The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
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Russia’s war against Ukraine
A photo of the damaged Crimean Bridge released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on June 3, 2025. The SBU reported that it had hit the bridge’s underwater supports in its third attack against the bridge since the start of Russia’s full-scale war. (SBU/Telegram)
Russia’s Crimean Bridge rocked by explosions, Ukraine’s SBU claims responsibility. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Crimean Bridge for the third time during the full-scale war, mining and damaging its underwater supports, the SBU announced on June 3.
Ukrainian strike on Russian bombers alarmed Kremlin over nuclear carriers vulnerability, Bloomberg reports. A recent Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russian territory has sparked anger and concern among Kremlin officials over the exposed vulnerability of a nuclear-capable air force far from the front lines, Bloomberg reported on June 2, citing undisclosed sources close to senior Moscow officials.
Ukraine confirms 41 Russian aircraft including bombers hit during Operation Spiderweb. Kyiv earlier claimed it disabled 34% of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet in what is seen as one of the most daring operations during the full-scale war.
Russia lost 12 aircraft, Ukraine’s military claims days after drone strike on Russian bombers. The report came two days after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a mass drone attack against Russian strategic aviation parked at four different air bases on June 1.
Rare Russian spy planes damaged in Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, Telegraph reports. Footage reportedly shows Ukrainian drones hitting two A-50s, rare Russian spy planes that Moscow relies on to detect air defense systems and coordinate targets for fighter jets. Russia has less than 10 A-50s in its arsenal.
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Ukraine invited to NATO summit, Zelensky says. “We were invited to the NATO summit. I think this is important,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a June 2 online press conference attended by the Kyiv Independent.
Putin, Trump, Zelensky trilateral meeting ‘unlikely’ to happen soon, Kremlin says. The Kremlin’s statement comes a day after the White House said that Trump would not rule out participating in this format of talks.
Ukraine to deploy new units to counter Russian drone attacks, Air Force says. According to Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihant, Russia employed tactics involving the launch of a large number of weapons at a single target from high altitude.
Record number of Russians support peace talks, end of war in Ukraine, poll shows. Some 64% of the respondents favored peace talks, representing a 6% increase since March.
Ukrainian attack causes blackouts in Russian-occupied territories, Moscow’s proxies claim. Yevhen Balytskyi, the Kremlin-appointed head of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, claimed that 457 settlements in the region were left without power, affecting more than 600,000 homes.
Everything we know about Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb
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‘There was blood on the asphalt’ — Russia strikes Ukraine’s Sumy during morning rush hour
“The body of a man, killed in the attack, lay on the roadway. It was covered with a thermal blanket, weighed down by fire extinguishers and a bottle of water,” Cukr journalist Artem Korol told the Kyiv Independent.
Photo: Sumy Regional Military Administration
Inside Russia, calls for peace come with conditions — and Kremlin talking points
Despite speaking on condition of anonymity, Russians inside the country spoke along official Kremlin lines — accusing Kyiv of stalling the talks or even arguing that there will be no peace as long as Ukraine remains independent.
Photo: Contributor / Getty Images
In western Ukraine, ethnic Romanians grapple with war, identity, and displacement
While Romania debated its future in its recent presidential election, Romanians in Ukraine’s Chernivtsi Oblast just across the border continued to wrestle with war, mobilization, and the loss of their pre-war lives.
Photo: Andrei Pungovschi / AFP via Getty Images
‘Tattoos of war’ — haunting portraits of Ukrainians’ most painful wartime memories (Photos)
Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko’s subjects gaze outward with calm, matter-of-fact expressions, while the superimposed projection of their most haunting war memories distorts their features.
Photo: Sergey Melnitchenko / The Kyiv Independent
Human cost of Russia’s war
Russian strike on downtown Sumy kills at least 4, injures 28, authorities say. “The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy — directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery. It was a fully deliberate attack on civilians,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 7, injure 42 over past day. Ukrainian forces downed 60 out of the 112 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Fifteen drones were intercepted by electronic warfare or disappeared from radars without causing any damage, according to the statement.
General Staff: Russia has lost 990,800 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,100 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
International response
Trump didn’t know about Ukraine’s drone strike on Russia’s warplanes, White House confirms. During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether Trump was informed by Ukraine about Operation Spiderweb in advance of the attack. “He was not,” she said.
‘Rare moment of honesty’ — Graham says Medvedev’s comments show Russia not ‘interested in peace.’ Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev’s statement that Russia seeks only a “swift victory” and the “complete destruction” of the Ukrainian government at the Istanbul peace talks is a “rare moment of honesty,” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said on June 3.
US House Speaker Johnson backs Senate bill to toughen sanctions on Russia. “There’s many members of Congress that want us to sanction Russia as strongly as we can,” U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “And I’m an advocate of that.”
Orban vows to ‘do everything’ to prevent Ukraine from joining EU. “I would not be able to answer my conscience…if I did not do everything now to protect Hungary and the European Union from the Brussels fever dream of Ukrainian accession.”
NATO urging Europe to ramp up air defenses fivefold in face of Russian threat, Bloomberg reports. NATO defense ministers will discuss the air defense boost at a gathering in Brussels on June 5, sources told Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity.
In other news
Drapatyi made Commander of Joint Forces after submitting resignation over Russian strike on Ukrainian training camp. “I received a task from the president. I am staying in the ranks, on the front line. Where I have to be, where I can do the most,” Mykhailo Drapatyi said.
Commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces replaced. Vadym Sukharevskyi has been dismissed as commander of the USF and will be replaced by Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of the elite drone unit “Birds of Magyar.”
Russia may have recruited Ukrainian suspect behind Starmer arson via Telegram app, media reports. Ukrainian citizen Roman Lavrynovych, suspected of setting fire to property linked to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, may have been recruited by Russia via the Telegram messaging app, RFE/RL’s Schemes Investigative project reported on June 3.
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