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

Monday’s Coverage: Trump — No Tomahawk Missiles for Kyiv

UPDATE 1258 GMT:

Ukraine President Voldoymyr Zelensky has visited troops in the frontline Pokrovsk area in the Donetsk region in the east of the country.

Trying to overrun Pokrovsk since July 2024, Russian forces are now inside the devastated city where fighting continues. Ukrainian forces have pushed back the invaders near Dobropillia.

Volodymyr Zelensky met soldiers of the 1st Corps of the Ukrainian National Guard at a command post in the Dobropillia sector.

UPDATE 1220 GMT:

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says Russia used a record number of aerial guided bombs in October, with more than 5,328 munitions on Ukrainian military positions and cities near the frontline.

During 2025, Russian forces have dropped around 40,000 aerial bombs on Ukraine, roughly the same amount throughout all of 2024.

UPDATE 1213 GMT:

The European Union has approved another €1.8 billion ($2.1 billion) in financial assistance to Ukraine.

The funds are the fifth tranche of the Ukraine Facility and some money withheld from the previous tranche.

“This amount reflects Ukraine’s successful completion of nine steps required for the fifth disbursement, as well as one outstanding step from the fourth disbursement,” the EU confirmed.

The Ukraine Facility allocates €50 billion ($58 billion) in loans and grants to support Ukraine’s post-war recovery and modernization between 2024 and 2027.

UPDATE 1043 GMT:

An investigation has been launched into the latest Russian strike on a Ukrainian military ceremony.

A State Bureau of Investigation is enquiring into possible negligence after Saturday’s attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine. The strike killed and wounded soldiers gathered for the awards ceremony in the center of the Samarivsky District.

The team will verify whether safety protocols were followed during the air raid alert and whether proper shelters had been arranged.

The 30th Marine Corps, which includes the 35th Marine Brigade, confirmed that its service members had been targeted. The attack also murdered four civilians, including an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old, and injured six.

UPDATE 0731 GMT:

In its latest strikes inside Russia, Ukraine has reportedly set fire to an oil refinery and a petrochemical plant.

Explosions were reported at the refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and at the petrochemical plant in Sterlitamak in the Bashkortostan region.

UPDATE 0651 GMT:

A 65-year-old woman has been murdered and 11 people injured, including two children, by Russian drone and missile attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

Three medics were injured when their ambulance, transporting an ill patient to hospital, was struck.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: In a draft report, the European Union has praised Ukraine’s “remarkable commitment” to its bid for EU membership despite Russia’s full-scale invasion.

However, the 27-nation bloc has warned that Kyiv must urgently reverse the erosion of its fight against corruption, and that it must accelerate reforms of the rule of law.

The European Commission is ready to rule that Ukraine has met the conditions to open three out of the six required EU accession clusters: fundamentals, external relations, and internal market.

“The Commission expects Ukraine to also meet the conditions to open the remaining three clusters by the end of the year,” the report adds.

Those clusters have been closed because Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is an ally of Vladimir Putin, continues to block Ukraine’s bid.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted of his conversation with European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen:

Concerns About “Negative Trends” for Anti-Corruption Efforts

The EU said:

Ukraine has continued fostering integrity and meritocracy in the judicial system and building an enforcement track record in high-level corruption cases and has launched the reforms of several law enforcement bodies.

The martial law related restrictions upon fundamental rights remain overall proportionate.

However, it warned, “Recent negative trends, including a growing pressure on the specialised anti-corruption agencies and civil society, must be decisively reversed.”

In July, Ukraine’s Parliament passed legislation curbing the autonomy of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). The Prosecutor General, a political appointee, was put in charge of both bodies.

Zelensky signed the measure. However, amid large protests, he retreated and promised to protect the independence of NABU and SAPO.

The New Threat to Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Agencies

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

Next Steps

The Zelensky Government wants to complete accession negotiations by the end of 2028. The European Commission responds in the draft report:

The Commission is committed to support this ambitious objective but considers that to meet it an acceleration of the pace of reforms is required, notably with regards to the fundamentals, in particular rule of law.

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that a more realistic goal is completion by 2030.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told reporters that the Commission is trying to maintain momentum despite resistance from Hungary.

Next month, EU leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss the next steps on enlargement.

Kos said she expects a political signal allowing technical work to continue, even if unanimity for the opening of formal steps is blocked.

The Commission will continue the work to put the Council in a position to take forward the opening of all clusters before the end of the year….Despite some progress on fundamental reforms, further efforts remain essential.