www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/world/europe/ukraine-macron-postwar.html
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DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — On the salty shore of Sloviansk, Sasha, a 22-year-old soldier from Kherson, sips a beer and drags on a cigarette.
— Read on www.themoscowtimes.com/Situated just 22 kilometers from the front line, the lake of Sloviansk is one of the last fragile pockets of peace left in the Donetsk region. Russian forces have been pressing all along the front since late spring, and today, they are trying to encircle the city of Kostiantynivka.
“Pokrovsk could fall by autumn,” one soldier tells me.
On the diplomatic front, Ukraine has had to reinvent its relationship with the U.S. under the Trump administration. Kyiv has chosen the strategy of conciliation, agreeing to conditions like an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a rare-earth minerals deal negotiated with Washington.
At first, this approach appeared to bear fruit. Amid a diplomatic push led by Ukraine’s European partners and nights of Russian bombardment on Ukrainian cities, Trump appeared to be hardening his tone and considering new sanctions against Moscow.
But at an Aug. 15 summit in Alaska, President Vladimir Putin dangled the prospect of peace in Ukraine before Trump and suggested he might scale back his ambitions. In exchange for halting hostilities on the southern front line, Moscow demanded Ukrainian forces’ full withdrawal from the Donetsk region, some 70% of which is under Russian occupation.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out the proposal, stressing that Ukraine’s constitution does not allow the ceding of territory.
More importantly, it would be nearly unimaginable for Ukraine to abandon its remaining territory in Donetsk, one of the country’s most fortified areas — and one that shields Russian advances toward Kharkiv and Dnipro, Kyiv-based foreign policy and security analyst Jimmy Rushton said.
“Ukraine has the Donbas line, a network of fortifications stretching across Donetsk,” Rushton said. “It is well constructed, with deep anti-tank ditches, trench lines and reinforced concrete positions. Some of them were built at great expense.”
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Shares of Russian energy giant Gazprom slumped on Tuesday after it announced that it had signed a “legally binding” memorandum with China to advance construction of the long-delayed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline.
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Ukrainian law enforcement authorities claimed on Monday that a man arrested over the killing of former parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy was connected to Russia.
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A plane carrying EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming as it readied to land in Bulgaria, with Russia suspected to be behind the incident, the European Commission said Monday.
— Read on www.themoscowtimes.com/ -
The High Council of Justice initiated disciplinary action against Judge Volodymyr Keleberda, who previously sided with Ihor Kolomoisky in a case challenging the nationalization of PrivatBank.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/ukraine-moves-to-dismiss-judge-who-ruled-in-favor-of-oligarch-kolomoisky -
Prosecutors identify three collaborators linked to the 2022 forced deportation of 15 children from a Mykolaiv orphanage to Russia.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/ukraine-prepares-war-crime-case-on-abducted-orphans-for-international-courtUkraine’s Children’s Ombudsman Mykola Kuleba says more than 19,000 Ukrainian children remain in Russian-controlled territory. He noted that occupation authorities have even created an online database with children’s photographs, allowing searches by eye and hair color.
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Law enforcement teams search homes and offices in multiple cities at Kyiv’s request, but no arrests have been made so far.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/bulgaria-raids-arms-dealers-in-ukraine-led-corruption-probe -
Kyiv hearing delayed in controversial case against senior anti-corruption officer linked to investigations of president’s ally.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/ukraine-court-postpones-appeal-in-case-of-detained-nabu-detectiveUKRAINE TRIES TO FIGHT CORRUPTION.
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Thousands of Iranians have staged protests across cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Kerman and Ahvaz, denouncing corruption, unpaid wages and collapsing public services. Demonstrators said their anger was directed not at individual officials but at the clerical system led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In Isfahan and Kerman, retired steel and mining workers pressed for equal pensions and healthcare, while in Shush and Ahvaz protesters accused authorities of looting pension funds. Oil workers in Gachsaran called for the removal of intermediary firms, farmers in Zanjan and Isfahan marched over years of failed water policies, and in Tehran students protested a 53 percent tuition hike. The unrest underscored Iran’s worsening economic crisis and growing rejection of the ruling regime.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/iranians-protest-corruption-unpaid-wages-and-failing-services -
Iranians Protest Corruption, Unpaid Wages and Failing Services | OCCRP
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/iranians-protest-corruption-unpaid-wages-and-failing-services -
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/politics/trump-deportations-judge-guatemala-children.html
With children already loaded onto planes, a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting dozens of Guatemalan minors and demanded assurances that they would remain in shelters until a more permanent ruling.
The order brought to a close, for now, another last-minute flurry of court action in the administration’s mass deportation drive. Lawyers for the children said that they would face peril if they were sent to Guatemala and that doing so would deny them due process. They also argued that the government had ignored special protections for minors who cross the border alone.
In the early morning hours on Sunday, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the administration from deporting the children after the National Immigration Law Center filed an emergency request.
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Be careful, we’re watching you!”
