Overview
- On 25 May Russia's Foreign Ministry publicly announced plans for systematic strikes on Kyiv and urged foreign diplomatic staff to leave the city, prompting sharp alarm among Western governments.
- The European Union summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires, said it will keep missions working in Kyiv, and joined about 48 countries at the UN in condemning the recent wave of attacks and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
- Humanitarian damage escalated when the World Food Programme confirmed an Iskander missile hit its Dnipro warehouse, destroying stocks meant for roughly 130,000 people and intensifying calls for accountability.
- Ukraine reports hundreds of daily combat engagements and continued counterstrikes, including reported strikes inside Russian regions and Crimea, while the SBU arrested an alleged collaborator accused of guiding past Iskander strikes on Odesa.
- Analysts at the ISW and several European officials interpret Moscow's threats and high‑profile strikes as efforts to mask military weakness, to discourage Western pressure, and to create pretexts for using Belarusian territory or new information claims.