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Russia has lost 953,190 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 1.
The number includes 1,230 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,732 tanks, 22,364 armored fighting vehicles, 46,750 vehicles and fuel tanks, 27,136 artillery systems, 1,375 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,148 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 335 helicopters, 34,401 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated
A Russian drone attack on Odesa overnight on May 1 killed two and injured five, with fires reported across the city.
Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian cities with missile and drone attacks as it wages its war against Ukraine. At least three were killed and 70 injured in Russian attacks on April 30.
"Two people died and five others were injured as a result of the strike. Medics are providing all necessary assistance to the victims," regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.
Multi-story buildings, houses, and a school were among the sites damaged in the Russian attack on Odesa.
"The enemy attack damaged residential high-rise buildings, private houses, a supermarket, a school, and cars," Kiper reported.
Fires were reported throughout the city, Kiper said, adding that tents have been deployed on the ground to assist in recovery efforts.
"Fires broke out in some places, which our rescuers are extinguishing," Kiper added.
On April 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a so-called "humanitarian" truce to take place beginning on May 8 in Russia's war against Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Putin's proposal for a short-lived truce and pointed to Russia's strikes on civilian targets as proof that Russia does not want to end its war against Ukraine.
"We value human lives, not parades. That’s why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8," Zelensky said.
The Kremlin has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations brokered by the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
Zelensky has repeatedly called for a 30-day ceasefire, saying on April 23, Ukraine insists on an "immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire."
Russian independent media outlet, Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 104,763 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
Mediazona's latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to April 24, 2025. Since it was last updated in the middle of April, 2,880 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
The list of deceased Russian military personnel is compiled from verified, publicly available sources, including social media posts, local news reports, and official announcements from regional authorities.
However, as the Russian government does not publicly disclose casualty information, journalists note that the total number of casualties is likely higher than reported.
The confirmed death toll now includes 25,900 volunteers, 16,500 recruited prisoners, and 11,900 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. Over 4,900 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.
The media outlet publicly released the full list of named casualties for the first time in February, commemorating the third-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, independent Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona estimated in a report that around 165,000 Russian troops have been killed since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including nearly 100,000 in 2024.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Feb. 15 that Moscow had lost around 250,000 soldiers, with 20,000 killed in battles for Russia's Kursk Oblast alone.
Russia has gained ground in eastern Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in recent months but at the cost of heavy casualties as well as equipment losses. On April 29, Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces spokesperson, Vladyslav Voloshyn, said that Russian forces have recently intensified offensive operations in three Ukrainian oblasts – Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official let slip in December that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.
In an interview with NBC published on Feb. 16, Zelensky said over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 380,000 injured on the battlefield.
As of March 28, Russia has lost a total of 950,860 troops since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine's General Staff reported. The estimate, which is broadly in-line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies, likely includes those killed, captured, wounded, and missing.
U.S. President Donald Trump offered varying contradictory assessments of Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions to put an end to the war in Ukraine during an interview with ABC News on April 29.
The interview, focused on Trump's first 100 days in office, posed Trump's strikingly different opinion on Putin's intention just days after Trump posted on Truth Social that the Russian leader may be "tapping me along" on peace negotiations.
In a Truth Social post published shortly after he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Vatican on April 26, Trump said that "there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days."
"It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions?" Trump posted.
When prompted by the suggestion that Putin may be stalling negotiations, Trump replied that it was "possible."
"He could be tapping me along a little bit, I would say that he would like to stop the war," Trump said during the ABC News interview.
Despite the suggestion that Putin may be attempting to stall negotiations, Trump added later during the ABC interview that "he's willing to stop the fighting."
"I think he (wants peace), yes. I think he does," Trump said.
Trump, who has promised to negotiate a peace in Ukraine within his first 100 days in office, has recently grown frustration over what he views as Moscow’s unwillingness to bring an end to the three-year war.
U.S. officials have emphasized that this week will be crucial for determining whether the U.S. will continue its involvement in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, amid Trump's growing frustration.
On April 28, Putin announced a three-day ceasefire from May 8 to 11 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, a move that Trump's Special Envoy Keith Kellogg dismissed as "absurd."
When asked if Trump trusted Putin, the U.S. president side-stepped the question during a testy exchange with the interviewer: "I don't trust a lot of people. I don't trust you."
"Putin's dream was to take over the whole country. I think because of me, he's not gonna do that," Trump concluded.
Despite ongoing peace negotiations, Russia has reportedly intensified its attacks in recent weeks, including in the Sumy region. During a temporary three-day ceasefire declared by Russia over Easter earlier this month, Zelensky accused Moscow of nearly 3,000 violations between April 19 and April 21.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on April 27 and emphasized "the need to end the war now," U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on April 28.
The U.S. has intensified efforts to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Rubio on April 27 said the upcoming week will be crucial for determining whether the U.S. will continue its involvement in efforts to end Russia’s war amid threats it may abandon peace talks.
"After Special Envoy Witkoff’s April 25 visit to Moscow, the Secretary underscored to his Russian counterpart the next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the need to end the war now," Bruce said.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 25.
Rubio spoke to Lavrov on April 27 at the Russian official's request, the spokesperson said, adding that the "United States is serious about facilitating an end to this senseless war."
U.S. President Donald Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral on April 26 as efforts continue to reach a ceasefire.
On April 27, Trump said, "I want (Putin) to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal... We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it."
Putin, on April 28, announced a so-called "humanitarian" truce in Russia's war against Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Russia holds grandiose military parades on May 9 in celebration of the end of World War II in Europe. Ukraine and most European nations mark May 8 as Victory in Europe Day.
Zelensky slammed Putin's proposal for a short-lived truce and pointed to Russia's strikes on civilian targets on April 28 as proof that Russia does not want to end its war against Ukraine.
"We value human lives, not parades. That’s why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8," Zelensky said.
The Kremlin has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
Zelensky has repeatedly called for a full 30-day ceasefire, saying on April 23, Ukraine insists on an "immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire."
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated
Fires have been reported in Kyiv amid a Russian drone attack overnight on April 29.
A house and several cars are on fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post to Telegram at 1:51 a.m., adding that emergency services are responding.
Medics have been called to the Desnyanskyi district of Kyiv, where debris has fallen, local officials reported.
Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko first reported an air raid at 12:56 a.m. on April 29.
Russia regularly targets civilian infrastructure with drone and missile attacks as it wages its war against Ukraine.
On April 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a so-called "humanitarian" truce in Russia's war against Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Putin's proposal for a short-lived truce and pointed to Russia's strikes on civilian targets as proof that Russia does not want to end its war against Ukraine.
North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it sent troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast under the orders of leader Kim Jong-un.
In a statement reported by the state-run KCNA news agency, the ruling Workers’ Party described the deployment as demonstrating the "highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship" between North Korea and Russia.
The announcement came as the acting commander of Russia’s 810th Brigade told President Vladimir Putin that the remaining Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region would "soon be destroyed," RIA Novosti reported on April 27, contradicting earlier claims by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov that Russian forces had fully recaptured the area.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said fighting in Kursk Oblast is ongoing.
Ukraine launched its surprise cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024, marking the first large-scale invasion of Russian territory by foreign forces since World War II. The operation aimed to disrupt a planned Russian offensive on the neighboring Sumy Oblast and draw Russian forces away from the embattled Donetsk region.
Russia launched a push to recapture the region in early March, with Ukraine being forced to pull back from much of the initially taken territory, including the town of Sudzha. As of April 25, Ukrainian battlefield monitoring service DeepState showed Ukrainian forces holding onto limited positions in Kursk Oblast near the border, namely the villages of Oleshnya and Gornal.
The Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party said Kim authorized the deployment based on the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty he signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2024. "Under the order of the head of state, the sub-units of the armed forces of the Republic regarded the territory of Russia as the one of their country and proved the firm alliance between the two countries," the statement read.
Kim praised the North Korean soldiers who participated, calling them "heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland." KCNA also reported that North Korea "regards it as an honor to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation."
Ukrainian officials estimate that North Korea sent around 11,000 troops to Russia, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace battlefield losses. Although initially suffering heavy casualties due to their lack of armored vehicles and experience in drone warfare, North Korean troops reportedly adapted to the conditions on the ground.
Russia also confirmed on April 26 for the first time that North Korean forces fought alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region. Until now, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang had publicly acknowledged the deployment.
Russian attacks against Ukraine killed six people and injured at least 28 others over the past day, regional authorities said on April 27.
Ukrainian forces downed 57 out of 149 Shahed-type drones and other drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. At the same time, 67 decoys disappeared from radars without causing any damage, Air Force said.
According to the report, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Donetsk, Sumy, and Cherkasy oblasts were hit in the attack.
A Russian drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed one person and injured a 14-year-old girl, according to Governor Serhii Lysak.
“Two apartment buildings were damaged in the city. A fire broke out in one of them,” Lysak reported.
The aftermath of the Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on April 27. (Serhii Lysak/Telegram)
The attack also hit civilian infrastructure in Zhytomyr Oblast, damaging at least 15 private houses, Governor Vitalii Bunechko reported. One civilian was hospitalized following the attack, he said.
Two civilians were also injured in Sumy Oblast — in the Shostka and Krasnopillia communities — local authorities said.
Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast killed four people over the past day and injured 17, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Two people were killed in Kostiantynivka and two more in Novoekonomichne and Zoria.
In Odesa Oblast, a Russian drone strike damaged a three-story residential building, injuring a 35-year-old woman, Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported. A woman has been hospitalized, according to the report.
No casualties have been reported in Cherkasy Oblast.
In Kherson Oblast, Russian forces targeted 25 settlements, including the regional center of Kherson. One person was killed, and five other people were injured, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.
A 61-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were injured in a Russian attack near Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russia has lost 948,640 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on April 27.
The number includes 1,030 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,719 tanks, 22,325 armored fighting vehicles, 46,187 vehicles and fuel tanks, 27,007 artillery systems, 1,373 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,145 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 335 helicopters, 34,011 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
The Russian military is likely preparing to systemically integrate motorcycles into offensive operations in Ukraine during summer and fall 2025, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its April 26 report, citing footage from the Russian Defense Ministry.
While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms and has reportedly intensified its offensive operations across the front line.
The Russian Defense Ministry on April 26 published footage showing troops at a training ground practicing offensive and defensive tactics on motorcycles, indicating plans to develop "a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage," ISW analysts said.
The footage showed groups of two to three people practicing tactics on motorcycles. According to the ISW, Russia may be planning to issue an increased number of motorcycles to front-line units fighting in Ukraine.
Pavlo Shamshyn, a spokesperson for Ukraine's operational-tactical group "Kharkiv," also said on April 26 that Russia is planning to carry out assaults on motorcycles in the coming months.
"Our intelligence records the fact that in training centers on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the units themselves, active training of motorcycle drivers is taking place, and all this indicates that the assault operations of spring-summer 2025 will be carried out on motorcycles," Shamshyn told the news outlet Suspilne.
Motorcycles lend speed and maneuverability to Russian forces, allowing them to more effectively evade Ukrainian drone attacks, Shamshyn said, but their loud noise can also prevent motorcycle drivers from hearing approaching drones.
Russia is increasingly conducting assaults involving motorcycles and using motorcycles to transport personnel, the ISW said. The trend is likely an adaptation to Ukrainian drone tactics and a result of Russia's high armored vehicle losses in 2024.
Russian forces have made incremental gains on multiple sectors of the front since the launch of its spring offensive, but military experts say the battlefield situation is not desperate enough to force Kyiv into an unfavorable peace deal with Moscow.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26 reiterated his hope for a "full and unconditional ceasefire" after meeting with U.S. President Trump at the Vatican.
Ukrainian forces continue to operate in Russia's Kursk Oblast, despite Moscow's claims to the contrary, the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring service DeepState reported on April 26.
Russia announced on April 26 that it had fully recaptured Kursk Oblast from Ukrainian troops, who launched a surprise incursion into the border region in August 2024. Ukraine's General Staff denied the claim. A military source also told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv continues to hold territories in Kursk.
Ukraine faces a difficult situation in Kursk, but the Kremlin's announcement was "a fake," according to DeepState.
Russia has advanced in Kursk, the group reported. Russian forces have "almost completely occupied" the village of Gornal and gained ground near Oleshnya, where Ukrainian forces had been holding onto limited positions.
"These are the last villages around which the Defense Forces fighters retain control," DeepState said.
"Therefore, the Kursk Operation is still ongoing ... In particular, (Ukrainian troops) are searching for and destroying enemy logistics, their concentration points, etc."
The group reported that Ukrainian troops are still engaging in combat with Russian and North Korean personnel in Kursk Oblast.
Russia's announcement on April 26 marked the first time Moscow has acknowledged the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine. Kyiv and Seoul have previously said that North Korea has dispatched around 11,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast, warning that it represents a dramatic escalation in Russia's war.
Crimea must be returned diplomatically, and Ukraine is open to discussing its territories only after a full, unconditional ceasefire has been reached, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 25.
"A full unconditional ceasefire opens the possibility to discuss everything," Zelensky told journalists.
Washington's latest proposal for ending Russia's war against Ukraine reportedly includes U.S. de jure recognition of Moscow's control over Crimea. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said earlier on April 25 that Ukraine may be forced to temporarily give up some territories to Russia.
"I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean peninsula by force of arms," Zelensky said.
Earlier on April 25, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Crimea "will stay with Russia," reiterating recent remarks made by the U.S. president.
Zelensky called for Ukraine's allies to continue to pressure Russia using diplomatic means to bring an end to its illegal occupation of Ukraine's territories.
"But the world has sanctions, opportunities, other economic pressure, diplomatic pressure to talk about this, to discuss territorial issues," he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine is open to discussing occupied territories "only after a complete, unconditional ceasefire.”
"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," Zelensky said.
Moscow has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
On April 23, Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine insists on an "immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire."
"That was the proposal put forward by the United States on March 11 of this year — and it was absolutely reasonable," Zelensky said.
Polish security agency to investigate disappearance of Belarus’s opposition activist amid fears of foreign involvement.
Russian, Belarusian security services plan violent attacks on Belarusian diaspora, Lithuanian Security Department says.
Russian FSB detains Belarus citizen allegedly preparing to carry out "terrorist act" on behalf of Ukraine's SBU.
Lithuania to fortify second Suwalki Gap route, viewed as one of the most likely targets for a future Russian attack on NATO, Politico reports.
Viasna Human Rights Center volunteer released after serving full term.
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Poland’s Internal Security Agency to investigate disappearance of Belarus opposition activist
The case of missing Belarusian opposition activist Anzhalika Melnikava has been handed over to Poland’s Internal Security Agency, the ABW, to check for the potential involvement of foreign intelligence services, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on April 16.
Exiled Belarusian political activist and speaker of the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council Melnikava went missing on March 25. Four weeks later, her whereabouts remain unknown, although signals from her phone were reportedly traced to Belarus, raising alarm among members of the exiled Belarusian opposition, who fear being targeted by the Belarusian regime’s agents.
According to Rzeczpospolita, the disappearance case, initially opened by police in the Polish capital Warsaw, has been transferred to the National Prosecutor’s Office’s Lublin Department of Organized Crime and Corruption, which specializes in investigating the most serious crimes — including espionage. The move suggests that there might be evidence of extraordinary circumstances, like kidnapping or murder, that needs to be investigated by a higher authority, Michal Potocki, the editor of Poland’s largest legal journal, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, told U.S. broadcaster RFE/RL.
Previous police enquiries failed to clarify the circumstances of Melnikava’s disappearance, with several versions of events being discussed, ranging from kidnapping by a foreign intelligence agency, or that Melnikava was acting on behalf of such services, or the misappropriation of the opposition’s funds.
The National Prosecutor’s Office representative, Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska, told the press that the ABW was investigating the case under charges of deprivation of liberty and other undisclosed articles of the Criminal Code.
A former Coca-Cola executive, Anzhalika Melnikava joined anti-Lukashenko protests in Belarus in 2020 and left the country fearing prosecution. In May 2024, she was elected speaker of the Coordination Council, heading the new incarnation of the exiled opposition structure, branded as the “proto-parliament.” Melnikava handled funds for the Coordination Council and Cyberpartizans, a hacker group behind the attacks on the regime’s digital infrastructure.
According to Poland’s Internal Affairs Ministry, Melnikava had not been in Poland for several weeks at the time of her reported disappearance, and one of her devices was traced to Belarus on March 19. Conflicting evidence says that she had traveled to the United Kingdom while her two daughters were in Belarus with their father. The family is not planning to report her disappearance, journalists have learned.
Notably, Belarusian propaganda has not mentioned the case, unlike that of the former volunteer fighter in Ukraine, Vasyl Verameichyk, whose extradition from Vietnam to Belarus was covered by Belarusian state-run television.
Melnikava’s case appeared in the background of Belarus’s law enforcers’ constant attempts to silence exiled opposition figures. All 257 contenders for the Coordination Council seats had criminal investigations opened against them.
Polish prosecutors are also now investigating an alleged plot to murder Pavel Latushka, another prominent opposition leader. Moreover, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s agents are also suspected of being behind the murders of Belarusian opposition activist Vital Shyshou in 2021, and journalist Pavel Sharamet in 2016 in Kyiv.
Russian, Belarusian secret services plot violent attacks on Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania, State Security Department says
Lithuania’s Department of State Security or VSD said on April 23 that it had uncovered a plot by Russian and Belarusian intelligence services to commit violent attacks against Belarusians living in the country.
Lithuania, which neighbors Belarus, hosts 50,000 Belarusian exiles and the office of Belarusian opposition leader Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to flee her homeland after reportedly beating Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections. Lithuania has sided with Belarusians protesting Lukashenko’s contested “re-election” and has faced a backlash from his regime in the forms of an artificial migration crisis, a crackdown on the Lithuanian diaspora in Belarus, and Lukashenko’s frequent verbal attacks on the country.
The Russian and Belarusian intelligence services have stepped up their operations in Lithuania, with the first attempts to commit violent attacks on representatives of the Belarusian community being recorded, according to the VSD.
The VSD found foreign agents trying to lure Belarusian students in Vilnius with an easy one-time gig to a remote location where they were to be ambushed and beaten. The would-be attackers were provided with exact locations, timing and details of the victims’ appearance.
“The organizers are trying to create the appearance of a conflict between two warring forces — Belarusians promoting the ideology of Litvinism, and Lithuanian groups allegedly opposing them,” the VSD said.
In 2023, Belarusian intelligence was allegedly behind the so-called “Litvinism” movement — a fringe historical Belarusian revisionist idea that claims the Lithuanian capital Vilnius does not belong to Lithuania. Graffiti in crooked Cyrillic reading “Vilnius is ours” started appearing in Vilnius, and Lithuanian politicians received threats from alleged “Litvinist” groups.
In 2024, the attacks turned to buildings belonging to representatives of the Belarusian diaspora. Vandals set fire to a Belarusian house in Vilnius, shot at a chapel with pneumatic weapons, and left graffiti in poorly-spelled Lithuanian calling for Tsikhanouskaya to leave the country.
The violent attack on Belarusians was to be the next step in this staged “conflict,” the VSD said.
The size of the Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania has shrunk significantly, dropping from over 62,000 in January 2024 to 53,700 in April 2025, according to Lithuania’s Migration Department.
In 2024 alone, nearly 600 residence permits for Belarusians were revoked on national security grounds, often due to their holders having served in the military in the past or even having been employed in non-sensitive roles like bank call centers.
Russia’s FSB detains Belarusian allegedly planning ‘terrorist act on behalf of SBU’
Russia’s Federal Security Service or FSB announced on April 18 that it had detained a Belarusian citizen who had been “preparing a terrorist act in the interests of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),” according to an official FSB press release.
The FSB claimed the detained foreign citizen was recruited by the SBU in December 2024 to gather information about the locations of Black Sea Fleet ships, Russian army personnel in Krasnodar Krai, and to carry out "terrorist attacks."
In a video released by the FSB, an unidentifiable detainee claims to be a Belarusian citizen. With his face blurred in the footage, he recites the script, stating that his “SBU curator” instructed him to carry out the attack “to disrupt negotiations between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine” and escalate the conflict.
Russian agents allegedly found a 2.5-kilogram improvised explosive device that they said was to have been planted in an administrative building in Novorossiysk. The FSB opened a criminal case on the suspect on charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act — charges punishable by 10-20 years in prison.
This is not the first such case reported by Russia. In December 2023, a Belarusian national, Siarhei Yerameyeu, was detained in Omsk and accused of blowing up two trains on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia. Yerameyeu is still in Russian custody awaiting trial.
Belarusian and Russian law enforcers are notorious for obtaining false confessions by using various forms of psychological pressure and physical torture.
Lithuania to reinforce second route through Suwalki gap near Belarus, Politico reports
Lithuania is to upgrade and fortify the second main road leading through the Suwalki gap, the NATO choke point squeezed between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and its ally Belarus, Politico reported on April 18.
The Suwalki gap is a 100-kilometer-wide stretch of NATO territory connecting Poland and Lithuania, bordered by Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad, which is viewed as a prime target in any potential Russian military attack on the alliance.
“These roads (are) critical to us from a security and defense perspective,” Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Tomas Godliauskas told Politico. “They’ve always been part of our civil-military planning as key ground routes for allied support during a crisis.”
Currently, all military mobility between Lithuania and Poland is ensured by Via Baltica, the road between Lithuania’s former capital Kaunas and Warsaw, and the high-speed railroad Rail Baltica. The project will upgrade 113 kilometers of road and renovate eight bridges from the capital, Vilnius, to the Polish border town of Augustow. It is expected to be completed by 2028.
Lithuania expects to secure European funding for the project, which the Baltic state and Poland have jointly financed.
A 2022 report by Politico labeled the Suwalki gap “the most dangerous place on Earth.”
After Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine it soon faced sanctions, which in turn prompted Lithuania’s national railroad carrier to refuse transit of certain goods from Belarus to Kaliningrad, including coal, metals, and building materials.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staunch ally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, said Lithuania’s decision to comply with EU sanctions “resembles a declaration of war.” Over a year later, in November 2023, First Deputy State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Pavel Muraveiko claimed Belarus has every right to “pave a corridor” through Lithuania to transit goods.
Security tensions in the region are set to rise: In September 2025, Belarus is holding Zapad (West) military drills involving 13,000 Russian troops. According to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys, the actual scale of Zapad exercises has a history of far exceeding the publicly declared numbers.
Threats against NATO member states neighboring Belarus were heard again when the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, visited Minsk on April 15 and claimed that Poland and the Baltic states were “highly aggressive” and would be the “first to suffer” if there were any “NATO aggression” against the Russia-Belarus Union State.
Viasna volunteer released after serving full term in prison
Andrei Chapiuk, the volunteer of Belarus’s oldest human rights watchdog, the Viasna Human Rights Center, was set free on April 18 after serving five years and nine months in prison.
Meanwhile, four other Viasna advocates remain behind bars.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Viasna chairman Ales Bialiatski and three of his colleagues — the center’s deputy chairman Valiantsin Stefanovich, lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich, and volunteer coordinator Marfa Rabkova — are serving almost decade-long prison terms after being prosecuted for their human rights advocacy.
Belarus’s oldest human rights organization, Viasna has been documenting electoral fraud and human rights abuses by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko since 1996.
Chapiuk was detained in October 2020 on charges of inciting social enmity, participating in mass discord, and being a member of a criminal organization. Sentenced to five years and nine months in prison over his involvement in human rights activism, the political prisoner was also officially declared to be an extremist and terrorist. Before his release, a handcuffed Chapiuk was taken for interrogation, Viasna reported.
Accused of “financing protests,” Bialiatski received a nearly 10-year prison term, while two of his colleagues were punished for 7-9 years. Rabkova received an extremely harsh sentence of almost 15 years. All four have health conditions that reduce their chances of surviving imprisonment.
Lukashenko’s authorities branded Viasna an extremist organization in 2023, outlawing any communication between activists and the victims of repression within the country. Over 1,200 political prisoners are still held behind bars in Belarus in the aftermath of widespread anti-Lukashenko public protests in 2020.
Russia has lost 946,500 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on April 25.
The number includes 1,170 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,703 tanks, 22,315 armored fighting vehicles, 45,906 vehicles and fuel tanks, 26,895 artillery systems, 1,372 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,144 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 335 helicopters, 33,779 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
A round of explosions occurred in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. local time on April 24, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground.
Air defenses are in operation, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post to Telegram.
Fallen debris has been found, Kyiv’s military head Tymur Tkachenko reported.
Fires have been reported in residential buildings, Tkachenko said, adding that cars and commercial buildings are impacted as well.
Paramedics throughout the city are responding on the scene, Klitschko reported.
Russia has regularly targeted civilian infrastructure since the onset of its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022.
The U.S. has been in talks with Ukraine and Russia to negotiate an end to Russia's war against Ukraine.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg called for a peace deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine on April 23, following his participation in a London meeting on Ukraine.
"It's time to move forward on (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump's (Ukraine-Russia) war directive: stop the killing, achieve peace, and put America First," Kellogg said in a post to social media.
The London meeting comes as the U.S. intensifies efforts to broker a deal between Ukraine and Russia, following failed efforts to reach a ceasefire. White House officials have repeatedly warned that Washington would abandon the peace efforts if a deal is not reached soon.
Kellogg noted the talks in London with Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak were "positive."
The meeting was originally meant to be a ministerial-level summit involving the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Ukraine. The gathering was notably downgraded when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff declined to participate.
Earlier on April 23, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that the U.S. presented a "very explicit proposal" to Ukraine and Russia on a peace deal.
Vance repeated warnings that the U.S. might drop its peace efforts if both sides refuse to settle a peace deal.
The U.S. is reportedly considering recognizing Moscow's illegal occupation of Crimea as part of a peace deal, despite Russia's annexation violating international law.
Zelensky has said Ukraine will not legally recognize Crimea as Russian territory.
Moscow has shown signs it is unwilling to move forward on a peace deal with Ukraine. Russian authorities have listed maximalist demands in ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and the U.S.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
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Katie Marie Davies
