Exclusives

The EU banned Russian timber—then bought € 1.5 billion worth anyway. Poland, Ukraine’s strongest EU ally, has emerged as the largest importer of banned Russian timber, taking in a third of all suspect shipments since sanctions began.

Estonia’s Ambassador: We want Ukraine to defeat Russia. NATO is the best security guarantee for Ukraine, says Ambassador Annely Kolk

Military

Frontline Report: Ukrainian garrison withdraws from Velyka Novosilka after Russia cuts supply routes. A network of hardened roads through Velika Novoselivka makes the town the sole logistics hub in a 40-kilometer stretch of fields and settlements.

International

Moldova’s Russian-controlled Transnistria receives gas supplies from EU as Russian deliveries halt. This marks an end to a long-standing arrangement where Russia provided free gas to the breakaway region in Europe.

Latvia to hand over 100 drones to Ukraine. A Latvian charity initiative has raised over $132,000 to procure drones for Ukraine’s military needs.

Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirms its diplomats were under Russian attack in Odesa. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy’s report of Norwegian diplomats coming under fire in Odesa received official confirmation from Oslo.

Humanitarian and Social Impact

“My apartment is fully destroyed”: Russia launched 165 air targets on Ukrainian cities, killed civilians. The most devastating missile strike happened in Poltava, central Ukraine, where a whole entrance of an apartment building was razed to the ground, killing seven people.

Death toll reaches 7 in Russian strike on Poltava high-rise residential building. Emergency services rescued 22 people from a residential building in Poltava after a Russian missile strike that killed five residents; there are 14 injured.

Russian strike on historical centre of Odesa damages about 15 cultural heritage sites – Odesa mayor. Seven people were injured when a Russian missile hit Odesa’s historic district, damaging the UNESCO-protected Philharmonic building.

Russian attack on Ukraine kills 4 people, injures at least 15 overnight. Multiple drone attacks hit Ukrainian cities overnight, with Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Poltava oblasts reporting civilian casualties and infrastructure damage; seven Ukrainian oblasts faced emergency power cuts

Ukrainians condemned Russian news outlet’s promo ad in Europe featuring Ukrainian war victims. “Using our [Ukrainian] tragedy to arouse sympathy for Russians is an absolute disgrace,” wrote Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia struck boarding school with elderly civilians in Kursk Oblast occupied by Ukraine [updated]. Ukrainian authorities report that Russian citizens in Ukrainian-controlled Kursk Oblast were preparing for evacuation when the strike occurred. Now 95 people are trapped under the rubble.

Political and Legal Developments

SBU detains Russian agent who planned terrorist attack near security service building in Kyiv. A 22-year-old woman from Lviv faces terrorism charges after SBU officers caught her transporting 7kg of TNT near a security service building in central Kyiv.

New Developments

Deaths exceeded births nearly threefold in 2024, Ministry of Justice reports. Ukraine’s birth rate declined by 5.8% in 2024, dropping from 187,300 in 2023 to 176,600 newborns.

Armed assailant kills military recruitment officer, while deadly explosion rocks recruitment center in Ukraine. A military serviceman escorting newly mobilized recruits was fatally shot at point-blank range by a masked attacker in Poltava Oblast, who might have been motivated by a scandalous reputation of Ukrainian military recruitment centers.

Read our earlier daily review here.