https://www.scmp.com/rss/522747/feed The latest news and top stories on Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade. She has been proposed to lead a new government, with a focus on significant deregulation and concentrating resources for defence and recovery. Her responsibilities include strengthening economic potential, expanding support programmes for Ukrainians and scaling up domestic weapons production. Previously, she held key roles in regional administration,... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Associated Press Associated Press Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations. “We are … counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelensky wrote on social media. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.” Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said on Saturday he held... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332980/ukraine-seeks-bring-home-1200-prisoners-russia-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332980/ukraine-seeks-bring-home-1200-prisoners-russia-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Nov 2025 09:02:02 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Ukraine’s energy and justice ministers resigned on Wednesday, the government said, over their alleged involvement in a sweeping corruption scandal in the country’s energy sector. Investigators alleged a key ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky orchestrated a US$100 million kickback scheme to siphon off funds, triggering public anger at a time of widespread power outages caused by Russian attacks. Ukraine has long been plagued by corruption and cracking down on graft is seen as a key requirement... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3332552/ukraine-ministers-resign-over-us100-million-energy-corruption-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3332552/ukraine-ministers-resign-over-us100-million-energy-corruption-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:29:58 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight into Sunday, part of a continuing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. This came as Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the United States potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Kyiv regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation in the region. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said energy... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3328716/russian-attacks-ukraines-power-grid-intensify-winter-approaches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3328716/russian-attacks-ukraines-power-grid-intensify-winter-approaches?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Oct 2025 13:35:12 +0000 Reuters Reuters Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cutting power and water to homes and halting a key metro link across the Dnipro River. In the latest mass attack targeting the energy system as winter approaches, electricity was interrupted in nine regions and over a million households and businesses were temporarily without power across the country. Ukraine’s prime minister called it one of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3328604/kyiv-plunged-darkness-russian-strikes-hit-energy-grid-1-million-without-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3328604/kyiv-plunged-darkness-russian-strikes-hit-energy-grid-1-million-without-power?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:00:09 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Russia said on Wednesday that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine had largely vanished following Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s presidential summit in Alaska, dimming hopes for a quick end to the three-and-a-half-year war. The two leaders met at an airbase in the Alaskan city of Anchorage in August, but failed to reach any kind of peace agreement to end the fighting. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have since stalled, with both Moscow and Kyiv launching deadly strikes... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3328267/russia-says-momentum-putin-trump-meeting-gone-ukraine-peace-hopes-fade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3328267/russia-says-momentum-putin-trump-meeting-gone-ukraine-peace-hopes-fade?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:30:58 +0000 Reuters Reuters Russia launched its largest air attack of the war on Ukraine overnight, setting the main government building on fire in central Kyiv and killing at least four people, including an infant, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone and missile barrage killed four people and caused damage across the north, south and east of the country, including the cities of Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Odesa, as well as in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. “Such killings now,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3324666/ukraine-government-building-ablaze-russias-biggest-air-attack-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3324666/ukraine-government-building-ablaze-russias-biggest-air-attack-war?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Sep 2025 12:37:15 +0000 Reuters Reuters Ukrainian former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy was shot dead in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, and a search was under way for the killer. The Prosecutor General’s office said a gunman had fired several shots at Parubiy, killing him on the spot. The attacker fled and a manhunt was launched, it said. Parubiy, 54, was a member of parliament, had been parliamentary speaker from April 2016 to August 2019, and was one of the leaders of protests in 2013-14 calling for closer ties with the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3323777/ex-parliamentary-speaker-ukraine-shot-dead-zelensky-reacts-horrific-murder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3323777/ex-parliamentary-speaker-ukraine-shot-dead-zelensky-reacts-horrific-murder?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:13:48 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 are now allowed to travel abroad, Kyiv authorities said on Tuesday, in an easing of a law designed to ensure enough army conscripts to fight Russia’s invasion. Since the start of Russia’s all-out assault, Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 have required authorisation to leave Ukraine. Thousands of men try each year to illegally flee the country, sometimes on risky routes over the borders. “The government has updated its procedure for crossing national borders. Men aged 18 to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3323258/ukraine-eases-law-banning-men-aged-18-22-travelling-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3323258/ukraine-eases-law-banning-men-aged-18-22-travelling-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:50:41 +0000 Reuters Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Ukrainian troops in northeastern Ukraine were fighting foreign “mercenaries” from various countries including China, Pakistan and parts of Africa, and vowed a response. Zelensky has previously accused Moscow of recruiting Chinese fighters for its war effort against Ukraine, charges Beijing denied, while North Korea has also provided thousands of its own troops in Russia’s Kursk region. “We spoke with commanders about the frontline... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3320732/mercenaries-china-pakistan-africa-are-fighting-russia-zelensky-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3320732/mercenaries-china-pakistan-africa-are-fighting-russia-zelensky-says?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Aug 2025 16:45:43 +0000 dpa dpa Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday confirmed a previously discussed prisoner of war (POW) exchange with Russia, which had already mentioned the swap. Zelensky, in a post on Telegram, said a list of 1,200 names was being worked on. Russian negotiators had mentioned that figure during direct talks with their Ukrainian counterparts in Istanbul on July 23, while the Ukrainians did not release a number then. Following a meeting with Ukrainian lead negotiator Rustem Umerov, Zelensky said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3320615/ukraine-exchange-1200-prisoners-russia-zelensky-confirms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3320615/ukraine-exchange-1200-prisoners-russia-zelensky-confirms?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Aug 2025 18:00:27 +0000