Ukraine Watch

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Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian President Vladimir Putin faces criminal charges for the “unlawful deportation and transfer of children”.

That is the definition of the 2023 arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, the intergovernmental tribunal based in The Hague.

On June 2, as ceasefire talks rumbled on, Ukrainian diplomats handed their Russian counterparts a list of hundreds of children that they said were taken from Russia-occupied Ukrainian regions since 2022.

The return of these children “could become the first test of the sincerity of [Russia’s] intentions” to reach a peace settlement, Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, told media. “The ball is in Russia’s corner.”

But Ukraine claims the number of children taken by Russia is much higher. Kyiv has so far identified 19,546 children who it says were forcibly taken from Russia-occupied Ukrainian regions since 2022.

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Referring to the attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine‘s interior minister Ihor Klymenko said three emergency workers had been killed during the barrage.

Posting on X, he said: “This night, missiles and drones targeted civilian and critical infrastructure. Emergency services – the State Emergency Service and the police – responded to every call for help.

“Unfortunately, we have losses in the Ministry of Internal Affairs family again. In Kyiv, three State Emergency Service rescuers were killed while eliminating the consequences of enemy strikes. They worked under fire to help people.

“Another 9 emergency workers were injured. Some are serious, doctors are fighting for their lives. Also, 5 rescuers were injured while extinguishing a fire in the Ternopil region. All are receiving medical care. A low bow to our fallen heroes without weapons. Courageous, faithful to the Oath, dedicated to the cause of rescue. Speedy recovery to the wounded.”

Putting the death toll at one fewer than Mayor Vitali Klitschko, he added: “In total, 3 people died in Ukraine this night as a result of the Russian attack, about 40 more were inju

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin intends to retaliate “very strongly” against Ukraine for a surprise drone strike on Russian airfields over the weekend, a declaration that provoked alarm in Washington and abroad even as Trump touted his efforts to bring peace to the region.

The revelation came in a social media post shortly after Trump spoke with the Russian President for more than an hour by phone—a call he described as “a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.” In his statement, Trump appeared to accept Putin’s warning at face value and offered no indication that he had urged restraint.

“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Ukraine’s surprise drone strike that targeted five Russian airbases and damaged or destroyed at least 41 military aircraft, including strategic bombers. The Ukrainian operation, which spanned five time zones and caused an estimated $7 billion in damage, marked one of Kyiv’s boldest assaults deep inside Russian territory since the war began more than three years ago.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made the decision to ban Russian ice hockey teams from the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Luc Tardif, told TASS on Monday.

Last week, sports broadcaster ESPN reported that the IOC had confirmed that Russian teams will remain barred from the 2026 Winter Games.

“For the Olympics – it’s an IOC decision,” Tardif replied when asked by a TASS correspondent whether the committee’s ruling regarding Russia’s hockey team was final.

In February, the IIHF ruled to extend its sanctions and ban both Russian and Belarusian teams from participating in the federation’s 2025-2026 championship season.

The IIHF, like many other international sports organizations, banned athletes from both nations at the IOC’s behest following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The committee later allowed certain Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under a neutral flag, provided they pass a vetting process to determine that they have not supported the Ukraine conflict.

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Russia has accused the German government of warmongering over its promise of further support for Ukraine, after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced Berlin and Kiev are aiming to jointly produce long-range weapons.

Commenting on the statement made following a meeting between Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the German leader of further fuelling the war with his remarks.

“This is nothing more than an attempt to force the Ukrainians to continue fighting,” he said, accusing Berlin of torpedoing efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Merz said the German and Ukrainian defence ministers are to sign a letter of intent on the “procurement of long-range weapons systems from Ukrainian production.”