Around the world, abducting a child is a serious crime punishable by years behind bars. But when the kidnapper is Russia, justice remains a distant hope. So does the child’s return home. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has identified over 19,500 children who have been forcibly deported to Russia, Belarus, or occupied territories. So far, only 1,300 of them have been safely brought back. During their time in Russia, the children are placed in Russian families or camps, ofte

Ukraine also earlier denied the Kremlin's claim, saying that the statements "do not correspond to reality."

Russian forces dropped FAB-250 bombs on a residential area, damaging 21 homes.

NASAMS have been in service with Ukrainian forces since November 2022.

The situation in the Sumy Oblast remains "challenging," State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said.

The April 26 meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vatican has raised hopes among Ukraine and its European allies that a just end to Russia's full-scale invasion can still be achieved. "Ending the war in Ukraine — this is the goal we share with President Trump," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on April 26. Zelensky and Trump were among the many leaders who arrived in Vatican City to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April

Ukrainian forces downed 57 out of 149 Shahed-type drones and other drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported.

It took several DNA tests to confirm the identity of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024. Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while on a reporting trip in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow only acknowledged her detention the following year. Ukraine was devastated by the news of her death, which was followed by a five-month delay in the return of her body by Russia. On April 24, however, lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchysh

For nearly two years in Russian captivity, Leniie Umerova clung to a single hope: that one day, she would return home — to Crimea. “I thought about Crimea all the time,” Umerova told the Kyiv Independent. “I dreamed of going there without the permission of the occupying forces, without going through filtration, without hiding, simply — going home.” A Ukrainian of Crimean Tatar descent, Umerova, 26, was captured by Russian forces in 2022 while trying to reach occupied Crimea to visit her then-s

On a quiet morning on April 13, Maryna Illiashenko and her 13-year-old son Kyrylo were taking a bus through the city of Sumy to see his grandmother, as they often do on Sundays. It was a route they knew by heart — one they'd taken countless times. But that morning, out of nowhere, a sudden blast knocked them off their feet, plunging everything into darkness. On April 13, as Ukraine marked Palm Sunday, Russia launched its deadliest attack on the northeastern city, hitting Sumy downtown with two

April 13 marked Russia’s deadliest attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, killing 35 people and injuring nearly 120. As locals flocked to the city center on the morning of Palm Sunday, Russia launched two ballistic missiles in what is known as a double-tap attack. The second missile, fired minutes after the first one, was armed with cluster munitions – used to inflict greater devastation on civilians. The strike soon sparked controversy as a local official accused Sumy Oblast Governor Volody

One month ago, Ukraine agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire in the U.S.-mediated talks in Jeddah, and Russia did not. Russia has soon intensified its attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed over 160 civilians in March alone. According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission's (HRMMU) recent report, civilian casualties in Ukraine surged by 50% in March compared to February, with at least 164 killed and 910 injured. The primary cause o

The "ball is in (Russia's) court," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 11 after Kyiv and Washington emerged from talks in Saudi Arabia in agreement over a ceasefire proposal. After the negotiations with Washington, Ukraine announced that it was ready to accept a 30-day-long ceasefire if Russia also complied with it. Now, all eyes are on Moscow as it mulls a response to the proposal, but expectations are not high — even if a ceasefire comes into force, Moscow has a long history of

A team of foreign volunteers had just finished dinner at a cozy hotel restaurant in Kryvyi Rih — a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast where they had recently arrived to bring locals humanitarian aid — when a notification on their phones suddenly made the atmosphere tense. A Russian ballistic missile was heading toward the city. "We decided to go to the shelter, but we did not have enough time," British volunteer Karol Swiacki told the Kyiv Independent. "We stood up and made a few steps, but then t

When President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House on Feb. 28 to discuss ending the war that had inflicted tremendous tragedy on his country since its escalation in 2022, he was asked a question he likely least expected to hear at such a critical moment. "Why don't you wear a suit?" "You're at the highest level in this country's office, and you refuse to wear a suit," Brian Glenn, the chief White House correspondent for the right-wing Real America's Voice TV channel, asked Zelensky d