A young kid gives an offering of food to his mother grave as his younger brother and a neighbor stand next to it, in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 4, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv Oblast in previous days. (Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance
April 14 marks 50 days since Russia launched its brutal all-out war against Ukraine.
Moscow's unprovoked military aggression has already cost it approximately 19,900 servicemen and 5,260 units of weapons and other equipment, according to Ukraine's government estimates.
Russia hasn't achieved any significant success in its offensive, having captured only one regional capital, Kherson, which has been actively resisting the occupation.
Yet Ukraine can hardly celebrate this interim victory, as Russian forces are regrouping and preparing to focus on advancing in the country's east.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the upcoming Battle of Donbas will be similar to World War II, as Ukraine expects large-scale operations and maneuvers involving thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, and artillery.
Russia's war has already killed 1,964 and injured 2,613 civilians in Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The true numbers, however, are expected to be much higher, as data about casualties from the occupied territories and the front-line cities is hardly accessible. In Mariupol, a besieged seaport in southeastern Ukraine alone, "tens of thousands" of people have been killed, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine still doesn't publish its military personnel losses.
Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, Donbas Oblast, on April 7, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. Six weeks after invading its neighbor, Russia's troops have withdrawn from Kyiv and Ukraine's north and are focusing on the country's southeast, where desperate attempts are under way to evacuate civilians. (AFP/Getty Images)Cemetery workers unload bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before they are transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 7, in Bucha. The Ukrainian government has accused Russian forces of committing a "deliberate massacre" as they occupied and eventually retreated from Bucha, 25 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies have been found in the days since Ukrainian forces regained control of the town. (Getty Images)Two men stand in front of a residential building destroyed by Russian bombing in early March, in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 9. (Getty Images)Mourners attend a memorial service for serviceman officer of Right Sector, Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, Taras Bobanych, call sign Hammer, at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 13, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A man embraces his wife as she is about to board a train at Slovyansk central station, in Donetsk Oblast on April 12, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbas have asked civilians to evacuate west in reaction to an anticipated Russian offensive to take the eastern region. (AFP/Getty Images)People walk down an avenue in Mariupol on April 12, 2022, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city, part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv on April 4. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Dmytro Sadofiev goes through his belongings in his kitchen in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. The town has suffered from a Russian bombing in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Emergency personnel walks among injured people lying on the sidewalk in the aftermath of a rocket attack on the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Oblast, on April 8. More than 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack. (AFP/Getty Images)A five-story residential building destroyed by Russian bombardment in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, as seen on April 10. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainian soldiers on the front line with Russian troops in Luhansk Oblast on April 11. (AFP/Getty Images)Olga Antonova cries next to the grave of civilian man who was killed by Russian soldiers on the street near her house few weeks ago in Bucha, near Kyiv, on April 4. Days later, Russian soldiers allowed her to bury the man in her yard. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Thousands of people carrying banners and Ukrainian flags lie down on the ground to represent war victims during a protest against ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine, in front of the German Federal Assembly in Berlin, Germany on April 6. (Getty Images)Residents run near a burning house following a shelling of Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, on April 6, as Ukraine tells residents in the country's east to evacuate "now" or "risk death" ahead of a feared Russian onslaught on the Donbas region, which Moscow has declared its top prize. NATO believes Moscow aims to take control of the whole Donbas region in eastern Ukraine with the aim of creating a corridor from Russia to annexed Crimea. (AFP/Getty Images)Natalia Blyzniuk (L) and her sister Liudmila, local residents who spent last month in the city, take water from the river in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A resident searches for the graves of relatives in a cemetery in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on April 5. Chernihiv, just 50 kilometres from the border with Belarus, was swiftly encircled in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. City officials estimate around 350 civilians have been killed in Chernihiv since the start of the Russian invasion. (AFP/Getty Images)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced to Reuters on April 26 that it has had to scale back support for newly displaced Ukrainians due to significant funding losses.
Ukraine expects to receive over $39 billion in confirmed budget support from international partners in 2025, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 25.
"They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to 'finish it off.' Most of the major points are agreed to," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
"We are ready for dialogue in any... format, at any time, but only after a real signal that Russia is ready to end the war," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Security guarantees could include not "Article 5 itself, but specifically those forces and the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Ukraine, headed by (President) Volodymyr Zelensky, has not signed the final papers on the very important rare earths deal with the United States. It is at least three weeks late," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
The document, reprinted in full by the news outlet, contains numerous points that show the diverging viewpoints of the U.S. on one side, and Ukraine and its European allies on the other as they seek to end Russia's full-scale invasion.
The two leaders have not met in person since a tense February meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized Zelensky for what they called a lack of gratitude for American support in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
"The lack of sufficient pressure on Russia allows them to import such missiles and other weapons – and to use them here, in Europe. The lack of sufficient pressure on North Korea and its accomplices enables, in particular, the production of such ballistic missiles," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov described the conversation as "constructive and useful," saying it helped "further bring the positions of Russia and the United States closer not only on Ukraine, but also on several other international issues."
The publication also released a counterproposal delivered by Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week. The documents expose disagreements on critical issues, including territorial concessions, sanctions relief, security guarantees, and the size of Ukraine's armed forces.
Chornobyl disaster occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986, in Soviet Ukraine. Nearly 39 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Russia’s brazen attack on the $2 billion New Safe Confinement (the sarcophagus enclosing the destroyed reactor) in February 2025 poses a new potential radioactive danger as engineers race to repair the damage.
The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post dives into why the restoration is not as simple as it may seem.
Video compilations of Trump's multiple '24 hours' claims show him speaking authoritatively, forcefully, seriously, and with little to no sign of any "jest."
"Crimea will stay with Russia. And (President Volodymyr) Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
Michael Gloss studied Human Ecology at Middlebury College in Vermont and was described by friends as an eco-activist, women’s rights supporter, and anti-fascist.
“According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device,” the Investigative Committee of Russia said.
(Updated: )
