From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
The Ukrainian military says it has begun pushing back Russian troops in the northeastern Sumy region, where it is preparing a counteroffensive following advances by Moscow.
Fighting has intensified despite a return to direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in recent months. Russian forces have carved out a 200 square kilometre (77.22 square miles) chunk of Ukraine’s Sumy region and first entered the Dnipropetrovsk region last month.
“Our troops maintain defenses along the designated border, conduct preparation and counter-offensive measures to repel the enemy,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said on Facebook.
“Yes, as a result of the successful actions of Ukrainian soldiers, the settlement of Andriyivka was liberated. In addition, our units advanced in the area of Oleksíivka, pushing the opponent away from Sumy.”
The General Staff also claimed on Monday that Russia has lost more than one million troops during its invasion of Ukraine after losing more than 1,000 in the past day alone.
The figures from Kyiv have not been verified by independent sources – but the Center for Strategic & International Studies reported earlier this month that up to 250,000 soldiers have been killed with up to 950,000 casualties.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s talk of wanting peace in the Ukraine war is “pure mockery”, a top German diplomat visiting Kyiv has said.
“When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery,” said Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul, speaking at a news conference with Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.
“His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far,” Mr Wadephul said.
He also announced that Berlin aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly at a time Kyiv is looking to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia.
“We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly,” he said.
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul speaks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in Kyiv (EPA)
Arpan Rai1 July 2025 04:16
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that a decision by Nato members to increase defence spending was catastrophic for the alliance and could ultimately lead to its collapse, state news agency Tass reported yesterday.
Nato “needs to be guided by common sense”, Mr Lavrov said.
Allies within the alliance last week agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5 per cent of gross domestic product over the next decade.
Asked about remarks by Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who was reported to have said that an arms race between Russia and the West could trigger the fall of president Vladimir Putin, Mr Lavrov instead deflected and said he thought Nato could collapse.
“Since he is such a predictor, he probably foresees that a catastrophic increase in the budget of Nato countries, according to my estimates, will also lead to the collapse of this organisation,” the Russian official said, referring to Nato.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov attends a ceremony to present highest state awards in Moscow (Sputnik)
Arpan Rai1 July 2025 04:08
A Russia-appointed official in occupied Luhansk claims Moscow’s forces have now taken the whole of the region that it illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, said he received a report “literally two days ago” saying that “100 per cent of the region was now under the control of Russian forces”.
The remarks by the Kremlin-backed official to Russia’s state TV Channel One were aired yesterday evening. Kyiv has not commented on the claim made by Mr Pasechnik.
If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn’t budged from his demands, which include Moscow being given full control over the four illegally annexed regions.
.png)
Map showing major cities in Ukraine as well as Moscow-backed separatist regions which were illegally annexed in September 2022 (The Independent)
Arpan Rai1 July 2025 04:06