Ukraine news on the war, society, politics and consequences for Germany, Europe and the Ukrainian diaspora.
The Victory Day parade on Red Square was held in a sharply shortened format without the usual military vehicles or ballistic missiles, a departure that international media say carries symbolic weight for Vladimir Putin.
A three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has started, pausing all “kinetic activities” and providing for the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, The Guardian reports. The deal was first announced on social media by former U.S. Donald Trump and later confirmed by both parties.
Several EU member states have submitted formal requests to the European Commission seeking reimbursement for military equipment they provided to Ukraine, according to 24tv. The move could affect how support for Kyiv is funded across the bloc.
According to Liga.net, the European Union plans to adopt further sanctions targeting Russia in response to the removal of Ukrainian children to Russian territory; member states are reportedly aiming to agree as early as next Monday.
Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the preliminary data show, a decline attributed to Russian bombardments during the winter.
The United States has said it is willing to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine, but only if those talks produce verifiable, concrete progress; at the same time, US officials criticized the lack of “fruitful results” so far in the peace process, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, former judge Oleksij Tandyr has been accused under Part 2 of Article 255 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code of participating in a criminal organization; investigators say the charges relate to the illegal seizure of apartments in Kyiv and Odesa.
According to 24tv, Commander-in‑Chief Syrskyj has signed a decree requiring troops at the front to be rotated after up to two months in position; an officer expressed doubts about whether there will be enough personnel to carry it out.
Russian forces struck Kryvyi Rih and its surroundings on the morning of 6 May, damaging infrastructure, while the number of wounded from the 5 May attack on Dnipro has risen to 19, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
The death and injury toll from Russian attacks across multiple locations rose, with at least 22 killed and about 100 wounded, the BBC reports. The strikes affected cities including Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kramatorsk and caused damage to civilian infrastructure.
According to Deutsche Welle, Russian rocket and drone attacks across several cities in eastern Ukraine killed and injured dozens of people just hours before a unilateral ceasefire proposed by Kyiv was due to take effect.
The first night and morning after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared a unilateral ceasefire saw a reduction in attacks, though rocket and drone strikes did not stop entirely, according to Abendzeitung München.