Ukraine President Volydymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels, Belgium, August 17, 2025 (Times News)

Sunday’s Coverage: Russia Breaks “Victory Day” Ceasefire

UPDATE 1956 GMT:

North Korea has earned up to $13.6 billion for supplying weapons and soldiers to Russia, concludes South Korean intelligence.

The report put North Korean aid to Russia at $7 billion to $13.8 billion worth of weapons through 2025. The shipments include 152-mm artillery ammunition and KN-23 ballistic missiles.

The analysts estimate the North Korean presence in Russia at 10,000 special forces personnel, 10,000 engineers, and hundreds of drone operators. They cite plans to send an additional 30,000 North Korean soldiers.

Around 6,000 North Koreans have been killed or wounded, the report finds.

UPDATE 1951 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered Russia a mutual ceasefire on long-range attacks.

Zelensky said in a video address:

Yesterday and today, Ukraine refrained from long-range actions in response to the absence of massive Russian attacks. Going forward, we will respond in kind.

And if the Russians decide to return to full-scale warfare, our sanctions for this will be immediate and tangible.

UPDATE 1945 GMT:

Andrii Yermak, former Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff, has been charged with money laundering as part of a major corruption investigation, an official with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office confirmed.

Yermak is a suspect in a $100 million corruption scheme centered upon the state nuclear monopoly Energoatom. Nine others have been charged, among them Timur Mindich, a former close association of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky; former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov; and former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.

UPDATE 1522 GMT:

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Ukrainian counterpart Mykhailo Fedorov have signed a letter of intent to deepen cooperation in the development of defense technologies.

The two men announced the launch of “Brave Germany,” a joint initiative to support innovative startups through grants to Ukrainian and German companies.

Fedorov said Kyiv and Berlin signed a contract for the procurement of hundreds of missiles for Patriot air defense systems, with Germany already starting the finance of the deal.

“Next year we will begin receiving these missiles, and this is an unprecedented aid package for us,” Fedorov said.

Confirming Pistorius’ announcement earlier in the day (see 0946 GMT), Fedorov said Germany is also funding capabilities for medium- and long-range strikes against Russian targets.

UPDATE 1417 GMT:

The European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and seven entities in Russia over their systematic unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

The targeted officials include the heads of children’s camps, government representatives, and military officers in charge of youth training. They have been “supporting and implementing actions and policies contributing to the deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination, or militarized education of Ukrainian minors”.

Among them is Lilya Shvetsova, head of the “Red Carnation” camp in occupied Crimea. The EU said she supervised “activities aimed at shaping the political and ideological views of children present at the facility, including Ukrainian children”.

On Monday the EU and Canada hosted a meeting of the 47-country International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia, and to support work to verify and trace those who are taken.

“War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the gathering. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”

UPDATE 0946 GMT:

Visiting Kyiv, German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius has said:

Germany and Ukraine are strategic partners who both benefit from cooperation. This results in numerous new projects.

The focus is on the joint development of state-of-the-art unmanned systems at all ranges, especially in the area of deep strikes. In this way, we strengthen the security of our countries.

UPDATE 0536 GMT:

At least three civilians have been killed and 16 injured in Russia’s further violations of a three-day ceasefire.

While there were no significant Russian airstrikes, Moscow’s forces attacked with drones and artillery as well as one Iskander-M ballistic missile.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, two people were killed and two injured in attacks on 12 settlements.

In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, one person was slain and two injured.

Casualties were also reported in the Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Just over two weeks after a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, the European Union’s foreign ministers are convening in Brussels to discuss further support of Kyiv against Russia’s invasion.

The loan, confirmed after the lifting of the blockade by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, will meet Ukraine’s military and financial needs through 2027.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha hailed “a new feeling of momentum” as he arrived:

We have a new reality on the battlefield. Ukraine became stronger after the most difficult winter….

We stabilized the front and we are also in the position that we closed the sky….[We can] shoot down up to 90% of aerial objects by which Russians attack us.

Amid Ukraine’s counter-attacks inside Russia on infrastructure such as refineries, terminals, and ports, he added, “We noticed new some very interesting developments in Russia, not only in the economy. So we are following them.”

Sweden’s Maria Malmer Stenergard added, “It’s difficult for [Russia] to recruit soldiers, and we saw the ‘big victory parade’ that was a very small victory parade. There was no military hardware display at all, because the Kremlin was afraid of Ukrainian drones.”

Foreign Ministers dismissed any possibility of a compromise by Vladimir Putin to end his 50 1/2-month full-scale invasion. EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas summarized:

Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said:

We believe that when we see it in action. For now, even during the so-called ceasefire that he begged for, we have not really seen the cessation of hostilities. So, it’s premature to really suggest something like that.

Zelensky: We Expect US to Play Active Role

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of a US role in ending the invasion.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov met American officials in the US last week. Zelensky is hoping that Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have recurrently visited the Kremlin, will finally make their first trip to Kyiv.

Zelensky said a 1,000-for-1,000 exchange of prisoners of war, which he put forward as part of last weekend’s three-day ceasefire, is being prepared.