Eastern Europe / News
Zelenskiy marks 35 years of independence asking allies for money and missiles
Ukraine turned 35 on August 24 and its president spent the occasion asking for two things: money and missiles.
Ukraine opens a second front against Russian ecommerce with four Ozon warehouses hit in three days
Ukrainian drones have hit four Ozon logistics centres in three days, opening a second front in a campaign that has spent the summer burning Russia's biggest online retailer.
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Ukraine puts its first home-built jet drone-hunter into service
Ukraine's armed forces have taken into service the Alexa Spatium, the first jet-powered interceptor drone designed and built in the country to shoot down Russian attack drones.
Rosatom is building 28 reactors abroad and negotiating 50 more
Rosatom is building 28 nuclear power units in nine countries and has signed agreements for 17 more, its chief executive told President Vladimir Putin.
North Korea sends Russia 8,500 more troops as its missiles reach seven Ukrainian regions
North Korea has sent another 8,500 soldiers to Russia, among them 400 drone operators, taking the total rotated through the country since October 2024 to around 25,000.
Putin says Ukraine “opened a Pandora's box” by hitting Russia's economy
Ukraine has opened a Pandora's box by attacking Russia's economy and should now expect the same treatment, President Vladimir Putin says.
Lviv recruiters deny viral report man died after being ‘thrown from bus’
Ukraine’s military recruitment authorities in Lviv have denied reports that a man died after allegedly being thrown from a recruitment bus, after video of an apparently unconscious man lying outside a military recruitment centre spread online.
Ukraine hits Russia's Ozon for the first time, Russia hits major Kryvyi Rih supermarket with a deadly double-tap drone strikes
Ukrainian drones set fire to a 135,000 square metre Ozon warehouse in Russia's Samara region overnight, the first confirmed strike on the country's second-biggest online marketplace.
Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers deserted from German training camp
Under Ukrainian law they are deserters and face up to 12 years in prison if they go home.
Russia conducts missile test near Japan-claimed islands
The test was announced on August 20 amid an intensifying row following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the disputed area the previous week.
Latvia publishes 'list of shame' of companies trading with Russia, Belarus
List contains 170 companies, including prominent Latvian businesses such as lingerie producer Lauma Lingerie and pharmaceutical company Grindeks.
Ukraine pays 100% US drone tariff while allies at peace pay 15%
Every close US ally that builds drones got a discount on Donald Trump's new tariff wall. The one fighting a drone war did not.
Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau accuses presidential office officials of a raiding scheme
Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies have accused a sitting MP, a former MP and senior officials in the Presidential Office of running an organised scheme to seize companies and property with forged documents.
Zelenskiy fires aide as Ukraine's graft bureau targets ex-minister's $3.4mn bail
The money that bought a former Ukrainian energy minister his freedom was itself dirty, anti-corruption detectives say, and the trail runs straight back into the president's own office.
Ghana leapfrogs US to enter world's top six gold producers
Ghana produced a record 5.94mn ounces of gold in 2025. Small-scale mining accounted for 52.38% of total production, overtaking large-scale operations for the first time.
Baku summons Russian ambassador as rift deepens again
Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office placed three Russian citizens on an international wanted list for inciting terrorism, deepening strains between the two countries.
Ukraine's Fedorov calls for wartime elections on eve of defence ministry vote
Ukraine's ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for elections while the war is still being fought, arguing Russia should not decide when Ukrainians choose a government.
MP calls for halt to intelligence reports to Slovenian president over suspected Russia links
Nataša Pirc Musar's office strongly denied claims she could be connected to a Russian spy network.
Britain's drones are hitting Russian refineries leading to retaliation fears
A British-built drone flying into a refinery outside Moscow is a different kind of object from a British-built missile doing the same thing, and both London and the Kremlin know it.
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Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing seeks closer ties with Putin
Russia is one of the few major countries to have maintained close ties with Myanmar’s military rulers since the 2021 coup. Much of the West has instead isolated the government.