Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu, Odesa, Ukraine, June 11, 2025

EA on TVP World: Between Putin and Trump, Europe Considers Its Defense

Wednesday’s Coverage: Russia Murders 2, Injures 64+ in Kharkiv

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 2027 GMT:

Russia has reportedly redeployed dozens of long-range bombers to more remote bases, following Ukraine’s drone strikes on June 1 that destroyed around 13 bombers and damaged up to 28 other warplanes.

Citing the OSINT analyst AviVector, Russian independent media outlet Agentstvo says all Tu-160 bombers have been evacuated from Belaya airfield in Irkutsk Oblast and Olenya airfield in Murmansk Oblast. Some have been relocated to Anadyr in Chukotka, Yelizovo in Kamchatka, and Borisoglebskoye in Tatarstan.

Eleven Tu-22M3s and all Tu-95MS aircraft near Murmansk have reportedly beel relocated to the Ukrainka airfield in the Amur region, Engels-2 in the Saratov region, Borisoglebskoye in Tatarstan, and Mozdok in North Ossetia.

UPDATE 2018 GMT:

Germany will deliver new IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine under a three-year supply plan, but it has no plans to supply Taurus long-range missiles.

At a joint press conference, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “We are grateful for the supply of IRIS-T air defense systems. We understand that deliveries are currently being planned… for the next three years. This is very important assistance.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added the downbeat note about the Taurus missiles, “You asked me whether we are considering this, and my answer is no.”

UPDATE 1424 GMT:

After a meeting in Rome, European foreign ministers have said:

We reiterated our readiness to step up our pressure on Russia as it continues to refuse serious and credible commitments, including through further sanctions and countering their circumvention.

We are prepared to enhance our support, including through improving defense industrial cooperation with Ukraine, and exploring additional forms of security and defense cooperation.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted that Russian losses in Ukraine have surpassed one million, and still they “did not achieve any strategic goal”.

But he said more needed to be done, as Russia continues to reject the proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, almost 100 days after it was presented.

Only pressure can force Russia to peace and neutralize the Russian threat to Ukraine and the rest of the world.

Diplomacy, appeasement do not work on Russia.

The European Union’s foreign policy head Kaja Kallas referred to the bloc’s 18th round of sanctions, tightening restrictions on Moscow’s “shadow fleet”, its companies, and its banks.

Russia responds to strength, and nothing else. Russia is bleeding cash, but we need to cut the flow of cash to Moscow’s army even further.

Poland Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski added:

The strategy of Putin’s regime remains unchanged and is based on feigning diplomatic efforts, escalating demands and launching barbarous attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population. These are classic Muscovite tactics and tricks, and we should not fall for them.

Our unity and determination are instrumental in forcing Russia to end this horrible war.

UPDATE 1314 GMT:

The European Council has approved new tariffs on fertilizers and remaining agricultural goods from Russia and Belarus.

The measures target those goods that have not been subject to additional customs duties and will enter into force on July 1. The tariffs on fertilizers will increase gradually over the next three years.

The new tariffs apply to around 15% of all agricultural imports from Russia in 2023. Fertilizer tariffs will focus on certain nitrogen-based products.

Russian fertilizers accounted for more than a quarter of all of the EU’s imports in the sector in 2023, worth almost $1.5 billion.

Michal Baranowski, the Trade Undersecretary at the Polish Economy Ministry, said:

The motto of Poland’s Presidency [of the European Union] is “Security, Europe!”, and these measures increase our economic security by reducing dependencies from Russia.

We are further reducing Russia’s export revenues and therefore its ability to finance its brutal war. This is united Europe at its best.

UPDATE 1141 GMT:

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged a second set of prisoners of war, under a 1,000-for-1,000 agreement at the Istanbul talks on June 2.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the swap was of “severely wounded and seriously ill warriors”.

A first group of POWs was freed earlier this week. Numbers have not been given by either side.

On Wednesday, the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainians and 27 Russians were repatriated.

UPDATE 0944 GMT:

As Russia continues its attacks on civilians in Kharkiv, the death toll has risen to five from a June 7 assault on Ukraine’s second city.

Two bodies were found in rubble caused by drones, missiles, and guided bombs.

UPDATE 0922 GMT:

At least three civilians have been killed and 37 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 28 of 63 drones launched by Russia overnight, and 21 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, two civilians were murdered and six injured. The other fatality was in the Kherson region in the south.

Casualties were also reported from Kharkiv (see 0854 GMT) and the Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions.

UPDATE 0913 GMT:

Restoration work has begun on Kyiv’s 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral after it was damaged by Russian strikes on Tuesday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that part of the cathedral’s facade collapsed: “For all people who truly know history and who are no strangers to Christianity, any threat of damage or destruction to St Sophia is absolutely unacceptable, catastrophic.”

UPDATE 0854 GMT:

At least 16 civilians, including four children, have been injured by another Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.

Russia carried out 11 strikes on the city overnight. A 12th drone did not detonate.

“Residential areas, educational institutions, kindergartens, and infrastructure were hit by shelling. Dozens of cars were damaged, windows in schools and houses were broken,” said Kharkiv Governor Ihor Terekhov.

On Wednesday, Russia’s mass drone attack on Kharkiv murdered three civilians and injured at least 64, including nine children.

UPDATE 0846 GMT:

Ukrainian drones have struck a Russian facility assembling circuit boards and electronics for the military.

Explosions were reported overnight at the Rezonit Technopark, around 40 km (25 miles) from Moscow.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the operation sought to “reduce Russia’s ability to produce high-tech weapons and equipment”. It is assessing the outcome.

The circuit boards manufactured at Rezonit are used for flight control and navigation in Iskander, Kalibr, and Kh-101 missiles; Orlan and Lancet drones; and other systems.

UPDATE 0659 GMT:

The US program documenting Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children is shutting down after the Trump Administration terminated its funding.

The Yale University-based Humanitarian Research Lab, which leads the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, has transferred its data to the US State Department and Ukraine’s government as it ends operations in the coming weeks.

“Right now, we are running on fumes,” said Nathaniel Raymond, the Lab’s executive director. “As of July 1, we lay off all of our staff across Ukraine and other teams, and our work tracking the kids officially ends.”

Since its launch in May 2022, the Observatory has compiled evidence of Russian war crimes, including the deportation of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Using biometric and satellite data, it has supported six International Criminal Court indictments, including two related to child abductions.

The Observatory’s database has records on more than 30,000 Ukrainian children seized by Russia from more than 100 locations.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Addressing the Ukraine-Southeast Europe summit in the port city of Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that the Kremlin will not be content until it has turned Ukraine into part of a “greater Russia”.

Zelensky reminded the leaders of the long-declared statements of Vladimir Putin and his senior officials and of Russia’s daily assaults in its 39 1/2-month full-scale invasion:

Drawing upon Moscow’s regular strikes on Odesa, in southern Ukraine on the Black Sea, Zelensky noted, “We are here in a city Russia wants to destroy, like so many others it’s already ruined. Its war plans point straight at this region, then toward the borders with Moldova and Romania. We need protection now, but more than that — long-term guarantees this won’t happen again.”

He continued:

Infrastructure cooperation is essential — in transport routes, energy, communications, digital systems. Russia’s war and its blockade of Ukrainian ports showed us how vital alternative routes through neighboring countries are.

Zelensky had bilateral meeting with each of the leaders of Moldova, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, and even Serbia, whose President Aleksandar Vucic has been supportive of the Kremlin’s line during the invasion.

In his first visit to Ukraine since taking office in 2017, Vucic refused to sign a joint declaration calling for tougher sanctions against Russia.

He told Serbian media on Wednesday that the signing of the “anti-Russian” declaration was not “easy and simple for us”: “But I would like to once again express my full gratitude to President Zelensky for the exceptional hospitality here in Odesa.”