition of destroyed Russian military equipment in Kyiv on Aug. 13, 2025. (Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images)
hTrump may offer Putin minerals access in exchange for peace, Telegraph reports. U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to offer Russian President Vladimir Putin access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine and natural resources in Alaska in an effort to secure a ceasefire, The Telegraph reported on Aug. 13.
Ukraine open to discussing aerial truce with Russia, Zelensky’s aide says. “Russia is unlikely to abandon the use of strategic aviation or large-scale drone deployments,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Corriere della Sera. “However, Ukraine is ready to discuss and consider this scenario,” he added.
Zelensky arrives in Berlin to meet German chancellor ahead of call with Trump, European leaders. Zelensky and Merz held a bilateral meeting before joining a video conference with European leaders, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Russia aims to build 79,000 Shahed-type drones in 2025, Ukraine’s military intelligence says. Shahed-type drones, originally designed in Iran, have become a key element of Moscow’s long-range strike arsenal against Ukraine, frequently used to target cities, infrastructure, and energy facilities.
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Russia’s daily losses 3 times higher than Ukraine’s, Zelensky says. “For example, yesterday’s figures, which are roughly average: Russian losses per day are about 1,000 – 500 killed and 500 wounded,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a meeting with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent.
Russia exceeds monthly recruitment targets, Ukraine’s military intelligence says. The Kremlin planned to enlist 343,000 people in 2025 and has already fulfilled over 60% of that goal, Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), said.
Ukraine strikes oil facility in western Russia in overnight drone attack, Kyiv confirms. Ukrainian drones targeted the Unecha oil pumping station, part of the Transneft Druzhba pipeline network, sparking a large fire, an intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.
Drone attack sparks blaze at oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd, Russian official says. “As a result of falling debris, oil products spilled and caught fire at the Volgograd Oil Refinery,” regional Governor Andrey Bocharov claimed on Aug. 14.
Read our exclusives
Ahead of Putin-Trump summit, Donetsk Oblast residents are split on what they would accept to end war
U.S. President Donald Trump began to actively push Ukraine to accept losing its land and people to Russia, following years of brutal, all-out war. People in Kramatorsk, the largest Ukrainian-held city in Donetsk Oblast — a region that Russia wants and Trump is thinking of handing over in full — have met the recent news with unease.
Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu/Getty Images
Russian-linked church faces potential ban in Ukraine as it remains reluctant to officially cut ties with Moscow
Three and a half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church is finally facing its judgment day. Under a law passed in 2024, the branch — the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate — is supposed to either sever its ties with Russia or be banned.
Photo: Oleg Pereverzev/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ukraine war latest: Trump to push ceasefire in Alaska meeting with Putin, says Zelensky after call with US president
U.S. President Donald Trump held a video call with President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Aug. 13, just two days before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. “We talked about a ceasefire today. President Trump said this is one of his priorities in conversation with President Putin,” Zelensky said.
Photo: Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images
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Human cost of Russia’s war
6 killed, 15 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over past day. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces launched 49 Shahed-type attack drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles overnight, as well as two Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,066,110 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 890 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Opinions and insights
Zelensky should offer Trump a deal
“(T)he Ukrainian president has yet to make what may be his most persuasive offer: the services of Ukraine’s bureaucracy-slashing government technology,” writes Aidan Stretch, U.S. journalist and foreign policy analyst.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Russia’s hybrid empire
“(A) far more dangerous war is fought where it goes unnoticed: in negotiations, in memoranda, in the emphasis on ethnic grievances and cultural claims,” Ukrainian editor and journalist Vitaly Portnikov writes.
Photo: Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
International response
US ready to provide Ukraine security guarantees, but opposes NATO membership, Macron says. Trump told Zelensky and European leaders that “NATO should not be part of these security guarantees” for postwar Ukraine, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Germany pledges $500 million for NATO-led US weapons supply to Ukraine. The support will come through NATO’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) mechanism, which coordinates funding for Kyiv’s most urgent battlefield needs.
Ukraine secures record $586 million EBRD loan to shore up low gas reserves. The financing will help Ukraine better prepare for the autumn and winter months as the country’s gas storage reserves fall to their lowest level in at least 11 years due to Russian attacks.
Switzerland expands sanctions against Russian oil exports, aligning with EU. Switzerland extended its sanctions lists to align with the EU’s 18th package against Russia, specifically targeting Moscow’s largest budget revenue source – oil exports, the Swiss government said.
US temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian transactions to facilitate Alaska peace talks. Washington will authorize certain sanctioned transactions that are required to organize upcoming U.S.-Russia talks in Alaska. The authorization expires on Aug. 20.
Estonia expels senior Russian diplomat for alleged subversion, sanctions violations. Estonia said Dmitry Prilepin, the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, had engaged in efforts to erode the country’s legal order, sow divisions in society, and aid crimes against the state.
Russia, Belarus to practice nuclear, Oreshnik deployment plans during Zapad drills, Minsk claims. “The head of state demands that we must be ready for all possible scenarios,” Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.
Putin holds advantage ahead of Trump meeting, expert says
In other news
Russia restricts Telegram, WhatsApp calls amid push for domestic alternatives. Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, claimed the apps have become “the main services used to defraud and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.”
Canadian court upholds ruling ordering Ukrainian airline to compensate victims of plane downed in Iran. The appeals court rejected the company’s arguments that the trial judge erred in awarding costs to multiple groups of plaintiffs’ lawyers.
‘It is regrettable to watch’ — Ukraine condemns Georgian ruling party’s latest use of war footage in campaign ad. “It is regrettable to watch the Georgian authorities grovel before Moscow and disregard the principles of dignity and independence that have historically characterized the Georgian nation,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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