First responders work at the site of a Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, July 31, 2025

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: After A Challenging Week, Ukraine Still Stands

Wednesday’s Coverage: Russia’s Oil Exports Dropping Amid Sanctions

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1634 GMT:

In separate, identically-worded posts, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa have welcomed the legislation restoring the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.

UPDATE 1615 GMT:

The toll from Russia’s mass murder with drones and missiles on Kyiv has risen to at least 13 killed and 135 injured.

Ten of the fatalities were in the Sviatoshynskyi district. Two, including a 6-year-old boy, were in Solomianskyi.

Three police officers and 12 children were among the injured. Thirty people, including five children, are still in hospital.

UPDATE 1257 GMT:

A participant in the rally outside Ukraine’s Parliament tells EA WorldView:

Today Ukrainian civil society reminded the President and the Parliament of Article 5 of the Constitution, “The people shall be the bearer of sovereignty and the sole source of power in Ukraine.”

This protest was civil society’s firm veto of democratic backsliding. However, it is only the first victory, and trust will not be restored overnight.

UPDATE 1252 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed the bill restoring the independence of anti-corruption agencies.

This guarantees the normal, independent work of anti-corruption bodies and all law enforcement agencies in our country. It is the right decision….

It is very important that the state listens to public opinion….Ukraine is a democracy – there is no doubt about that.

Government officials will also immediately inform Ukraine’s partners about this law.

UPDATE 1114 GMT:

By a 331-0 vote, Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has approved President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bill restoring the independence of anti-corruption agencies.

The legislation replaced the measure, signed last week by Zelensky, establishing the Prosecutor General’s control of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

A rally in a park close to Parliament erupted in cheers at the news.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted:

The European Union’s commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kos, responded:

The Rada corrected last week’s damaging vote undermining NABU’s & SAPO’s independence.

Today’s law restores key safeguards, but challenges remain.

The EU supports citizens’ demands for reform. Upholding fundamental values & fighting corruption must remain the priority.

European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier said:

We have been in close contact with Ukrainian authorities to remedy the situation.

So our messages all along have been really clear, Ukraine must build on this solid foundation as a future EU member state, and must preserve the independent anti-corruption bodies which are the cornerstones of Ukraine’s rule of law….

Ukraine’s accession will require continuous efforts to guarantee a strong capacity to combat corruption and to respect, rule of law.

He urged Kyiv “to proceed with the swift appointment of the head of the economic security bureau of Ukraine,…restore the international experts in the high qualification commission of judges selection committee [and] to proceed with the appointment of four international, vetted judges to the constitutional court,…and discard the problematic draft amendments to the criminal code and pass the administrative court law.”

UPDATE 1052 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has updated the toll from Russia’s overnight attacks to seven civilians killed, including a child, and 64 injured, including nine children, with 50 hospitalized.

UPDATE 1013 GMT:

Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has commented on Russia’s overnight mass murder with drones and missiles:

Putin is not seeking a solution. He is testing the world’s resolve, continuing to receive confirmation that mass murder has no real consequences.

The response must be immediate and unified:

– Maximum pressure on Russia’s war economy
– Full synchronization of sanctions
– Reinforced air defenses for Ukraine

Peace will not come through delay.

UPDATE 0800 GMT:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the Helsinki+50 conference, marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords on security, economic cooperation, and humanitarian issues:

Russia keeps launching such attacks, even when the whole world is calling on it to stop the war, a war that Russia started, a war that Russia keeps dragging on, a war that only the Russian leadership wants.

He said the Kremlin is “mentally stuck in another century, a time of brutal violence…[and] total disregard for human rights and equality” with “a total rejection of the post-Second World War world”.

We need to fully block Russia’s war machine, cut off its arms industry, limit its energy profits, and finally, put every frozen Russian asset including stolen wealth…to work, defending against the Russian aggression.

It’s time to confiscate the Russian assets, not just freeze them…to use them to serve peace, not war.

If the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means, even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilize neighboring countries.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha followed up in person at the Helsinki summit.

We must start every speech with the [same] words [that] today Kyiv was [again] under attack, that today Ukraine was heavily attacked, we have casualties today, several or many civilian children were killed,” he said, saying it points to a failure of the postwar order to stop similar aggressions….

I am confident that Ukrainian security and European security, they are indivisible, that it also means collective responsibility. …

History has never ended: not after Helsinki, not after the Berlin Wall fell, and probably altogether [never].

We are writing now our history and the main ink for European history now is the blood of my compatriots, of Ukrainian people.

UPDATE 0709 GMT:

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi has ordered military training to be moved underground when possible to protect soldiers from Russian aerial attacks.

“The entire territory of Ukraine is within range of enemy missiles and drones,” Syrskyi said after a monthly meeting on troop preparedness.

On Tuesday, a Russian missile strike on a Ground Forces training facility killed three troops and wounded 18.

A special commission has been formed to determine whether lapses by military officials contributed to the casualties.

UPDATE 0646 GMT:

Russian occupation officials in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine are forcing men and women to obtain Russian passports or risk losing parental rights, says the Center of National Resistance.

“These are not documents. They are instruments of terror,” says Kherson Governor Ivan Dudary.

Without a Russian passport, Ukrainian civilians under occupation cannot receive medical assistance or pass military checkpoints. They risk being mobilized into the Russian military.

“Parents are manipulated because of their children, and children are manipulated because of their education. As of today, it is just impossible to survive in occupied territories without Russian documents,” summarizes Kateryna Rashevska, legal advisor at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv.

UPDATE 0626 GMT:

Writing for The Guardian, Ruchi Kumar reports on the effect on Ukraine’s children of Russia’s 41-month full-scale invasion.

The number of murdered or injured children has risen sharply this year, with 222 confirmed casualties between March and May and 2,889 in total since the start of the invasion. The UN says the true figure is likely to be much higher.

Ukrainian authorities have officially documented the deportation of almost 20,000 juveniles. They say the actual total could be up to 200,000.

Sergey’s son was injured and lost an eye in a Russian attack which killed his mother. Having returned from the frontline to care for his child, Sergey says:

He asks about Mamusya [his mother] and misses her very much. I told him the truth about what happened to her. How much she loved him and how she did everything for him to be happy. I say that she has become his guardian angel.

It is very hard sometimes for him because he’s just a child. He reacts to loud sounds, even flinching at anything that might sound like a drone.

Sergey adds, “I don’t want another Ukrainian child raised to experience war. They have done nothing wrong to be killed or hurt like this. They didn’t deserve this.”

UPDATE 0621 GMT:

Ukraine’s State security agency SBU has detained an air force officer on charges of spying for Russia.

The SBU said the flight instructor, holding the rank of major, leaked the location of F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets. He is also accused of helping Russia carry out airstrikes by providing coordinates and suggesting strike tactics.

UPDATE 0614 GMT:

In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has approved key principles for weapons supplies from the US.

“These are large-scale agreements, which I discussed with President Trump, and I hope very much that we will be able to implement them all,” Zelensky said. He gave no details.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: At least six civilians have been murdered, including a 6-year-old boy, and at least 52 injured by overnight Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

Of the victims, 29 are in hospital. Three of the wounded are police officers.

At least 27 locations were hit, mainly in the city’s Solomianskyi district, where two people were slain as an educational institution and residential building.

The other four fatalities were in the Sviatoshynskyi district. Vehicles and a high-rise apartment block were set afire.

After the initial air raid alert ended at 3:20 a.m., the Russians fired missiles just over an hour later. Another residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district was partially destroyed, with victims trapped under rubble. Windows were shattered in the children’s wing of a hospital.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky responded on Thursday morning, noting that the Russians fired more than 300 drones and eight missiles:

Today, the world once again saw Russia’s response to our desire for peace, shared with America and Europe. New, showcase killings. That is why peace without strength is impossible. But forcing Moscow to make peace, compelling them to come to a real negotiating table — all the tools needed for this are in the hands of our partners.

Meaghan Mobbs, the daughter of Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, posted:

She added, “Then the Russian missiles followed – but only after civilians had left bomb shelters to return home. Russia is sending a calculated message to America and the West: we do not fear you.”