Mazzaltov World News provides you with the latest live coverage of Current Affairs, Sports, Health, Weather, Entertainment, Business and Travel News from around the world.
Here’s where things stand on Tuesday 17 June 2025:
Battlefield
- A massive attack overnight on Kyiv killed at least 14 people and wounded 44, officials in the Ukrainian capital said on Tuesday. Russia struck 27 locations around the city with missiles and drones, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions and critical infrastructure facilities. Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said a further six people were injured in strikes in Odesa on the Black Sea, and another in Chernihiv, in the north.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at his country. Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said that a citizen of the United States was killed in the city’s Solomianskyi district.
- Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskyy, slammed the Russian strikes on residential buildings in Kyiv, accusing Moscow of “continuing its war against civilians”.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that air defence units intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region, overnight.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that two Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow had been repelled.
Diplomacy
-
- In a clear continuation of Kyiv’s bid to persuade United States President Donald Trump to drop his support for Moscow, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha declared that the attack on Kyiv as the G7 summit was being held in Canada sent a signal of disrespect to the US and other partners who have called for an end to the war.
- Zelenskyy met with Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Christian Stocker, and secured pledges of non-military aid. The two countries signed agreements on issues like de-mining, energy and cybersecurity. Austria has had a policy of neutrality in place since 1955.
- From Austria, Zelenskyy travelled to the G7 summit, where he pushed for sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine. Zelenskyy also discussed buying US weapons with Trump, but added that US military aid was not on the agenda.
- Ukraine said Russia has returned the bodies of 1,245 Ukrainians killed in the war, concluding the final stage of a deal to repatriate more than 6,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, reached during two rounds of peace talks in Turkiye earlier this month. Russia’s Ministry of Defence disputed the figure, saying that the bodies of 1,248 Ukrainians had been returned.
- Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu arrived in North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, according to Russian state media. Shoigu’s second visit to Pyongyang in three months regards an unspecified “special” mission from President Putin. Kim has supplied Russia with thousands of troops and large shipments of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to support its war in Ukraine.
Russia launches ‘horrific’ attack on Kyiv
Russia launches ‘horrific’ attack on Kyiv
Waves of Russian missile and drone strikes have killed at least 15 people and injured 116 others in Ukraine.
Most of the casualties from the overnight attack on Tuesday were reported in Kyiv, with the capital suffering “one of the most horrific attacks,” it has seen since the start of the war, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put it.
“An entire section of a block of flats” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors, the president said.
Approximately 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Elsewhere, one person was killed and 10 wounded in a strike on Odesa.
Zelenskyy said that a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the attacks nationwide.
“Right now in Kyiv, efforts are under way to rescue people from beneath the rubble of an ordinary residential building – it’s still unclear how many remain trapped,” he said.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported the death of a United States citizen in the capital.
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has continued its attacks despite efforts by the US to broker a ceasefire.
Talks have stalled, with Moscow rejecting the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies. Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.
Photos: Destruction of Ukraine by Russia strikes
‘Disrespect to US’: Ukraine slams Russia’s ‘horrific’ bombardment of Kyiv
‘Disrespect to US’: Ukraine slams Russia’s ‘horrific’ bombardment of Kyiv
Ukraine calls for international focus on attacks amid diplomatic effort to raise pressure on Moscow to agree a ceasefire.
Waves of Russian missile and drone strikes have killed at least 15 people and injured 116 others, with most of the casualties in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have reported.
The massive aerial assault overnight into Tuesday struck 27 locations in the Ukrainian capital, damaging residential buildings and critical infrastructure, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Ukrainian officials were quick to call for international attention on the attacks as Kyiv pushes diplomatic efforts to raise pressure on Moscow to agree a ceasefire.
“Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,” Klymenko said, describing the attack as one of the largest against Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, and emergency services were searching through the rubble for possible survivors, Klymenko added.
People were injured in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, and fires broke out in two other parts of the city, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
‘Total disrespect’
Klitschko also noted that a United States citizen died from shrapnel wounds.
The Russian strikes, which lasted throughout the night, came as world leaders met in Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to attend the talks on Tuesday.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha suggested the “massive and brutal strike” against Kyiv was deliberately timed, in particular painting it as an insult to US President Donald Trump.
“Putin does this on purpose, just during the G7 summit. He sends a signal of total disrespect to the United States and other partners who have called for an end to the killing,” he wrote on social media.
Zelenskyy is seeking to persuade Trump to extend support to Ukraine and put additional pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a ceasefire.
Sybiha suggested the Russian president wanted to make G7 leaders “appear weak”.
“Only strong steps and real pressure on Moscow can prove him wrong,” the diplomat added.
Zelenskyy called the overnight strikes “one of the most horrific attacks” carried out by Moscow and declared that Putin “does this solely because he can afford to continue the war”.
Little progress
Pressed by Trump, Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of direct talks over a truce but have made little progress with the exception of agreeing prisoner exchanges and the return of bodies.
In the meantime, Russia has increased its bombardments since a daring operation by Ukraine deep inside Russia on June 1 destroyed much of Moscow’s heavy bomber fleet.
In its latest attacks, Russia used 175 drones and more than 14 cruise missiles, Kyiv’s authorities said on Telegram.
Officials in Odesa said 13 people had been injured in further attacks on the Black Sea port city.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
While Ukraine is pressing for support from the West to help it maintain its air defences, Russia is suspected of sourcing arms from China, Iran and North Korea.
Reflecting Moscow’s growing ties with Pyongyang, Putin’s top security adviser, Sergei Shoigu, was reported by Russian state media to have arrived in the North Korean capital on Tuesday for talks with leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea is suspected of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles, antitank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition while thousands of its soldiers are reported to have died during operations to oust occupying Ukrainian troops from Russia’s border region of Kursk.
It is the second time that Shoigu has visited North Korea in less than two weeks, and it is seen as a sign that Moscow and Pyongyang are continuing to deepen their alliance. Kim and Putin signed a strategic partnership treaty last year, including a mutual defence pact.
North Korea sending teams to Russia’s Kursk to aid war-hit area’s recovery
North Korea will send thousands of military builders and deminers to help reconstruction efforts in Russia’s Kursk region, an area Ukraine successfully invaded and remained entrenched in for months, Russian media has reported, a further sign of the deepening military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu as saying on Tuesday that North Korea will dispatch 1,000 deminers and 5,000 military builders to the western region. Shoigu made the comments during his visit to Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea will be sending “a division of builders, two military brigades – 5,000 people” and 1,000 deminers to the Kursk region, Shoigu said on Tuesday. “This is a kind of fraternal assistance from the Korean people and leader Kim Jong Un to our country.”
North Korean state media did not immediately confirm Shoigu’s visit, the second in less than two weeks.
North Korea has become one of Russia’s main allies during its more than three-year-long Ukraine war, sending thousands of troops and conventional weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Kursk.
The United States and South Korea have expressed concern that, in return, Kim may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his own nuclear-armed military.
“An agreement was also reached on continuing constructive cooperation,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying.
Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last November, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea. Pyongyang has reportedly been directly arming Moscow to support its war in Ukraine.
When Shoigu met with Kim and senior military officials on June 4, the two sides said they wanted to expand and develop Russia-North Korea ties into “the powerful and comprehensive relations of strategic partnership”, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA.
In April, the two countries officially confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia for the first time, saying that these troops had helped Russia to recapture the Kursk region – a claim contested by Ukraine.
North Korea sending teams to Russia’s Kursk to aid war-hit area’s recovery
Putin thanked North Korea at that time for its participation in the war and promised not to forget their sacrifices. More than 6,000 North Korean soldiers have died in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to British Defence Intelligence.
Welcome to our live coverage
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Stay with us for up-to-the-minute coverage of Israel’s attacks on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory barrages of missiles.
You can find all our updates from Monday, June 16, here.