Ukraine May 2025-

U.S. – Russia relations
Putin’s War Russia-Ukraine

2 October
Calls during UNGA to investigate thousands of Ukrainian children being forcibly transferred to Russia
(The World) Canada organized a summit at this year’s UN General Assembly to address the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred to Russia over the past several years. The
Two major conflicts were top of mind at the United Nations General Assembly this year: the wars in Gaza and in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump addressed delegates at the UN headquarters in New York and said he had thought Ukraine would be the easiest war to end but that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has proven to be recalcitrant. Trump also mocked Putin’s management of the war.
“It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish. It’s not making Russia look good. It’s making them look bad,” Trump said. “No matter what happens, from here on out, this was something that should have taken a matter of days, certainly less than a week, and they’ve been fighting for three and a half years.”
A short time later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in a summit at the UN organized by Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out the need for the conference.
“Putin has stolen Ukrainian children,” Carney said. “Thousands of children have been abducted by Russia. Russia has repeatedly targeted the most vulnerable groups of children, including orphans, children with disabilities, children from poor families.”
23 September
Ukraine and Canada Organized the Leaders’ Summit of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children in New York
On the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Leaders’ Summit of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children was held, co-chaired by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine is launching a pilot mechanism to collect information on illegally displaced Ukrainian children in Russia and in occupied territories.
“And I urge you – please, in every sanctions package, increase the pressure on those Russian politicians, officials, judges, propagandists, and others involved in child abductions and the attempt to “reprogram” their minds,” the Head of State added.

24 September
‘Ukraine is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back’ — Trump says following meeting with Zelensky
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect comments made by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
(Kyiv Independent) U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his view that Kyiv will retake territories occupied by Russia following a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23.
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social following his meeting with the Ukrainian president.
“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” Trump said, adding that Russia has been fighting its war “aimlessly for three and a half years.”

Ukraine’s Plan to Starve the Russian War Machine
Negotiations have stalled. Trump keeps changing his policies. Ukrainians, backed by Europeans, are taking matters into their own hands. ​​​
By Anne Applebaum
(The Atlantic) Once almost entirely dependent on imports of weapons from abroad, the Ukrainians are now producing millions of drones, large and small, as well as other kinds of weapons, every year. They are using them most famously on the front line, where they have prevented the Russians from making large-scale gains this year, despite dire headlines, and where they have ensured that any territory occupied by the Russians comes at a terrible price, in equipment and lives. The Ukrainians have also used sea drones to clear their Black Sea coast of Russian ships, an accomplishment that seemed impossible even to imagine at the start of the war.
Finally, they are using drones to hit distant targets, deep inside Russia, and lately they are hitting so many military objects, refineries, and pipelines that some Ukrainians believe they can do enough damage to force the Russians to end the war. On Monday, they once again struck Gazprom’s fuel-processing plant in Astrakhan, for example, one of the largest gas-chemical complexes in the world and an important source of both gasoline and diesel. Yesterday, they hit a key part of an oil pipeline in Bryansk. Presumably President Volodymyr Zelensky transmitted this optimism to President Donald Trump, who again upended his administration’s previous policies yesterday and declared that Ukraine is “in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
Trump’s about-face on Ukraine baffles leaders on both sides of conflict
(Globe & Mail) Politicians in Kyiv and Moscow were left scratching their heads Wednesday, trying to understand Donald Trump’s latest about-face on the war, after the U.S. President posted on social media that he now believed Ukraine could emerge victorious.
Ukrainian politicians were delighted, and Russian figures openly baffled, by the latest twist, which came barely a month after Mr. Trump greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House with a situation map and told Mr. Zelensky that Russia was “so clearly much more powerful” than Ukraine. Both sides are now wondering whether Mr. Trump intends to back up his latest position with any new help for Ukraine’s war effort.

17 September
Ukraine expects $3.5 billion fund for US weapons to sustain fight against Russia, Zelenskyy says
(AP) — Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain its more than three-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
The financial arrangement known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.
“We received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. “We will receive additional money in October. I think we will have somewhere around $3.5-3.6 billion.”

24 August
Zelensky Marks Independence Day With Diplomacy in Kyiv and a Plea for Peace
(NYT) Amid continuing diplomatic efforts to end the long war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday marked the country’s Independence Day with a speech in Kyiv’s central square, reminding Ukrainians that they are still fighting for freedom.
He later met with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, who arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in a show of diplomatic support. President Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, also arrived in Kyiv over the weekend for talks with Mr. Zelensky. Both Mr. Carney and Mr. Kellogg attended the Independence Day celebrations.
Russia accuses Ukraine of strike on nuclear plant in wave of drone attacks
Moscow says operating capacity of reactor at Kursk site reduced by 50% as Kyiv celebrates independence day
Ukraine’s outgunned army has relied heavily on drones to respond to Russia’s invasion, notably targeting oil infrastructure to hit one of the main sources of Moscow’s revenues for funding the war. Ukraine, meanwhile, said Russia had attacked with a ballistic missile and 72 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones, 48 of which the air force said had been shot down.

Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy has been a merry-go-round
While Trump has moved away from some of Putin’s positions, there has been little tangible progress in ending the war in Ukraine.
When seven European leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last week, the stagecraft was everything their host could have desired. … Calculating that Trump’s positions tend to be shaped by the last people he spoke to, his visitors left the White House relieved: They had edged the U.S. president back from some of what he had appeared ready to grant Moscow after meeting three days earlier in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

23 July
Zelenskyy faces major anti-corruption protests as Ukraine prepares for Russia talks
The president defended new measures curbing the independence of two agencies.
A spokesperson for the European Commission warned the move could undermine Ukraine’s potential bid to join the EU. Kyiv’s European funding, they added, is “conditional on progress on transparency, judicial reform and democratic government.”
Transparency International’s Ukraine branch, meanwhile, said the move represented a “massive setback in anti-corruption reform” and a “direct threat to Ukraine’s path to the EU.”
(The World) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing major backlash after signing a bill that critics say significantly lowers the independence of two anti-corruption groups. Protestors have taken to the streets, even violating the nighttime curfew imposed by Ukrainian authorities as a guard against Russian strikes. The two affected bodies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, will now be moved under the direct control of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

17 July
Zelenskiy says he and Trump are considering a drone ‘mega-deal’
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy are considering a deal that involves Washington buying battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the U.S., Zelenskiy said in an interview with the New York Post.
Zelenskiy said his latest talks with Trump focused on a deal that would help each country bolster its aerial technology.

11-14 July
Trump to supply missiles to Ukraine, gives Russia 50-day ultimatum
President Trump announced Monday that the U.S. will dramatically increase weapons supplies to European allies, with those countries then sending arms to Ukraine.
A source familiar with the plan tells Axios the U.S. will sell around $10 billion in weapons to NATO allies in the first wave.
The supplies ultimately bound for Ukraine include missiles, air defense weaponry and artillery shells.
Why it matters: This is a seismic policy shift from Trump, who originally refused to side with Ukraine and until very recently insisted he would only supply defensive weapons so as not to escalate the war.
Trump also said he was giving Russia 50 days to make a deal or else face 100% “secondary tariffs,” seemingly referring to a plan to impose tariffs on countries like China and India that buy Russian oil. That would have a major impact on global oil markets.
President Tells Russia It Has 50 Days to Make Peace With Ukraine
(NYT) Speaking from the Oval Office, where he met with NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte​, Mr. Trump said the weapons would be “quickly distributed to the battlefield.” He also threatened to impose secondary sanctions, which are penalties imposed on other countries or parties that trade with nations under sanctions.
Trump says he will help Europe speed weapons to Ukraine.
(GZER0) Trump to unveil major new arms support for Ukraine
Apparently fed up with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unwillingness to pause an intensified air and ground offensive against Ukraine, US President Donald Trump says Washington will provide Kyiv with Patriot missile systems and other powerful weapons. To skirt the need for approval from Congress, where support for Ukraine is contentious, Trump says the US will sell the weapons to NATO allies, who will then dispatch them to Ukraine. The package may also include long-range missiles. This is all bad news for Russia, which seems to be hoping that its relentless airstrikes will break the military stalemate and force concessions from Kyiv in eventual ceasefire talks.
US is selling weapons to NATO allies to give to Ukraine, Trump says
(AP) — The United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks, President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat said.
“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said.

4 July
Trump has ‘good conversation’ with Zelenskyy after heavy bombardment of Ukraine by Russia
US munitions slated for Ukraine held up over shortage as Trump ‘disappointed’ by Putin’s refusal to make concessions
(The Guardian) The call with Zelenskyy comes as Washington has halted its latest shipment of military aid to Ukraine including Patriot air defense missiles and other crucial munitions meant to support the country’s defenses, and hours after Russia launched a devastating air attack on Kyiv using a record number of drones and ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy called the conversation “important and useful” and said in a post said that he and Trump had discussed Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, joint defense production and “mutual purchases and investments”, all potentially avenues for Ukraine to restart aid from the United States by providing incentives for the Trump administration to rush crucial munitions to Kyiv.
Dutch intelligence services say Russia has stepped up use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine
(AP) — Two Dutch intelligence agencies said on Friday that Russia is increasing its use of prohibited chemical weapons in Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison gas chloropicrin.
The Netherlands’ military intelligence and the security service, together with the German intelligence service, found that the use of prohibited chemical weapons by the Russian military had become “standardized and commonplace” in Ukraine.
According to the findings, the Russian military uses chloropicrin and riot control agent CS against sheltering Ukrainian soldiers, who are then forced out into the open and shot.

2 July
Trump’s Betrayal of Ukraine
Bridget Brink, the former ambassador to Ukraine, on that country’s war with Russia, America’s betrayal of Ukraine, and why she resigned
By David Frum
… The Ukrainian cause is a great cause. It’s one that deserves respect and support from Americans, as it has gained and deserves support from America’s allies. Ukraine has done so much by itself. It has fought and struggled and defended itself, but it probably cannot win by itself. To win, it needs help. That help was forthcoming—inadequately, but forthcoming—from the Biden administration, and it’s been dialed back by the Trump administration. It needs to be a top-of-mind issue in our national discussion today.
What can be done to help Ukraine? Why won’t Donald Trump do it? How can it be pressured to do it? In that debate, Ambassador Brink has been and will be one of the most important voices, first as a successful and effective ambassador, then as a powerful critic of the administration she served, and now as a candidate for Congress. …

17 June
Ukraine left in lurch as Trump rushes out of G7 without meeting Zelenskyy
US president said he had to leave to focus on Israel-Iran conflict, without addressing Russia-Ukraine ceasefire
(The Guardian) In a further blow for Kyiv the US vetoed a joint statement on Ukraine from the summit, on the grounds that the wording was too anti-Russian and could compromise negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

6 June
‘He’s a bulldog’: the man behind the success of Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb
(The Guardian) The number of Russian aircraft permanently put out of action by the attack on four bases on Sunday is disputed, with Ukraine claiming to have destroyed 41. US intelligence officials suggest that 10 combat aircraft were destroyed and up to 20 damaged.
Whatever the physical cost, the footage of the 117 drones flying out from the top of lorries to strike deep into Russia, and without the aid of western weaponry, has struck a psychological blow.
Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Sergiy Kyslytsya, claimed it had “changed the paradigm and dynamics” of the faltering peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Tuesday. It was followed by a massive underwater blast targeting the key road and rail bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula to Russia, damaging its supports.
2 June
How Ukraine’s Operation “Spider’s Web” Redefines Asymmetric Warfare
(Center for Strategic and International Studies/CSIS) On June 1, Russia’s Military Transport Aviation Day, a significant holiday for the Russian armed forces, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) carried out a bold and unprecedented coordinated drone strike deep inside Russian territory. The operation targeted four strategic air bases and delivered a major blow to Moscow’s long-range bomber fleet. Codenamed “Spider’s Web”—or simply “Web”—the operation was named for its wide geographic coverage across remote Russian locations previously thought to be beyond the reach of Ukraine’s long-range drone capabilities.