Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,227
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Russia expanding Ukraine chemical weapons use, allege European spy agencies
Russia denies using the weapons, as does Ukraine; International body says previous accusations not “substantiated” Russia has intensified its use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers in a serious violation of international law, the Dutch and German intelligence agencies have said. They said there was extensive evidence that Moscow’s forces were using banned products, including the choking agent chloropicrin. “It is normalised and widespread. Chloropicrin is dropped by drones to drive soldiers out of trenches, and then kill them,” Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said in a post on X. There were “thousands of instances” of Russian chemical weapons use by Russia, he said. Both countries confirmed that they had carried out their latest prisoner exchange, with neither side giving details about the number of soldiers involved. The swap followed an agreement made in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, in June. On the diplomatic front, United States President Donald Trump said he had made no progress expressing his “appointment”, during his phone call on Thursday with his Russian counterpart.
Russia has intensified its use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers in a serious violation of international law, the Dutch and German intelligence agencies have said.
On Friday, they said there was extensive evidence that Moscow’s forces were using banned products, including the choking agent chloropicrin.
Russia denies using the prohibited weapons, as does Ukraine. On Wednesday, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, claimed that the Federal Security Service found a cache of Ukrainian weapons in the east of the country containing chloropicrin.
“It is normalised and widespread. Chloropicrin is dropped by drones to drive soldiers out of trenches, and then kill them,” Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said in a post on X, referring to Russia’s purported use.
Brekelmans, who is now calling for tougher sanctions against Russia, described the use of chemical weapons as “horrible and unacceptable”.
Peter Reesink, the head of the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), confirmed that the findings were based on its own investigations. There were “thousands of instances” of chemical weapons use by Russia, he said.
“This isn’t just some ad hoc tinkering at the front line; it is truly part of a large-scale programme. And that is, of course, also concerning because if we don’t clarify and publicise what Russia is doing, it’s highly likely these trends will continue,” Reesink added.
Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency also corroborated the MIVD’s conclusions.
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The Russian army was using tear gas as well as “the more dangerous chemical chloropicrin, which can be lethal in high concentrations in enclosed spaces” in Ukraine, the BND said in a statement.
“This represents a more serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of this lung warfare agent under all circumstances,” it noted.
Speaking to Reuters about the Dutch and German intelligence reports, Brekelmans, the Dutch defence minister, said that at least three Ukrainian deaths had been linked to Russian chemical weapons, with more than 2,500 people reporting symptoms related to the banned products.
More needed to be done to deter Russia from deploying such weapons, he suggested.
“We must further increase the pressure. This means looking at more sanctions and specifically not allowing them (Russia) to participate in international bodies like the Executive Council of the OPCW (the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons),” Brekelmans said.
The OPCW said last year that Russian and Ukrainian accusations that the other side was using banned weapons were “insufficiently substantiated”.
The disarmament agency, which is based in The Hague and has 193 member states, has not conducted a full investigation, something which can only happen at the request of member states.
Fighting grinds on
The allegations of increased Russian chemical weapons use came as Ukraine reported the largest ever Russian drone and missile attack on the country.
A Ukrainian air force official told local media it is the biggest of the war so far, with Moscow firing 539 drones and 11 missiles overnight.
The attacks on Kyiv injured at least 23 people, damaging railway infrastructure and setting buildings and cars on fire, authorities said.
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Rostov region killed at least one woman and forced the evacuation of dozens of people from their homes, the acting governor said.
In the meantime, on Friday, both countries confirmed that they had carried out their latest prisoner exchange, with neither side giving details about the number of soldiers involved.
The swap followed an agreement made in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, in June.
On the diplomatic front, United States President Donald Trump said he had made no progress, expressing his “disappointment”, during his phone call on Thursday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who reportedly reiterated he would stop his invasion only if the conflict’s “root causes” were tackled.
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Trump also said he was planning to discuss the conflict with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. Zelenskyy said he hoped to speak with Trump about the supply of US weapons to Ukraine.
The US said on Tuesday that it was halting some weapons deliveries to Kyiv that were promised under the Biden administration, as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine.
The Biden administration-era pledges, which included various munitions to bolster Ukraine’s defences, are now under review as the Pentagon reassesses current inventory levels. The move could signal a shift in priorities under Trump, who has pressed for a more restrained global military posture.
Missiles for Patriot air defence systems and Hellfire missiles are among weapons being held back, according to US media.
Putin and Trump did not discuss the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
As Israel-Iran war escalates, Ukraine fears ‘more losses’ to Russia
Shahed – also spelled as Shaheed or Shahid, originally a Quranic term for “martyr” or “witness” – is the name given to the triangular, explosives-laden, Iranian-designed drones that became a harrowing part of daily life and death in wartime Ukraine. Washington’s support for Kyiv, already in doubt under President Trump, is set to decline further, analysts say. The Kremlin has invested tens of billions of dollars into its military-industrial complex and shadow systems to supply chips, machine tools and dual-purpose goods for its weapons that bypass Western sanctions. Ukraine-bound military aid may now be diverted to Israel, and the Kremlin “counts on this scenario”, analyst Nikita Smagin said. The flow of military technologies usually went the other way as Moscow supplied advanced air defence systems, missiles and warplanes to Tehran. Moscow and Tehran hail their strategic partnership, it does not envisage a mutual defence clause, he said.
Kyiv, Ukraine – There is a Persian word millions of Ukrainians fear.
Shahed – also spelled as Shaheed or Shahid, originally a Quranic term for “martyr” or “witness” – is the name given to the triangular, explosives-laden, Iranian-designed drones that became a harrowing part of daily life and death in wartime Ukraine.
These days, they are assembled in the Volga-region Russian city of Yelabuga and undergo constant modifications to make them faster, smarter and deadlier during each air raid that involves hundreds of drones.
Their latest Russian versions shot down in Ukraine earlier this month have artificial intelligence modules to better recognise targets, video cameras and two-way radio communication with human operators.
“The word ‘Shahed’ will forever be cursed in Ukrainian next to ‘Moscow’ and ‘Putin’,” said Denys Kovalenko, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kovalenko’s face and arms were cut by glass shards after a Shahed exploded above his northern Kyiv neighbourhood in 2023.
Shaheds are the most visible and audible part of the military alliance between Moscow and Tehran that is being tested this month amid attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran.
Other aspects of the alliance that affect the Russia-Ukraine war include Iranian-made ammunition, helmets, and flak jackets, according to Nikita Smagin, an author and expert on Russia-Iran relations.
However, the year 2022, when Putin started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was the “peak of Iran’s significance for Russia as a military partner”, Smagin told Al Jazeera.
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The Kremlin has invested tens of billions of dollars into its military-industrial complex and shadow systems to supply chips, machine tools and dual-purpose goods for its weapons that bypass Western sanctions.
The flow of military technologies usually went the other way as Moscow supplied advanced air defence systems, missiles and warplanes to Tehran, keeping Israel worried.
In 2009, then-Israeli President Shimon Peres told this reporter in Moscow that his visit was aimed at convincing the Kremlin to “reconsider” the sale of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Tehran.
Russia’s advanced Su-35 jets were supposed to be delivered to Tehran earlier this year, but were not seen in the Iranian sky.
Washington’s arms supplies to Israel have already affected Kyiv’s ability to withstand Russia’s air raids and slow advance on the ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 9 that the White House decided to divert 20,000 anti-drone missiles earmarked for Kyiv.
“Without the help of the United States, we’ll have more losses,” Zelenskyy said in televised remarks.
More Ukraine-bound military aid may now be diverted to Israel, and the Kremlin “counts on this scenario”, analyst Smagin said.
This possible diversion already alarms Ukraine’s top brass.
Arms that were “made for Ukraine will go to the Middle East, so there are no illusions about it”, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera.
There should also be no illusions about Russia’s ability to protect Iran, he said.
Even though Moscow and Tehran hail their strategic partnership, it does not envisage a mutual defence clause.
Therefore, the Kremlin will hardly be able to commit to military action similar to the Russian air raids against Syria’s then-opposition to support then-President Bashar al-Assad’s faltering regime, he said.
“They won’t change anything significantly,” Romanenko said. “But they will have enough for arms supplies.”
Any arms supplies may, however, enrage US President Donald Trump, who has so far showed unusual leniency towards Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as his administration botched peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Moscow’s condemnation of Israeli and US strikes on Iran evoked a sense of hypocrisy, some observers said, as Russia’s description of the attacks sounded familiar.
“No matter what arguments are used to justify an irresponsible decision to subject a sovereign state’s territory to missile and bomb strikes, [the decision] rudely violates international law, the United Nations charter and the resolutions of the UN Security Council,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.
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‘Moscow and Iran compete for China’s market’
There is an area where Russia and Iran compete for multibillion-dollar oil trade profits that keep their sanctions-hobbled economies afloat.
“Moscow and Iran compete for China’s market, and China will respectively have to buy more Russian oil at a higher price,” Smagin said.
A fifth of global oil exports go through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel between Iran and Oman that is fully controlled by Tehran’s “mosquito fleet” of tiny warships.
Crude prices will skyrocket worldwide if Tehran opts to close the strait to tankers. It would also strike a financial bonanza for Russia that could further finance the war in Ukraine.
And as Moscow’s war in Ukraine consumes most of Russia’s resources, its reputation in the Middle East will suffer.
“Reputation-wise, Russia suffers huge losses as it risks not to be seen as a great power in the Middle East,” Smagin said.
If Tehran rejects Trump’s “ultimate ultimatum” to work out a peace deal, Washington’s attention to Iran and Israel may spell disaster for Kyiv.
“Undoubtedly, the US’s refocusing on the Middle East and Iran is a geopolitical catastrophe for us; there’s nothing to argue about,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kuschch told Al Jazeera.
In its war on Ukraine, is Russia’s vast size becoming a liability?
There are about 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) from east to west in Russia, which is 17 million square kilometres. Russia’s landmass is a bit more than the areas of China, India, and Saudi Arabia. There are about 2,000 miles (1,230 miles) between Russia and the United States. There is about 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometres) between the U.S. and Russia. This is the first of a two-part series of articles. The second part of the series will be published on June 14. The third part will be released on June 15. The fourth part of this series will appear on June 16. The fifth and final part is scheduled to appear on July 8. The sixth and final installment is scheduled on July 9. The final installment will be revealed on July 10, and will be posted on July 13, and July 14, at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m., respectively.
Kyiv, Ukraine – A flight from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok takes almost nine hours – a domestic flight that covers two-thirds of Russia’s span between the Baltic and the Pacific.
There are about 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) from east to west in Russia, which is 17 million square kilometres (6.6 million square miles), comprising 11 percent of the Earth’s landmass – a bit more than the areas of China, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia put together.
Even though two-thirds of it is permafrost, the sheer vastness used to save Russia from invasions, be it Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812 or the 3.8 million soldiers of Nazi Germany and its allies in 1941.
However, as the war with Ukraine, a former province whose Cossack armies once spearheaded czarist conquests, grinds into its fourth year, Russia’s size has become a liability.
“Russia’s territory offers maximal capabilities for strikes,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera sarcastically.
Ukrainians – from top brass to civilian volunteers assembling drones in their garages – rewrite the rules of warfare and write off Russia’s obsolete stratagems.
These days, Kyiv proves daily that the border between Russia and Ukraine that stretches almost 2,000 kilometres (1,230 miles) is penetrable in both directions.
It carved out toeholds in two western Russian regions – Kursk and Bryansk – that distract tens of thousands of servicemen.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s Soviet-era air defence systems, designed to intercept NATO missiles, are spread too thin across western Russia and often prove helpless against increasingly sophisticated Ukrainian drone attacks.
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“If a group of people is professional and motivated enough, it’ll always find a way to achieve a goal, and that’s something the SBU proved,” Romanenko said, referring to the Ukrainian Security Service, the main intelligence agency that has conducted dozens of stings in Russia.
On June 1, the SBU executed Operation Spiderweb, a massive drone attack that reached Siberia for the first time since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Ukrainian drones – possibly smuggled from Kazakhstan – flew out of a truck near the Belaya airbase in the Irkutsk region, almost 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, to destroy or damage several strategic bombers.
The same sting targeted bombers in the Amur region, 7,500 kilometres (4,660 miles) east of Ukraine, and only a technical glitch saved the bombers on the Ukrainka (“Ukrainian woman”) airstrip.
The sting “is a lesson that military bases, in warzones and at home, are now more vulnerable than ever to cheap, easily hidden and quickly deployed weapons that can appear with little notice,” Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and fellow at the Lowy Institute, a military think tank in Sydney, wrote.
The scale and boldness of Kyiv’s campaigns on Russian soil follow humiliating defeats.
Moscow was emboldened by the 2014 annexation of Crimea, when Ukrainian troops and police were ordered to surrender government buildings and military bases without firing a single shot – and many joined the occupants.
Weeks later, Moscow-backed separatists seized a third of the southeastern Donbas region and pushed out Ukrainian forces.
So, in 2022, Moscow expected a blitzkrieg, and the thought of defending its own territories may not have occurred to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top brass.
“They didn’t think about it at all, they didn’t plan a long operation,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera. “Moscow didn’t expect Ukraine to resist for so long and to strike back on Russian territories so effectively.”
Moreover, Ukrainian drones target sites in Moscow and the surrounding region, where many military plants and bases are concentrated.
In May 2023, two Ukrainian drones exploded over the Kremlin slightly damaging one of the palaces.
Two years later, swarms of Ukrainian drones buzz over Moscow suburbs regularly.
“I cherish nights without air raid sirens,” a woman who requested anonymity and lives southwest of Moscow told Al Jazeera.
Civilian flights are delayed or cancelled in western Russia so often that some travellers take a train to airports in northern Kazakhstan.
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Apart from hitting military sites, Ukraine began targeting the backbone of Russia’s economy.
Dozens of strikes on oil refineries and pipelines disrupted almost a sixth – 14 percent – of Russia’s oil refining capacity, the Pentagon’s defence intelligence agency said in mid-May.
A response to Russia’s campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the strikes prompted a six-month ban on petrol exports, drove up domestic fuel prices by 30 percent and triggered the import of petrol from neighbouring Belarus.
The attacks were so devastating that Washington bristled at Kyiv for driving up global oil prices.
Kyiv also exploits Russia’s over-reliance on railroad supply lines in a country of notoriously potholed roads.
On May 30, two bridges collapsed in the Kursk and Bryansk regions in western Russia, causing two trains to derail, killing seven and wounding 69 people.
Moscow blamed Ukraine and called the explosions “terrorist attacks.”
Some analysts, however, say that Kyiv’s strikes on Russia are too belated, insufficient and unfocused to cause serious damage.
Ukraine “has long ignored outdoor ammunition depots but symbolically and senselessly struck Moscow,” Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University, told Al Jazeera.
When it did start hitting the depots and airbases, Russia responded by building hangars and relocating planes to even more remote airfields, he said.
“The main question is what Ukraine can destroy without the possibility of restoring, or will lead to huge one-time losses for Russia,” he said. “And that’s where I don’t see real successes.”
But retired general Romanenko thinks that the real successes lie ahead.
“We lack tools,” he said, referring to Ukrainian-made missiles and more sophisticated drones that are yet to be mass-manufactured. “Once we have the tools – Putin will be more realistic, for he only understands force.”
Russian drone attacks kill three, wound 60 in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
Russian drone strikes have killed three people and wounded 60, including children. Among the wounded were nine children aged between 2 and 15, officials say. The city, just 18 miles from the Russian border, bore the brunt of Russia’s latest aerial assault early on Wednesday. The assault left emergency crews, city workers and volunteers scrambling through the night to restore essential services in the city. The latest assault followed much larger Russian drone and missile attacks in the previous days, in retaliation from Moscow for an audacious Ukrainian drone operation. Both sides have participated in recent days in prisoner exchanges agreed to in talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in agreeing to a ceasefire and ending the war. The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defence systems had intercepted 40.
Russian drone strikes have killed three people and wounded 60, including children, in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials say.
The city, just 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border, bore the brunt of Russia’s latest aerial assault early on Wednesday, with 17 drones striking two residential areas, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
“Those are ordinary sites of peaceful life … that should never be targeted,” he wrote on Telegram.
Among the 60 wounded in the attacks were nine children aged between 2 and 15, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov.
One Kharkiv resident, Olena Khoruzheva, told the AFP news agency how she had run with her two children away from the windows of her building when she heard the drones approach.
“The younger one lay on the floor, hands on his head. I was on top of him,” the 41-year-old pharmacist said.
“We heard it approaching. Silence, and then we were thrown against the wall … there were more explosions, then we heard people shouting ‘Help! Help!’”
Her 65-year-old neighbour was killed in the attack, she said.
The assault left emergency crews, city workers and volunteers scrambling through the night to rescue people from burning buildings and restore essential services in the city, which has been frequently targeted in recent months, The Associated Press news agency reported.
“We stand strong. We help one another. And we will endure,” the city’s mayor wrote on Telegram.
Nightly assaults
The strikes on Kharkiv were part of a wave of 85 drones deployed by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that its air defence systems had intercepted 40.
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The latest assault followed much larger Russian drone and missile attacks in the previous days, in retaliation from Moscow for an audacious Ukrainian drone operation, codenamed “Spiderweb”, that knocked out aircraft stationed at military bases on Russian soil.
Moscow sent a record bombardment of almost 500 drones overnight on Monday, followed by a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles the following night.
Kyiv has sent its own drones in response, with Moscow’s Ministry of Defence saying 32 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight, the AFP news agency reported.
The exchange of aerial attacks has continued even as both sides have participated in recent days in prisoner exchanges agreed to in talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
The exchanges began on Monday and continued on Tuesday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posting footage of emotional reunions as shaven-headed prisoners stepped off a bus and draped themselves in Ukrainian flags.
Вдома 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Home 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/0E5xZxtlCv — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 10, 2025
Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in agreeing to a ceasefire and ending the war.
In recent days, Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s Western allies to ramp up pressure and take action against Russia, arguing that the Kremlin’s aggression shows it has no interest in a ceasefire.