On the night of May 26, 2025, Russia fired no fewer than 355 drones at Ukraine. In addition, nine missiles were launched. It was the largest attack ever on Ukraine. The previous night, that record was also broken, when Russia sent 298 drones towards Ukraine. Donald Trump declared Putin crazy on his own social media: “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He’s gone completely CRAZY!”, Trump wrote. “I’ve always said that if he wants all of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s true, but if he wants the whole thing, that will lead to the demise of Russia.” Trump’s statements were described by Russia as a “crucial moment” that is accompanied by “emotional overload for absolutely everyone and emotional reactions”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on May 23, 2025 that Moscow’s nuclear weapons are in “full combat readiness”.
It was Putin’s response to Ukraine’s attempt to hit Putin personally with drones while he was flying a helicopter in the Kursk region. President Macron himself, like all his ministers, is said to be filled with hatred towards Russia and the Kremlin calls this the only problem that stands in the way of resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
NATO leaders have increasingly warned that a direct conflict with Moscow is a real danger, as Moscow has more nuclear warheads than any other country. This comes after Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened nuclear escalation against Kiev and its Western allies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. President Donald Trump has said he is closely monitoring the 50,000 Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border near Sumy since July 1, 2025, amid fears that Russia is gearing up for a new summer offensive. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense has suspended deliveries of certain air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that the U.S. domestic weapons stockpile has run too low. Russian Navy second-in-command Mikhail Gudkov was killed in a Ukrainian airstrike. Gudkov was killed in an airstrike on a command post in Korenevo, in Russia’s Kursk region, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Ten others are believed to have been killed. Gudkov is one of the highest-ranking Russian military officers Ukraine has killed during the more than three-year war. Russian President Putin appointed him deputy commander-in-chief of the navy in March, behind the top boss: Admiral Alexander Moyseyev.
Rutte added fuel to the fire with some war rhetoric towards Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stated that the new, much higher ‘NATO standard’ will split the alliance. Rutte then said: “But let’s not pay too much attention to Mr Lavrov”. “He has been Foreign Minister since, I think, the birth of Jesus Christ and has never uttered anything useful since then.”
The Dutch intelligence services MIVD and AIVD say that the Russian army is using chemical weapons in the war in Ukraine, such as tear gas and chloropicrin. The security services conclude this together with the German foreign intelligence service BND. Chloropicrin is lethal at high concentrations in closed spaces. It is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. According to the MIVD, this substance has been used in 9,000 attacks, in which at least three people have died. The intelligence services state that since the invasion, more than 9,000 chemical attacks have been carried out on Ukrainian soldiers. After a personal meeting with Zelensky, Donald Trump decided to sent more weapons. despite US own shortage. It will be defence weapons only, because it must not interfere with peacetalks.
Russia wants peace on its own terms
A recent Russian document also shows that Russia does not expect a quick end to the war and plans to overthrow the Ukrainian regime and not consider peace before 2026. The involvement of external countries, such as the US and Turkey, further complicates the situation.
Rutte urged Zelensky to adopt a more moderate tone to preserve the Western front, and in particular the US as an ally. After fierce public statements by Zelensky, Trump withdrew all US military support on March 4, 2025, including deliveries already underway. Trump criticized Zelensky’s remark that the end of the war was “still a long way off” as “the worst statement you could make.”
Donald Trump sees no movement to stop the war in Ukraine after a conversation with Putin. “I haven’t made any progress with him,” he said. “He has no intention of stopping this.” The two called each other for an hour on July 3. It was the sixth phone call between Trump and Putin. Trump said of the lack of progress: “I’m not happy about it and I’m very disappointed.” Russia meanwhile carried out another attack on Kyiv. In addition to a drone attack, missiles were also reportedly fired, injuring 23 people.
Ukraine and Moscow held new talks in Istanbul on June 2.
Both sides agreed on May 16 to put on paper what they thought a ceasefire should look like. The Russian memorandum afterward calls for recognition of the territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Kherson as Russian territory. “These regions are enshrined in our constitution and are an inseparable part of Russia,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The statement came during talks in Istanbul between Russian and American officials on normalizing ties. It also calls for new elections to be held in Ukraine. As a third demand, Russia asks Kiev to reduce its military to the point where it is no longer seen as a threat to the Kremlin. Neither the US nor the EU were part of the Russian demands.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has previously stated that Russia is ready for a peace agreement, but that there are still specific issues that need to be further coordinated. The minister stated that it seems that the negotiations are going in the right direction, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists that Crimea belongs to Ukraine and he refuses to give up the region, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as part of a peace agreement.
Eurozone countries have given Zelensky pledges of protection in a form similar to NATO Article 5, which is effectively a declaration of war on Russia. Putin has repeatedly warned that Western troops in Ukraine are a red line , increasing the risk of escalation . It has also been conditional on legal guarantees to ensure that the war will not resume.
The war in Ukraine will not end until NATO withdraws its troops from the Baltic states, a senior Russian official has warned. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister responsible for relations with the US, non-proliferation and arms control, made the remarks in an interview with the state news agency Tass. However, the political commitment to Ukraine’s future NATO membership remains unchanged, even though it was not explicitly mentioned in the final communiqué of the summit in The Hague.
Vladimir Putin has offered to halt the attack on Ukraine at the current front lines, according to talks between Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff. The offer meant that Russia would no longer claim parts of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia that are currently in Ukrainian hands. Russia annexed those regions in late 2022, but that claim is not recognized internationally. Putin has always maintained that those regions should belong entirely to Russia.
Russian negotiators gave Ukraine two options for reaching a complete ceasefire during the talks in Istanbul. The first option is that Ukraine withdraws its troops from the four regions that are partially under Russian control. The other option is a “package” of various conditions that Ukraine must meet. This is stated in the memorandum that Russia handed over during the talks in Istanbul. According to the first option, Ukraine must withdraw completely from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. The Crimean Peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, must then be internationally recognized as Russian, according to the document. The second option includes, among other things, a halt to the delivery of foreign military aid to Ukraine and the holding of new presidential and parliamentary elections.
Mark Rutte stated during the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025: “We support Ukraine in the irreversible path to NATO membership.” This statement, made during the press conference after the summit, explicitly confirms NATO’s support for Ukraine’s future membership, in line with previous statements such as those made during the NATO summit in Washington in 2024. At this time, there is no official response from the Russian government or state media to this provocative statement by Mark Rutte during the NATO summit in The Hague. Mark Rutte literally stated during the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025: “We support Ukraine in the irreversible path to NATO membership.” The Russian ambassador to the Netherlands, VE Tarabrin, spoke on Time will tell (Channel One, June 25, 2025) about the NATO summit and criticized the alliance, but did not directly respond to Rutte’s exact words. He reiterated Russia’s position that Ukraine’s NATO membership is “unacceptable” and interpreted the softer tone of the final communiqué – which did not include an explicit pledge of membership – as a sign of internal divisions within NATO. Russian state media, such as RIA Novosti, suggest that Moscow sees Rutte’s statement as rhetoric, but continues to insist on legally binding guarantees that Ukraine will not become a NATO member.
Europe fears threat from Russia
The European Union and Ukraine wanted to sit at the negotiating table. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha responded: “There can be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, or about Europe without Europe.” Sybiha also said that NATO membership for Ukraine is still “the cheapest option” for the alliance to guarantee its own security. European leaders discussed the issue for two days at a security summit in Munich and then on June 25, 2025 at the NATO summit in The Hague. Trump believes that Ukraine must work to achieve peace and states that it is unlikely that Ukraine will get back all the land lost to Russia. He calls NATO membership “not practical” for Ukraine.
Zelensky wants a larger and better equipped army for the future, paid for by the US as compensation for his rejection of NATO. As far as US envoy Keith Kellogg is concerned, the EU will not participate in the peace talks, he declared in Munich. Donald Trump called Zelensky a “dictator” and warned him to act quickly to achieve peace or risk losing his country. Trump simultaneously hinted at new elections in Ukraine. French President Macron and British Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Washington in vain to change Trump’s mind.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the UK is “ready” and “willing” to send British troops to Ukraine to help ensure the country’s security as part of a peace deal and has pledged to lend the country €2.75 billion. EU Commissioner von der Leyen will give Ukraine another €3.5 billion in aid in March and has pledged that the country will benefit from European plans to scale up arms production.
NATO member states have recently taken steps to prepare for a possible attack from Moscow, especially after Russia deployed troops and military equipment on the border with Finland. In the Netherlands, efforts are being made to find places for barracks and training grounds. About thirty farms are being expropriated and must make way for military activities. A soldier in uniform and a government treasurer visited the farmers to tell them that the farms where they had lived and worked for decades are being expropriated and must make way for army expansion.
Germany, meanwhile, is trying to bolster its armed forces in the face of growing threats from Russia and has hinted at the possibility of reintroducing conscription. Germany is also now allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles.
France and the UK are leading efforts to establish a “guarantor force” of around 20,000 troops to protect Ukraine, focusing on air and maritime defense and securing infrastructure. A few countries, including Canada, Finland, Turkey, and possibly Spain, appear willing to join, but major players including Poland, Germany, Italy, and the Baltic states have been reluctant, often citing their own security concerns or reliance on US support.
The UK signed a historic deal to provide Ukraine with £3 billion in military and financial support every year until 2031, including plans for British bases on the Russian-controlled Sea of Azov.
France has also been harsh on Moscow. President Macron called Russia “a threat to all of Europe” on March 5 and said France would double its armed forces and protect European allies under its nuclear umbrella if necessary. Moscow reacted sharply, accusing Macron of “completely losing touch with reality.” Nevertheless, the two spoke on the phone on July 1, 2025. In that conversation, Putin reiterated that a peace agreement “must be based on new territorial realities.”
NATO in Europe is already developing several land corridors for US troops and armored vehicles in the event of a large-scale ground war with Russia. These corridors are intended to enable US troops to quickly reach the Alliance’s eastern borders. According to the plan, US troops will land at one of five designated ports and travel to the front lines via prepared routes. The five main corridors come from the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Norway. Additional transport corridors are being developed via ports in the Balkans, as well as Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Previous peace negotiations and prisoner exchanges
The Kremlin reported on January 10, 2025 that Vladimir Putin would be open to a meeting with Donald Trump. This came after Trump had said the day before that preparations for such talks were underway. Putin wanted peace only if Ukraine gave up four of its regions (Donetsk, Luhansk People’s Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhia) and NATO membership, which it eventually did. Ukrainian troops would then have to be completely withdrawn from the regions. Russia says it annexed the four regions in 2022, despite not having full control over any of them. As soon as Kiev says it is ready to do so, Russia will immediately – literally at that very moment – call a ceasefire. Putin stressed that the Kremlin is “ready to start negotiations without delay” and reiterated at a press conference on December 19 that Russia is ready for “negotiations and concessions.” In fact, he only wants to talk to the Ukrainian parliament for the time being. He would only be willing to talk to the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if Ukraine holds elections and Zelensky is re-elected.
Minister of Defense Brekelmans and Rutte watched the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine with dismay. As far as they were concerned, European leaders should have taken the lead, but they were bypassed by Trump. Giving up land and the NATO alliance was not an option for them. Trump meanwhile threatened Russia with extra heavy sanctions if a peace treaty was not reached soon enough. Trump also said that his administration was also ‘investigating’ the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine. He said that the European Union should do more to support Ukraine, including by sending the country more weapons. Trump indicated that the EU should ‘spend at least as much on Ukraine’ as the US.
Moscow and Washington held their first talks on Tuesday, February 18, on ending the nearly three-year war in Ukraine, with the aim of restoring ties and preparing for an end to the conflict.
Europe will not immediately participate in the peace talks , in principle . This was stated by the American ambassador Keith Kellogg at the major security conference in Munich.
On February 18, 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron received the European leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, as well as Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the EU leaders António Costa. Discussions were held on how Europe should deal with the solo American peace plans. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged that the United Kingdom is “ready” and “willing” to send British troops to Ukraine to help ensure the security of that country as part of a peace agreement.
“If there are real negotiations – we’re not there yet – but if there are, Ukraine needs to be involved because it was invaded,” Rubio later told the US broadcaster CBS . “And the Europeans need to be involved because they also imposed sanctions on Russia, and they contributed to the war effort.” At the same time, the peace talks were to take place in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
On March 4, Trump confirmed that he had received a letter from Zelensky expressing his willingness to negotiate peace. “Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Trump was quoted as saying in Congress. On March 10, Zelensky traveled to Riyadh and agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, including a minerals deal. Meanwhile, peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine remain at an impasse.
The latest attempt on May 12 for a 30-day ceasefire, supported by Ukraine and Western allies, failed. Leaders including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Kyiv and took part in a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing, which wants to continue supporting Ukraine even after the war. Donald Trump and Mark Rutte participated virtually.
Zelensky and Putin did agree on a large prisoner exchange: both countries have now released thousands of prisoners of war. Now that this has been completed, Russia wants to hand over proposals for a peace settlement. Both countries have also agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Turkey offered to host negotiations in Istanbul, following a suggestion by Putin. However, the talks on May 15 did not take place; Putin withdrew, reportedly because he did not consider Zelensky an equal partner. Zelensky did travel, as a sign of readiness for peace. Trump tried to mediate, but without result.
Within Ukraine, there is a growing conviction that peace talks should only be possible if Ukraine itself takes part in the talks. Ukrainians do not want their future to be decided without their input.
Turkey facilitated the ‘grain deal’, which allowed Ukraine to export via the Black Sea for a while. Putin stopped the deal after a year in 2023. In the spring of 2022, an eighteen-point document was drawn up for a de facto capitulation of Ukraine. At a summit of African countries in 2023, Putin told the assembled leaders that the Ukrainians were walking away from the table, while the documents had already been signed. That was different, because while the negotiations were ongoing, the Russians were stopped near Kyiv. They themselves said that the invasion force left as a sign of goodwill, to give the negotiations a chance. But in reality, entire columns of Russian military vehicles were destroyed and the Russians had no choice. But that was not the main reason why they left Istanbul. After the Russians withdrew from Butcha and Irpin, suburbs of Kyiv, the massacres they had committed against the civilian population there came to light.
In the summer of 2024, the Russians and Ukrainians met again in Doha. Qatar made a desperate attempt to stop the Russian bombing of its energy supply. The Ukrainians would then have to stop drone attacks on Russian oil installations. There had also been several fruitless peace talks to stop the war. The first meeting was held four days after the start of the invasion, on February 28, 2022, in Belarus. It ended without results. A second and third round of talks took place on March 3 and 7, 2022, at the Belarus-Ukraine border. A fourth and fifth round of talks were held on March 10 and 14 in Antalya, Turkey. The negotiations in Turkey resulted in the Istanbul Communiqué. It proposed that Ukraine abandon its plans to eventually join NATO, impose restrictions on its military, and oblige Western countries to help Ukraine in the event of aggression against it. The talks nearly reached an agreement, with both sides considering “far-reaching concessions,” but were halted in May 2022 due to several factors, including the Bucha massacre. After Ukraine’s eastern counteroffensive in 2022, Russia renewed calls for peace talks, but Russian government sources suggested that Putin was not truly committed to peace and was simply stalling while his forces were trained and restocked for a future advance. As of 2024, Ukraine’s peace conditions include that Russia withdraw its troops, its leaders be prosecuted for war crimes, and Ukraine receive security guarantees. Russia’s conditions are that Russia be given all land it occupies, all provinces it claims but does not fully control, and that Ukraine must end its plans to join NATO. The Kremlin has backed China’s peace plan, which calls for ending the war along the front lines. Zelensky has rejected Macron’s Olympic truce proposal. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded that Ukraine renounce its right to sovereignty and territorial integrity as a condition for starting peace talks. Ukraine must renounce its right and goal to liberate its territory up to its internationally recognized borders of 1991.Vladimir Putin has also previously said he is prepared to end the war in Ukraine through a negotiated ceasefire that recognizes the current battle lines. At the same time, he said he is “ready to continue fighting if Kiev or the West does not respond.” Three of the sources familiar with Putin’s inner circle said the president had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he sees as Western-backed efforts to thwart peace negotiations and Zelensky’s decision to rule out such talks. Volodymyr Zelensky believes that “at least” 200,000 European peacekeepers are needed in Ukraine to maintain peace after a deal with Russia. Any fewer troops, Zelensky said, would be too few to counter a new Russian attack. “200,000 is a minimum, otherwise it is nothing,” he said in Davos.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán considered resigning from NATO membership, as the country itself does not want to participate in the military mission in Ukraine. Orbán also believed that Europe is preparing for war with Russia, while Moscow is unlikely to attack a NATO member state, as it cannot even defeat Ukraine. Viktor Orbán announced plans to create a “pan-Western transatlantic peace coalition” this year to end the war in Ukraine.
After his sudden visit to Zelensky, Orbán immediately traveled to Putin on July 5 and then to China to talk about peace there too. He did this on his own initiative without consulting parliament and therefore not officially on behalf of the EU. Orbán also met with Donald Trump in Florida. According to Orbán, Trump and he talked about “the possibilities for peace” in Ukraine. He will solve it!”, Orbán wrote afterwards on X. Trump stated several times that he would end the war quickly. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen already reacted negatively and, like Rutte, is a hard-line politician. She warns Orbán against ‘appeasement’, the notorious concession policy of the then British Prime Minister towards Adolf Hitler. “Reconciliation will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will pave the way to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, she said on X.
Yet it turned out that Trump had called Zelensky on July 19. Zelensky had even already scheduled a next meeting and agreed with Trump to discuss during a personal meeting which steps could make the peace fair and truly sustainable. At the EU Summit in Brussels, Zelensky was allowed to present his plan again and he was promised that he could become the 33rd NATO member. (the next one) According to Rutte, that was only a matter of time. NATO membership was an important reason for the invasion. If Ukraine were to become a member during the war, it would mean that the Western countries would also be at war with Russia from that moment on. (3rd World War). Zelensky tries to persuade Rutte to make a so-called formal invitation, but that opportunity was taken away from him by Trump.
Beijing called on the international community to focus diplomatic efforts on a ceasefire, stressing that China is not a party to the conflict, unlike the US, which is “prolonging hostilities.” However, China does have a secret Russian weapons program for the development and production of long-range attack drones. IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, has developed and tested a new drone in China with the help of local specialists called the Garpiya-3 (G3).
Ukraine unveiled its own ‘victory plan’ in October 2024. Zelensky wanted to force Putin to swap land and surrender by the end of this year by deploying long-range missiles inside Russia. Western allies would also have to allow Ukraine to join NATO while fighting in the conflict continues, as well as a “comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” to deter further Russian attacks. At the same time, Zelensky wants to invest in the country’s natural resources and further tighten sanctions against Russia. Finally, he wanted to replace US troops with Ukrainian troops in Europe as part of the post-war security architecture. After the plans were unveiled, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Berlin wanted to explore ways to end the war in Ukraine. He also hinted at possible talks with Moscow. Zelensky is said to be willing to give up parts of the land it has already conquered. Zelensky’s suggestion that Kiev would pursue nuclear weapons if it did not join NATO was a “dangerous provocation,” Putin said. The 32 NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on October 17, 2024 to discuss further assistance to Ukraine.
Armistice
Russia reacted reservedly to a possible ceasefire, and Putin indicated through adviser Yuri Ushakov that he had no need for a breathing space, but on March 18 he spoke with Trump about a temporary ceasefire focused on energy infrastructure. Putin agreed to stop attacks on Ukrainian energy supplies, on condition that Ukraine do the same.
For a complete ceasefire, Russia has made tough demands: a halt to Ukrainian rearmament, mobilization, Western military support and intelligence assistance. Despite this diplomatic momentum, heavy Ukrainian drone attacks on, among other things, an air base near Engels and an oil storage facility in Krasnodar took place in late March — according to Moscow, the largest attack since the start of the war. On March 26, Zelensky said that “the ceasefire can begin today,” but Russia reported large-scale damage to critical infrastructure in Kursk, Bryansk and near Crimea that day.
Putin doesn’t trust Trump and is keeping his options open. Winning the Donbas is a prize; the rest is a bonus. He is playing for time, knowing in the back of his mind that Democrats could return in the distant future. If the US were to own Ukraine’s resources, Democrats might want to secure them through NATO, preferably with a stronger European army or a strengthened NATO.
With the Donbas and Crimea in hand and a deal with Trump (no NATO expansion for Ukraine until 2029), Russia has breathing room. Putin can consolidate his forces, stabilize the economy and hone hybrid tactics. Kremlin officials are also trying to prevent the US and Ukraine from concluding a mineral deal by making competing offers. Putin has claimed that Russia has an “order of magnitude” more rare earths than Ukraine and has stated that Russia can work with both the US government and US companies on rare earth capital investment projects. Putin referred to mineral reserves both within Russia and within occupied Ukraine in his efforts to call on the United States to invest in “Russian” rare earths (by claiming minerals in occupied Ukraine as Russia’s). Putin also offered to make deals with the United States for the supply of Russian aluminum. CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and newly appointed special presidential representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries Kirill Dmitriev told CNN on February 24 that Russia is open to economic cooperation with the United States, that the first stage of cooperation would be in the energy sector, and that such cooperation is key to a “more resilient global economy.” US and Russian delegations began new peace talks in Saudi Arabia on March 24, 2025. A key point is securing a partial ceasefire. Russia and Ukraine last week agreed in principle to suspend attacks on each other’s energy sectors for 30 days. The ceasefire has begun. Discussions are also underway about extending the ceasefire to include shipping in the Black Sea and a full ceasefire. Russia and Ukraine have reached agreements to end hostilities in the Black Sea. But the Kremlin has already indicated that it wants some Western sanctions to be lifted first. The United States has been negotiating separately with Russia and Ukraine in recent days the Saudi capital Riyadh. According to a statement from the White House, an agreement was made there to “ensure safe navigation on the Black Sea.” In exchange for Russian cooperation, Washington is making a number of concessions. The US will help Russia regain access to the global market for agricultural and fertilizer products. Washington also wants to support Moscow in reducing the costs of maritime insurance. In an initial response to the agreement, the Kremlin said it agreed, but also that it first wanted some Western sanctions to be lifted. For example, it wants the Russian agricultural bank to regain access to the international payment system SWIFT. The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine on Wednesday of violating a 30-day ban on attacks on energy infrastructure. According to Moscow, this ban has been in effect for more than a week. Ukraine also does not want a peace mission after a ceasefire with the Russians, but European combat troops. This was stated by a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine needs a “serious” contribution from Europe with soldiers who are ready and willing to fight and not peacekeepers, according to negotiator Ihor Zhovkva in the run-up to international Ukraine talks in Paris. Schoof immediately promised to transfer 2 billion euros of the 3.5 billion euros of 2026 this year. This week, Minister of Defense Brekelmans already hinted at bringing forward the support. “That will certainly work,” Schoof said in Paris. He “certainly assumes” that the early payment will come. Zelensky feels strengthened by the extra support from the EU and has so far refused the raw materials deal with the US. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukraine would not accept any agreement on mineral rights that threatened its integration with the EU, but he still signed a dramatically expanded mineral deal on April 30, 2025.
Putin stresses that it is not possible for Zelensky to consider a ceasefire, as it could lead to the lifting of martial law, which would deprive Zelensky of his position of power, as presidential elections would have to be held, in which he would have virtually no chance. Russia demands a complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions for a ceasefire.
Sanctions against Russia
After the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out on 23 February 2022, the EU imposed sanctions that quickly had an impact on oil and gas prices. On 3 March 2022, the price per megawatt hour on the Dutch futures market was almost 200 euros. That was four times as much compared to three months earlier. Since the sanctions were imposed, Dutch companies have suddenly been importing and exporting much more to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, after which the products still find their way to Russia. Meanwhile, European countries also purchased around 40 percent more liquefied gas from Russia in the first seven months of 2023 than in the same period in 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. EU countries imported more natural gas from Russia in one quarter than from the United States. Norway remains the EU’s largest gas supplier. Countries such as Slovakia and Austria also still receive gas from Russia, via the pipeline that runs through Ukraine. The amount of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) entering the Netherlands from Russia has also doubled since last summer, while EU member states agreed on 20 June 2024 on a fourteenth sanctions package that was to affect Russian trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG). Most products covered by the sanctions still enter the country via Turkey . Russia supplies 42.9 million cubic metres per day to Europe via Ukraine. Gazprom continues to supply Russian gas for transit via Ukrainian territory via the Sudzha gas pumping station in a quantity approved by Ukraine. In the first four months of 2024, Spain also purchased 26,854 GWh of gas from Russia, according to data from Spanish energy company Enagas. Great Britain has also become a major importer of Russian oil and has circumvented imposed sanctions. Russia earned more than £2 million from this. Europe is dependent on Russia for enriched uranium for nuclear power plants and atomic bombs, among other things, and there are no sanctions for that either. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is located in Russia. Russia is a very important player in enriched uranium (almost 50% of the enriched uranium comes from there), with the West being more dependent on Russia than Russia is on the West. Not only does the Russian ship Mikhail Dudin regularly dock in the Netherlands, the Baltiyskiy-202 does so regularly as well. These are the two ‘Russian’ ships that mainly sail between St. Petersburg and Western Europe with a radioactive cargo. Based on recently issued permits, it is now possible that the ship transports reprocessed uranium in Russia, which Urenco in Almelowill enrich the French EdF.
Russian companies are circumventing sanctions by increasingly paying in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, which governments have no control over
Despite the sanctions, Russian soldiers are supported from the Netherlands with donations via Boosty/CEBC. CEBC recently moved to an office in Amstelveen and is a subsidiary of MyGames, located in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. Until the Russian invasion, that company was part of internet giant VKontakte (VK), also known as the Russian Facebook, affiliated with the Kremlin. The owner of MyGames is the Russian investor Alexander Chachava. Shortly after the start of the war, he bought the company for ‘only’ 600 million euros. Chachava is friends with the CEO of salesman Vladimir Kiriënko. And he is the son of Putin’s chief of staff.
Profits of Western banks in Russia have tripled to 3 billion euros, due to higher interest rates on loans
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UK’s OFSI has not issued a single fine for sanctions evasion
It would take another two years before American Express finally ended its activities in Russia in May 2024. The banking license was then revoked by Russia in August 2024. The US also imposed sanctions on more than a dozen companies in China for their support of the Russian war in Ukraine. Furthermore, measures have been agreed to prevent the Russian shadow fleet from refueling in Zeeland.
The US, backed by the UK, Japan and Canada, seized $300 billion in frozen Russian assets . Dividends, profit distributions and other proceeds are skimmed off from the frozen bonds and investments of the Russian central bank and donated to Ukraine. The EU also wants to give profits from the frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. This amounts to around €3 billion per year. Freezing Russian assets was one of the first steps the EU took after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In total, around €260 billion in assets of the Russian Central Bank have now been frozen in the US, Japan, the EU and Canada. A record amount of €191 billion of this is in Brussels, with Euroclear. This is an institution that acts as an intermediary in transactions on the financial markets. Hungary was the only member state to vote against and threatened to block aid for Ukraine. In the end, this objection was resolved by making €10.2 billion from EU funds available to Hungary. During the vote, Orbán briefly left the polling station for this amount. The money had previously been frozen due to concerns about the undermining of the rule of law in Hungary. This blackmail was not accepted by the European Parliament and is now taking the European Commission to the European Court of Justice. The Hungarian government is now waiting for another 10.4 billion euros in subsidies and cheap loans from the EU. This is subject to conditions, including additional measures against corruption . Hungary is against Ukraine’s EU membership because of its close ties with Russia. The European Parliament filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice because the Commission is said to have given in to blackmail. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic refuses to approve the participation of Croatian soldiers in the NATO mission to support Ukraine, Radio Free Europe and The Kyiv Independent report. Milanovic is concerned about the possible spread of the conflict to Croatia and prioritizes the security of his own country.
The EU is preparing new sanctions, while Norway has confirmed that it will deliver all promised F-16s to Ukraine this year. Moscow and Washington are holding talks on a possible resumption of gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe. A €20 billion military aid package for Ukraine is also being worked on. Von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Schoof, along with nine other leaders, visited the Ukrainian capital on 24 February for talks and support. A sixteenth sanctions package against Russia was also approved there. The sanctions include a ban on the import of primary aluminium, the sale of games consoles and the withdrawal of 74 ships from the shadow fleet. This new set of sanctions aims to stop game controllers being used to fly drones, banks being used to circumvent sanctions and eight propaganda channels being used to spread lies, according to EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas.
Hungary did not agree and also stressed that they would not agree to new tens of billions of euros for arms deliveries. High-ranking American officials also stayed away and, like China, are pursuing their own plan. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently emphasized his strong ties with Putin in a telephone conversation. And the UN Security Council also adopted an American resolution on Ukraine calling for a quick end to the “Russian-Ukrainian conflict” and urging a “lasting peace” between Ukraine and Russia. European countries wanted to change parts of the text, but Russia vetoed them. The US, Russia and eight other countries voted in favor of the resolution. Five other countries abstained, including France and the United Kingdom. Ultimately, European participation in the peace talks in Ukraine will be necessary, but Moscow first wants to build trust with Washington, President Vladimir Putin said . He suggested that an agreement to end the conflict may still be a long way off. At the end of May, Trump gave Putin two more weeks to make progress in the peace negotiations before he too imposed new sanctions.
History
On January 12, 2025, Rishi Sunak, then Prime Minister of the UK, signed a bilateral security agreement between Ukraine and the UK as a follow-up to the G7 declaration on “security guarantees” for Ukraine, which will remain in force until Ukraine joins NATO . Rishi Sunak said that this was “the first of the security guarantees signed by Ukraine” and that the UK was also the first to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, tanks, long-range missiles, etc. The agreement provides for a validity of ten years with the possibility of extension. However, if Ukraine becomes a member of NATO before the security obligations have expired, the agreement will be terminated and it will be incorporated into the NATO system. It is therefore particularly strange that Mark Rutte and others recently stated that Ukraine had not been promised accession to NATO, while this was explicitly agreed. Membership also stands in the way of peace talks because this is one of Russia’s main demands. On January 16, 2025, Zelensky signed a 100-year cooperation agreement with Keir Starmer. The introductory part of the document mentions, among other things, support for Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and Britain’s support for Ukraine’s “irreversible path to NATO membership.” The bulk of the agreement consists of 14 articles, in particular on strengthening defense capabilities, enhancing security and reaching consensus on Ukraine’s NATO membership, building maritime security partnerships, expanding economic and trade cooperation, strengthening cooperation on energy, climate and clean energy transition, expanding cooperation on justice and accountability, and combating foreign information manipulation and interference. The article on strengthening defence capabilities states that Ukraine and the UK will deepen cooperation in this area, strengthen their military and defence industrial capabilities, develop cooperation between defence industrial bases, strengthen the Ukrainian defence procurement system and transfer technologies for joint production of defence products. “The parties will build on areas that benefit Euro-Atlantic peace and stability well beyond the war, recognise Ukraine’s integral role in Euro-Atlantic security, with an emphasis on interoperability and Ukraine’s contribution as a future NATO ally.” “The Parties establish a partnership in maritime security, including to strengthen the security of the Baltic, Black and Azov Seas.” Details: Article 6 declares the intention to take measures to bring to justice states that commit gross violations of international law. Last but not least, the agreement provides for financing Ukraine for 100 years at the rate of several billion per year!! The agreement will remain in force for 100 years from the date of entry into force, unless terminated by one of the parties in accordance with the specified procedure. The document can be amended by mutual consent of the parties. On 17.01.2025 , an additional addendum to this agreement was signed. It provides for further deepening cooperation in the energy sector and seeking British investors to develop the energy sector in Ukraine; storage of renewable gases; cooperation to close mines and promote the transition from coal to other forms of energy and the promotion of the development of critical minerals and the development of regulations to maximise benefits through a Joint Group.
Putin stated that an end to the war is possible if his demands are met. He previously stated that it is not President Biden, but the CIA that is in charge in the US. Zelensky underlined in Davos the sense and madness of the forced accession of Ukraine to NATO and is now being called crazy by MP Alexander Dubinsky. Zelensky stated that the United States and Germany made this decision and not himself. In total, an estimated 170,000 young people have already died and an even larger number have been psychologically or physically damaged for the rest of their lives. In December 2024, Zelenskyy said that they had so far counted more than 43,000 soldiers killed and more than 370,000 wounded. Russia is said to have lost 818,740 soldiers since the beginning of the war, both killed, wounded and missing.
Kyiv was the capital and namesake of the medieval Kievan Rus’ since 882. That empire covered a large part of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. It is seen by Russians as the forerunner of present-day Russia. As the centre of the Kyiv Empire, Kyiv became one of the most important and largest cities in medieval Europe. This happened centuries before, for example, the current major Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg were of any importance. After the destruction of the city by the Mongols in 1240, Kyiv would never again equal its former glory. The rule over Kyiv and the surrounding area changed continuously in the centuries that followed. At the end of the eighteenth century, the region was incorporated into the Russian Empire under the rule of Empress Catherine the Great. Many Russians point to that point as the moment when Ukraine definitively became part of Russia. The mass murder of Poles in present-day Western Ukraine was committed by Ukrainian nationalists who fought for an independent Ukraine. Ukrainians fought against the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was a part at the time, and also murdered between 50 and 100 thousand Polish inhabitants of the area. Eighty years later, the massacres are still a major dispute between Poland and Ukraine. Poland wants access to the mass graves and is asking for recognition and apologies from the Ukrainian authorities. This is a sensitive issue in Ukraine: the Ukrainian nationalists who were guilty of ethnic cleansing are seen in Ukraine as heroes who stood up to the Soviet occupier.
Crimea was incorporated into Russia in the 18th century. In 1954, Crimean Oblast was assigned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic by the Soviet Union, but in 2014 the peninsula was re-annexed by Russia, except for part of the Arabat Spit. Russia invaded Crimea in February 2014. It began with the capture of key buildings and military bases by Russian troops without insignia. These troops took over strategic positions on 27 February 2014, and a controversial referendum was held on 16 March 2014. Crimea was subsequently annexed by Russia on 18 March 2014. According to the 2001 census, ethnic Ukrainians made up 58% of the population of Luhansk Oblast and 56.9% of the population of Donetsk Oblast. Ethnic Russians are the largest minority, accounting for 39% and 38.2% of the two oblasts, respectively. Today, the Donbas is a predominantly Russian-speaking region.
Until 1991, Ukraine and Russia were part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, the leaders of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia jointly decided to dissolve the Soviet Union. Ukraine and Russia thus became independent countries and could have remained so. The intended accession of Ukraine to NATO and the placement of a military base and the breaking of the Minsk agreement were for Russia the reason and cause of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2008, Burns wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: “Ukraine’s entry into NATO is the brightest of all red lines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). The Biden administration and the CIA have created a direct challenge to Russia through NATO. The only thing NATO has accomplished with its planned expansion into Ukraine is that Russia has acquired a large portion of Ukraine. It was the Obama CIA/State Department that funded Nazi militant groups to start a civil war in Ukraine, and then engineered regime change to a CIA/State Department puppet, Yatseniuk. This was all revealed in the leaked phone call between State Department diplomats and Deep State operatives, Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt. After the Maidan coup in February 2014, the US CIA/State Department owned Ukraine through a proxy, and the CIA began using Ukraine for criminal extortion and money laundering. Ukraine became one giant CIA base right on the Russian border. Then the US/NATO began building up the Ukrainian military with the sole purpose of one day fighting Russia. The US/NATO began supplying Ukraine with weapons, equipment, missiles, training, intelligence, etc. Secret elements within the US government, along with their European partners in NATO, used espionage to overthrow and take control of the Ukrainian nation, then built a massive standing army on the Russian border, and then tried to bring Ukraine into NATO.
Since 2014 , parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces have been in the hands of Russian-minded separatists. After the pro-Western Maidan revolution, protests broke out in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. With Russian support and weapons, they seceded from Ukraine and established pro-Russian “People’s Republics”. Until this war, these rebel republics made up about a third of the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. Zelensky says he will not sign a peace agreement if the country is not involved in the negotiations.
In December 2021, Russia submitted two draft treaties requesting what it called “security guarantees,” including a legally binding pledge that Ukraine would never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as a reduction in NATO troops and equipment stationed in Eastern Europe. However, most of these conditions were dismissed as unrealistic by Western leaders. Russia’s demands were accompanied by a threat of a military response if the US and NATO maintained their “aggressive line.” Putin declared that Ukraine’s accession to NATO was “absolutely off the table” for him. Although Ukraine is not yet officially a NATO member, in practice the West supports and treats it as such.
There were renewed tensions over Sweden joining NATO as the 32nd member. The decision was held up by Hungary, but on 26 February 2025, it relented. Sweden had to provide them with four additional Gripen fighter jets. Hungary currently has 14 Swedish fighter jets, bringing the total to 18. Turkey also recently agreed. A report published by The Kyiv Independent confirmed that Russia has lost 8,582 tanks, 16,736 armoured fighting vehicles and 23,825 vehicles and fuel tanks since the invasion began. Russia’s defence minister said after the NATO summit that Moscow must be ready to take on NATO in the next decade. Andrei Belousov, Putin’s defence chief, cited the NATO summit in July and military doctrines in the US and other NATO members as evidence that Moscow must prepare for direct conflict with a more assertive NATO in the coming years.
Shooting down MH17
Russia is guilty of shooting down flight MH17 and has thereby violated international agreements on civil aviation, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO Council) has ruled. The organization has taken this decision in a case brought by the Netherlands and Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports. The Boeing 777Malaysia Airlines (flight MH17) was shot down on 17 July 2014 over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed. In the years of tensions and conflict, including the annexation of Crimea and Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, there was a significant escalation of the conflict, leading to large-scale fighting. The situation in Ukraine at that time was already tense and violent, with the conflict in the Donbas region between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. Although fighting was taking place, airspace at commercial altitudes (above 32,000 feet) was initially not closed to civil aviation. It was considered relatively safe because the fighting and threats mainly took place at lower altitudes and there was no official no-fly zone over eastern Ukraine. Other airlines such as Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa had already decided to avoid the area due to the increased risks and tensions. British Airways, for example, had already been flying around the area before MH17 was shot down. Intelligence services from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia knew that aircraft could be shot down at any altitude by military personnel or separatists. Air France had stopped flying, but KLM did. However, on 30 June 2014, NATO Supreme Commander General Philip Breedlove had already warned at a public press conference in the Pentagon that separatists were being trained by Russia in the use of mobile launchers for surface-to-air missiles. However, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was following its usual international route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet and was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile, fired from an area already occupied by pro-Russian separatists. Communications about the flight remain classified. This was confirmed again in February 2025. Too much has gone wrong to disclose. Prior to the MH17 disaster, it was already known within the government that it was unsafe to fly in Ukrainian airspace, because there were warnings about the presence of anti-aircraft guns in eastern Ukraine. Due to the inconsistent reporting by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the national aviation authorities, Malaysian Airways decided to take a chance and fly over the area anyway, with the permission of the responsible aviation authorities. Extensive investigations were carried out by the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT). These investigations showed that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile that was fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. Three Russians and a Ukrainian were convicted in absentia for this.The relatives of the victims have filed civil lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines, which of course should have taken its own responsibility and, like the other major airlines, were wise enough not to follow the bad guidelines. The relatives would have been better off filing a case against the ICAO or JIT. It was well known that missiles such as a Buk surface-to-air missile exceed 32,000 feet. The Netherlands continues to support Ukraine politically, militarily, financially and morally against Russian aggression,” it says inthe new main points program agreement . Also in the missile attack by Iran against Israel in early October 2024, air traffic was not warned in time and was only diverted when the attack had already started. The attack was announced well in advance by Iran and the US. The attack followed a day after the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon against Iranian-backed Hezbollah, shortly after 5:30 p.m. local time in Israel. It was several hours after the US had warned that an Iranian attack was imminent. Passengers were unnecessarily at risk. Apparently little was learned from the MH 17 lessons. Although Russia is to blame, the responsibility clearly lay with the government and the authorities involved. Despite the air strikes and the threat of war, civil aviation aircraft from Emirates flew from Amsterdam to Dubai over Tehran. KLM also flew daily to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv from April 19, 2024. Attempts by Israeli officials to pressure Russia to reverse the directive to avoid Israeli airspace for the next month were not honored. A majority of other foreign airlines have suspended their services to Israel for a longer period. The European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had issued a clear warning to “refrain from flying in the airspace of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels,” citing “a general intensification of air strikes and a deterioration of the security situation.” The council will consider in the coming weeks what Russia must do to ensure redress. The Netherlands and Australia have requested that the council order Russia to enter into negotiations with the countries on this matter, under the guidance of the ICAO. ICAO is part of the United Nations. Its 193 member countries are signatories to the Chicago Convention, which states that these states may not use weapons against aircraft in civil aviation. According to the ICAO Council, Russia has violated this treaty. This conclusion was reached on May 12, 2025 after a vote among the members.
War rhetoric sows fear
War rhetoric is intended to spread a culture of fear and is partly the cause of depression and overstrain. Former Prime Minister Mark Rutte and former Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren constantly warned that Russia would not leave it at Ukraine if no action was taken. These statements prompted retired Russian Lieutenant General and Member of Parliament Andrej Gurulev to advocate on Russian state television to paralyse the European continent in one go by dropping an atomic bomb on the Netherlands. Kajsa Ollongren’s assurances that Dutch F-16s would be allowed to be used in Russian airspace were an additional reason for more aggression towards the Netherlands on the Russian side.
According to the constitution, Zelensky’s presidential mandate expired on May 21, 2024. New elections are legally impossible due to the state of siege, which was introduced in February 2022 and has been extended several times. Legal experts have analyzed the legislation and have noted that in a state of siege, only parliament remains in office. The rule does not apply to the president, which means that Zelensky has not been president since October 23, 2023 and all decisions he has taken based on his veto right are irregular. Putin has denounced this several times. It is perhaps also for this reason that the international community is now pushing for an end to the war (with the lifting of the state of siege and subsequent elections that will redraw the political landscape.)
The Dutch support
The support that once started with the delivery of protective vests and helmets was soon upgraded by Rutte and Ollongren to heavy weapons, tanks, missiles and F16 fighter jets that Ukraine is even allowed to use on Russian territory. But if these take off from the airports of a country other than Ukraine and enter Ukrainian airspace, launch missiles and return there, then they are a legitimate target as far as Russia is concerned. That makes the Leeuwarden and Volkel air bases a potential target for the Russians. The new F-35s are also stationed at Leeuwarden Air Base. In addition to the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway and the United States also supplied F-16s to Ukraine. As of 1 June 2024, the F-35 will have taken over the Dutch nuclear weapons task within NATO from the F-16. The squadron of F-35s is based at Volkel Air Base. Since the 1960s, there have been around 22 nuclear bombs there. These bombs of the type B61 version 12, recently received a new tail section, which allows the B61-12 to be aimed at a target approximately 3 times more accurately than the previous B61. The B61-12 is thus the first guided free-fall bomb in the nuclear arsenal. Boeing was responsible for the development and production of the tail section. In addition, this new bomb has the ability to drill itself into the ground before it is detonated. A major disadvantage of the F-35 is its limited range and that it is less manoeuvrable.
The F-16s supplied by the West shot down several cruise missiles on August 25, 2024. The first F-16 of Ukraine has already crashed. This is said to have been due to a mistake by the air force pilot Oleksiy Mes who was killed, but rumors now also circulated that it was shot down by its own air defense. According to Ukrainian MP, veteran and deputy chair of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Maryana Bezugla, the F-16 was shot down by a Patriot surface-to-air missile system, due to a lack of coordination between units. Immediately afterwards, Zelensky dismissed his air force commander Mykola Olesjtsuk. Two American M2A2 Bradley IFVS armored vehicles were also destroyed by Ukrainian own drones. The recently delivered F-16 played an important role in the defense of Ukrainian airspace just before that. The matter was hushed up. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have pledged more than 60 fighter jets, but Ukraine has indicated that it needs more than twice that number to repel Russian attacks. Sweden said earlier this year that it would postpone the delivery of JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine . The main reason was that the introduction of the F-16 into the Ukrainian air force would be given priority. The country will eventually deliver two SAAB ASC 890 radar planes to Ukraine.
Global military spending rose to $2.44 trillion in 2023, Netherlands and Denmark delivered another fourteen refurbished Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine
Lelystad possible home base for F-35 fighter jets
After the persistent delays for commercial flights, the future of Lelystad Airport is now also in the picture for Defence. It now appears that the plans may extend further than transport aircraft or helicopters. The cabinet is considering using Lelystad Airport as a home base for F-35 fighter jets. Remarkably enough, the relatively low noise pollution for local residents is mentioned as an important argument for this choice. The final decision on this is expected in the cabinet shortly. This development adds a new dimension for local residents to the discussion about the destination of the airport, with undoubtedly again varying reactions from opponents. The impact on the environment and the broader security situation will be the subject of discussion in the coming period.
The course of the war
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already said that the US was considering allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with US-supplied weapons, and then President Biden instructed his team to ensure that Ukraine can use US weapons for counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv border area , so that Ukraine can strike back if Russian forces hit them or prepare to hit them. The policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia remained unchanged. France and Germany had previously said that Ukraine could only strike military targets in Russia with Western weapons if Ukraine was attacked from there. No German long-range weapons would go to Ukraine. “Not now and never,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. The German military, known as the Bundeswehr , is considering deploying troops to eastern Lithuania, near the Belarusian border, in an attempt to deter potential Russian aggression. The troops stationed near Belarus are expected to become fully operational in 2027, following Germany’s recent approval of an increased defense budget.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is considering terminating NATO membership, saying the country does not want to participate in the alliance’s military mission in Ukraine. Orbán also argued that Europe is preparing for war with Russia, while Moscow is unlikely to attack a NATO member state, since it cannot even defeat Ukraine. Sweden has announced a new aid package for Ukraine . The package is worth the equivalent of 1.16 billion euros and includes two surveillance aircraft . Sweden is also sending anti-aircraft missiles, artillery shells and more than 300 armored vehicles.
The Netherlands gave Ukraine 24 F-16 fighter jets with missiles and 80 million euros worth of maintenance materials such as generators, spare parts, essential maintenance materials and special tools for this. Previously, Ukraine received from the Netherlands: 1 T-72 tank, 1 YPR 765 armored tracked fighting vehicle, 1 YPR-806 A1 PRB, 1 YPR recovery vehicle, 1 Fennek reconnaissance vehicle, 29 Viking tracked vehicles, 1 Leopard 1 A5 main battle tank, 1 Leopard 2 A4 tank, 1 armored howitzer, 1 firing 120mm mortar, 1 Patriot launcher, 1 Stinger, 1 MAG machine gun, 1 mini-machine gun, 1 machine gun on an MB all-terrain vehicle, 1 precision rifle, 1 long-range rifle, several ammunition boxes with small-caliber cartridges, several drones, 1 Squire radar, 1 VERA-NG passive radar, 1 VERA-NG passive radar, 1 helmet with night vision goggles, 1 Bailey bridge, 1 Leopard 1 bridge-laying tank, 1 DAF YAI-4442, 1 Bushmaster Truck, 1 DAF TROPCO 650kN, 1 tractor-trailer combination, 1 M3 bridge and ferry system, 1 Amarok all-terrain vehicle, 1 ambulance, 1 KTM motorcycle, 1 Scanjack mine clearance system, 1 Bozena mine clearance system, 1 EOD equipment, the Zr.Ms. Zierikzee, 1 mine hunter, spare parts, 1 crane, 1 shovel, 1 forklift, clothing, ration packs, 14 rigid inflatable boats, 8 militarized river patrol boats, CB 90 combat boats, medical supplies, 62 combat vehicles, YPR, fire support systems, M109 Howitzers (donor), individual weapons, such as rifles and machine guns, such as MAG and Minimi machine guns and HK416 rifles, various types of small caliber ammunition for individual weapons and heavy ammunition for tanks and artillery (including 155mm). rifle grenades and (non-)lethal hand grenades, sensors and observation equipment, various (mobile) radar systems and VERA-NG radar systems, 10 tractor-trailer combinations, 241 trucks, quads (18), 19 vessels, 6 field hospitals, 8506 tents and accessories, generators, spare parts for various types of vehicles and (weapon) systems, logistical material, 16 trailers, 6 flat track cranes, 9 shovels, 6,600 field fortifications (6,600), personal equipment, including clothing, helmets, flak jackets, rations, medical supplies, such as personal first aid kits and medicines, and fuel. In April, another 200 million euros worth of additional equipment was transferred. With this, the Netherlands itself falls below the minimum requirements for operational readiness and international obligations . Some of the hundred tanks it received from the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark in 2023 were rejected by Ukraine because the equipment was so outdated that they were unusable for them. They were tanks from the sixties and seventies that needed a lot of modifications. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the Netherlands has also made approximately 3.7 billion euros available directly, mainly for ammunition deliveries and weapon systems, such as tanks and Patriot missiles and associated spare parts and ammunition worth 150 million euros. Furthermore, the government released 200 million euros for the purchase of drones for reconnaissance missions. The Netherlands provided a guarantee for the 50 billion euros donated by the Next Generation EU (NGEU) for Ukraine.
The European Commission also provided an additional €40 million in humanitarian aid, with a view to the approaching winter. Of this amount, €35 million is earmarked for humanitarian projects and €5 million for support to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. The money is intended to repair damaged buildings, guarantee electricity and heating, and provide shelter to those in need. With these €40 million, the European Commission has allocated almost €1 billion to civilians affected by the war in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The European Commission also wants to release an additional half a billion euros to help the European munitions industry get back on its feet and produce more artillery shells. The EU should be able to deliver 1 million shells within a year. Ukraine is in dire need of ammunition for heavy artillery. Ukrainian allies are trying to bring in new shells and rockets, but cannot keep up with the pace at which they are being rushed through.
The US (Biden) agreed on April 20, 2024, after months of negotiations, to a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine. However, part of it is considered a loan. Of the $61 billion, only $23 billion will actually go to Ukraine. The remaining $50 billion will remain in the United States and go to the American arms industry to supply weapons to Ukraine for a fee. The Ukrainian national debt will increase to 94% of GDP due to the loan. Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said that the fight costs about 125 million euros per day. He announced new tax measures to supplement the budget deficits. Half of the Ukrainian budget is already financed by foreign loans and donations. In particular, the increased interest on loans and the consequences of the war are already costing the EU at least 18.9 billion euros, the donations to Ukraine amount to 17 billion euros. Ukraine is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The investment funds want to see money and quickly make a possible deal. US authorities and other Western countries are concerned about the demands and fear that the money allocated to Ukraine in aid will have to be used to pay interest. In total, the EU needs 50 billion euros for Ukraine (NextGenerationEU (NGEU). The Netherlands also provided a guarantee for these loans. The European Commission has allocated 500 million euros from a defense fund to European arms manufacturers to quickly increase weapons production. In 2024, Ukraine must actually repay the IMF 2.19 billion SDRs for previously provided loans worth 2.9 billion dollars. In March and September 2024, Ukraine must transfer 705.5 million dollars to the IMF each time, which will be financed with new IMF funds. In the meantime, the country needs at least 42 billion dollars in international aid to support the 2024 budget alone. The United States has already proposed to mobilize tens of billions of euros for Ukraine and to lend them against future profits from frozen Russian assets. The G7 countries have failed to reach agreement in Washington on the use of the frozen Russian assets. Trump wants Russia back in a G8 and to make severe cuts on weapons. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that seizing frozen Russian assets would violate international law. S&P Global has already labeled the country a “selective defaulter.” Ukraine missed a $34 million loan payment in early August 2024, while the country is finalizing a major debt restructuring. This makes it harder for Ukraine to borrow money at favorable interest rates. There is still a short grace period, but the money is expected to simply not be there.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a four-year financing package of $15.6 billion for Ukraine. The loan is part of a broader package of $115 billion.
The annual international security conference was held in Munich on 16 February 2024. Some 800 heads of state, military personnel, diplomats and ministers discussed the Russian threat and the war in Ukraine, the future of NATO and the conflict in the Middle East. Ukrainian President Zelensky, US Vice President Harris, Israeli President Herzog and Prime Minister Shtayyeh of the Palestinian Authority were also present. Outgoing Prime Minister Rutte and Ministers Bruins Slot (Foreign Affairs) and Ollongren (Defence) were present on behalf of the Netherlands. As a gift, Rutte brought another 100 million euros for a Czech initiative to quickly purchase 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine. At the end of January, Rutte also donated 87 million euros to Ukraine for the purchase of artillery shells, 10 million for strengthening cyber defence and another 25 million for the International Fund for Ukraine, which finances weapons for Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs donated 2.5 million euros for 45 million kg of road salt and 5 million euros for improving the drinking water supply in Ukraine. A total of 229.5 million euros.
At least eighteen European countries invested approximately 2 billion euros in 2023 for 1 million artillery shells for Ukraine. Financing was provided via the new World Bank Trust Fund. The Netherlands contributed 87 million euros to this purchase and paid an additional 25 million euros to purchase equipment. The Dutch government is also investing 10 million euros in improving Ukrainian cyber attacks. The Netherlands has already provided €2.63 billion in military support to Ukraine (as of 4 December 2023). Part of this does not come from the defence budget but is taken from the general resources of the national budget and from a European fund, the so-called European Peace Facility. On 23 February 2024, Rutte also signed a ten-year security agreement on behalf of the Netherlands, including military support . On 4 April, Finnish President Alexander Stubb also signed a similar agreement. NATO called on the 32 allies to set up a fund of 100 billion euros to support Ukraine.
Ukraine has made effective use of the Patriot missile defense systems supplied by Western countries and has already shot down many Russian missiles, aircraft and drones. Patriot is by far the most expensive weapon system . The total cost per Patriot installation is approximately 1.1 billion dollars: 400 million dollars for the system and 690 million dollars for the missiles. Ukraine cost the Netherlands approximately 5.5 billion euros in 2024. A section of the House of Representatives wanted to submit a motion that could possibly prevent the proposed support package from going ahead, but caretaker Prime Minister Rutte threatened in advance not to implement the motion and even threatened to resign. Russia has already destroyed five of these expensive Patriot launchers.
On Tuesday morning, June 10, Russia fired waves of drones and missiles at two Ukrainian cities, killing two people and wounding at least 13 others. A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the center of the southern port city of Odessa were damaged in the attack. The attack came after units of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, in conjunction with other elements of the Defense Forces, carried out an attack on the Russian Savasleika air base in the Nizhny Novgorod region — about 700 km from the Ukrainian border — on the night of June 9. Two Russian aircraft were hit in the attack, possibly MiG-31 and Su-30 or Su-34 aircraft.
Nord Stream pipeline
Ukraine was responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The American intelligence service CIA is said to have heard from the MIVD in June 2023 that several Ukrainian teams were preparing the sabotage action. The MIVD also shared the information with Germany and other European countries. In the meantime, oil rigs at sea and in Crimea were also attacked with cruise missiles. Germany has become obsessed with the investigation and in June 2024, after a long and thorough investigation, issued an initial international arrest warrant for a Ukrainian who was then still living in Poland. Two other Ukrainians are also considered suspects. The explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines took place at the end of September 2022. The pipelines were seriously damaged in several places and a lot of gas was released. The suspect is said to have previously made a trip across the Baltic Sea with a Ukrainian couple, who run a diving school, on the chartered German sailing yacht Andromeda in September.
Traces of explosives for military purposes and fingerprints were found on the ship. The ship departed from the German port of Rostock and also called at the German city of Wiek, as well as a port in Denmark, Sweden and the Polish city of Kołobrzeg. The Ukrainian couple with the diving school have denied involvement in the sabotage to the German media. The German arrest warrant currently only applies to the 44-year-old Ukrainian Volodymyr Zhuravlyov. The heating engineer/diving instructor is officially suspected of “anti-constitutional sabotage” and causing the explosions. His official address is a city west of Warsaw in Poland, but he is said to have left for Ukraine. Like the Ukrainian couple, he is an experienced diver who also has experience at greater depths. There were five men and one woman on board the Andromeda.
The ship made an eighteen-day journey across the Baltic Sea from 6 September and also came close to the place where the gas pipelines later exploded. The Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service and the American intelligence service CIA knew in advance that there was a Ukrainian plan to sabotage the gas pipelines. Three months later, the gas pipelines exploded. The plan for the attack was allegedly devised during a drink with Ukrainian officers and businessmen. The businessmen financed the entire operation, which cost around 300,000 dollars (272,000 euros). The army itself had no money. Zelensky approved the plan, but is said to have changed his mind when the CIA heard about it from the MIVD and asked him to abandon the sabotage action. His former general Valery Zaluzhny is said to have told Zelensky that it was no longer possible to call off the sabotage mission and went ahead with the plan anyway. Zalozhny was “fired and appointed ambassador in London” by Zelensky in February of this year in order to be immune from prosecution. The MIVD, which knew about the plans from the start, nevertheless allowed Rutte to blame the Russians. Parliamentary questions have now been asked, but Prime Minister Schoof does not want to draw any consequences during the German investigation.
Drinking water in German town of Mechernich under investigation after possible sabotage at two military bases
NATO wants to set up a fund of 100 billion euros to continue supporting Ukraine and to be prepared for a “different political wind”
Ukraine is not only waging its heavily subsidized war in its own country, but also in Sudan. Ukrainian commandos are fighting the Russians there, while the population has nowhere to go
Hundreds of volunteers in the Ukrainian IT Army shut down Russian websites and companies to cause as much economic damage as possible. The European Commission wants extra money from the member states for Ukraine in the meantime, because of high inflation, extra staff, migration flows to Europe, higher interest costs and a few billion more for programs to make the European economy more competitive. The Netherlands is delivering around 24 F-16s to Ukraine. Russia considers this delivery a nuclear threat. Russia has the Su-57, a multifunctional 5th generation fighter plane that is being produced in series. Russia is winning after the fall of Avdiivka. Now that Avdiivka is in its hands, Russia has access to important other parts of Ukraine. The town has been on the front line since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine has done everything it can to keep Avdiivka in its hands all these years, despite all military support . President Zelensky had even tied his prestige to the town and wanted to keep it at all costs. The loss of the town is a sensitive loss of face for him.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were disconnected from the Russian energy system on 8 February 2025. The countries had already agreed in 2023 that they would disconnect from the Russian power grid. A collaboration dates back to the Soviet era. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Baltic states no longer imported electricity from Russia, but their energy networks were still connected to the Russian grid through an old contract. As a result, the countries remained dependent on Russia for the stability of their networks. From now on, the countries will run on their own power grids and these will be connected to those of Europe.
The US secretly sent long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) missiles to Ukraine. The United States continues to force a direct clash between NATO and Russia. According to French President Macron, ‘nothing can be ruled out and they will do everything to ensure that Russia does not win.’ Macron also announced that a ‘coalition’ of countries is being formed that will supply Ukraine with medium- and long-range missiles and bombs. The United Kingdom has also supplied Stormshadow long-range missiles and also gave permission to use them for attacks inside Russia. Germany is the only country that is still reluctant to supply Taurus long-range missiles. France has decided to send French fighter jets to Kiev in the first half of next year and is already delivering SCALP long-range missiles to Ukraine. The missiles have a range of at least 250 kilometers. The Kremlin has warned of the consequences. It is obvious that Ukraine mainly has Crimea in mind as a target for these missiles. Several NATO countries have stationed special units in Ukraine. Russia reacted furiously: “The consequences for the invaders will be tragic. We have weapons that can attack targets on their territory, that is clear. At the American base Ramstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, an international summit was held between the defense leaders of 56 countries. High on the agenda was the question of whether Ukraine should receive new arms deliveries. T he Ramstein Group, which consists of 32 NATO members and 24 other countries, supports Ukraine with weapons and ammunition and is therefore already involved. All the surrounding countries have stationed military experts in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, on March 11, 2024, Russia’s own troops, consisting of the “Free Russia Legion” and the “Siberian Battalion,” entered a territory temporarily occupied by the “Russian Federation.” Armed with heavy vehicles, they crossed the Belgorod and Kursk oblasts from the territory of Free Ukraine and clashed with the occupying forces of the Kremlin regime. They are said to have been armed by Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have killed 234 of the militants. Chancellor Olaf Scholz absolutely does not want to supply Taurus missiles. An online secret meeting between high-ranking German air force officers, in which this was discussed, among other things, was tapped and made public. One of the officers used an unencrypted network in his hotel in Singapore. The meeting also discussed, among other things, secret American operations in Ukraine and the stationing of foreign units. Not long after, Russia bombed several buildings of the intelligence headquarters in Ukraine. Russian electronic warfare has proven to be very effective, with an estimated installation of at least one system every 10 km of the front. These systems are primarily aimed at taking out drones. In addition to jamming drones, the Russians have also managed to intercept Motorola’s 256-bit encrypted tactical communications systems, which are widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces. Some 10,000 drones are “intercepted” in this way each month. In total, more than half a million Russian soldiers are now fighting in Ukraine. Since the invasion, at least 650,000 people have permanently fled Russia, either in protest against the war, to escape repression for their dissenting views, or to avoid military service. They have found refuge in Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and other countries in Europe.
The Ukrainian capital Kyiv is being targeted by Russia with two types of hypersonic missiles, the Kinzhal and the Zircon, which have a top speed of almost 10,000 kilometers per hour
Putin did hold elections, but they were not exactly democratic. Soon after, permission was given to call up 150,000 conscripts. President Zelensky simply postponed elections so that he could stay in power. He is having increasing difficulty recruiting for the army
In addition to material military support, the Netherlands also wants to stop the flow of cannon fodder . The Dutch government demands that Ukrainian men leave the Netherlands for the front. According to the ISW , 83% of Ukrainians who end up at the front as a result of forced mobilization die within a few days or at most a few weeks. A new law, introduced in May, requires every man between the ages of 25 and 60 to register his details in an electronic database so that he can be called up for military service. Conscription officers are hunting down those who evade the register and are forcing even more men who do not want to serve into hiding. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are no longer allowed to leave the country and are no longer allowed to be admitted as refugees by other countries, so that they are available for mobilization. About 11,000 Ukrainian men illegally crossed the border into Romania in the north of the country to avoid mobilization. Many civil servants from various departments have escaped conscription through the large-scale issuing of false certificates of disability. At least 64 officials are said to have provided some 4,100 statements. At least nine of them have already been convicted of the offence. Any form of pacifism is severely punished: Ukrainian men abroad will no longer receive help from the consulate and will no longer receive a passport, unless they return to fight. Conscription was compulsory from the age of 25, but due to a lack of fresh cannon fodder, Zelensky now wants to recruit men under this age. Anyone who refuses will be fined or eventually sentenced to prison. Already convicted prisoners will be released if they want to fight on the front.
The number of Ukrainian men fleeing the war and illegally crossing the border into Eastern European countries is still increasing. According to figures from the European border agency Frontex , around 14,232 Ukrainians crossed the border into Europe in 2024, three times as many as in 2023. The actual number is likely to be even higher. Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country in case they are called up for military service. The Ukrainian border police occasionally intercept men who try to flee anyway. The largest group consists of men between the ages of 18 and 60. The Romanian emergency services move out almost daily to rescue Ukrainian men from the mountains. The men flee because they are not professional armed forces. They are not happy with the war and do not want to fight. A total of seventeen Ukrainians have died in this region during their journey through the mountains, including from hypothermia. “As soon as they cross the border, they are in a life-threatening area.
Russia has upgraded its many relatively cheap FAB-1500 bombs to a flying missile version. The special wings are developed and manufactured 24/7 at the JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation – a major arms manufacturer – in the Moscow region, and are successfully deployed on the front line, sometimes more than 100 a day, especially in Donetsk. In addition, tactical nuclear weapons have been transferred to neighboring Belarus and attempts are being made to develop a nuclear space weapon that can destroy satellites. Pope Francis appealed in vain for peace, stating that “Ukraine must have the courage to raise the white flag” and that “negotiation is courage”. “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you must have the courage to negotiate”. The President of Bulgaria also called for political efforts for peace, rather than the distribution of weapons. Donald Trump will completely halt donations to Ukraine if he wins the US election in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after a meeting between the two. Instead, Trump wants to lend them money, which will keep the country dependent on the US in the future.
Reconstruction
International agencies have already spent one billion euros on (reconstruction) work in Ukraine. The total reconstruction costs are estimated at around 486 billion dollars. The financing by the EU and the Netherlands is not limited to the defense of Ukraine, but Ukrainian commandos are also carrying out attacks in Sudan , against a collective of Wagner mercenaries and local rebels of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The EU is financing with the “Ukraine Facility”, a special instrument providing 50 billion euros in stable support. Two German construction companies are also participating in the reconstruction of Russian-occupied Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that fell into the hands of invading troops from Moscow two years ago. The industrial group Knauf, which produces plasterboard, and WKB Systems, which produces aerated concrete, have supplied materials for the construction in the city that was almost completely paralyzed during the first months of the war.
The World Bank has approved $925 million in loans and grants as part of a $3 billion loan support package to finance reconstruction. The Netherlands has provided a guarantee of $100 million for this. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has already disbursed €668 million. There has been an accelerated deployment of existing programs worth €1.5 billion and the EBRD, supported by the Netherlands, has approved a support package worth €2 billion, in addition to its own initial commitment of €2 billion for future reconstruction. The IMF has approved emergency liquidity worth €1.2 billion.
Dutch military support for Ukraine as of April 12 this year is already 3 billion euros . Almost 8 billion euros have been reserved for migration this year
The caretaker government announced at the end of December 2023 that 180 million euros would be made available for humanitarian aid and reconstruction in the short term. In 2023, the Netherlands already spent a total of 5.3 billion euros on Ukraine. The Dutch contribution to the reconstruction will be financed mainly from funds made available by the UN and the EU, via the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) respectively. However, the Netherlands also pays out money directly, under the banner of DRIVE, an RVO programme that promotes infrastructure in developing countries. This support can amount to up to 50 percent of the costs of a project, on condition that the contribution is largely Dutch. On 1 February 2024, the EU leaders signed for further support to Ukraine. The EU member states want to grant 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion euros in favourable loans to Ukraine over the next four years.
Poland has indicated its willingness to allow the US to acquire nuclear weapons. Biden has previously secretly delivered long-range missiles to Ukraine . Biden secretly approved long-range ATACMS missiles for use within Ukrainian territory in February. The ATACMS missiles were then quietly included in the $300 million aid package announced on March 12 and eventually delivered to Ukraine earlier this month after Russia used North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine and Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine continued.
Corruption and fraud
Ukraine has been dealing with bribery, theft and corruption for 28 years . Recently, 37 million euros were found to have been embezzled by officials of the Ministry of Ukrainian Defense. The fraud was discovered by the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU). Meanwhile, a report from the US Department of State found that Ukraine is experiencing enforced disappearances, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, appalling and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest or detention, serious problems with judicial independence, restrictions on freedom of expression, violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, as well as censorship, severe restrictions on Internet freedom, significant interference with the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, restrictions on freedom of movement, serious corruption within the government , widespread gender violence, systematic restrictions on workers’ associations and the existence of the worst forms of child labor. The report also highlights that the government often fails to take adequate steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed abuses. In May 2023, the president of the Supreme Court was arrested for receiving $3 million in bribes. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was dismissed in September 2023 over several corruption cases within the ministry. A court has ordered the arrest of Agriculture Minister Mikola Solski. He is suspected of involvement in an illegal transaction to purchase government land worth €6.5 million. The corruption case dates back to before he became minister in 2022. Solski denies the allegations. He was allowed to leave on €1.7 million bail. Solski then offered his resignation. He is the first minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government to be prosecuted by the judiciary for corruption . Zelenskiy’s position is also not secure. There was a debate over the legitimacy of his presidency, which officially ends on May 20, 2024.
Russia is using tear gas (chloropicrin) as is already happening in Georgia and this is considered and described by the US and NOS as the use of “chemical weapons”.
Environmental damage
On Remembrance Day, Russia attacked energy facilities in cities including Kyiv, Poltava and Lviv. More than fifty missiles and twenty drones were fired at Ukrainian infrastructure. The largest power plant in the Kyiv region was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to carry out drone attacks on refineries, fuel sites and the nuclear power plant, causing enormous environmental damage and other risks . The Nordstream pipeline was also damaged. The Russian-captured and operated Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine was damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks on 7 April 2024 and 11 August 2024. The first drone attack included three direct hits on the facility’s main reactor. One person died as a result of the attack. The fire on 11 August 2024 was in one of the cooling towers, which was also reportedly damaged. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for this attack. It is yet another clear violation of all agreed basic principles regarding warfare around nuclear power plants. Such reckless attacks greatly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident. No nuclear power plant in the world is designed to withstand such attacks. The Russians, for their part, set fire to the Trypilska power plant in the Kyiv region on April 11, 2024. A Rosneft refinery in Tuapse, southern Russia, caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack. The infrastructure of the Tuapse oil refinery was badly damaged and the environmental consequences are serious. The city of Tuapse is located on the Black Sea, about 250 kilometers from Crimea. Ukrainian drones caused fires in several oil tanks at the Glubokinskaya oil depot in the Rostov region of Russia on August 27. The Ukrainian military reported on October 4 that its troops attacked an oil base in the Voronezh region of western Russia. Russia and Ukraine have intensified their attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure in recent months, with the environment bearing the brunt. Ukraine also said it hit an oil depot in Crimea on October 6, causing it to catch fire. The Ukrainian military also hit a Russian oil depot in the Crimean city of Feodosia on October 7, 2024. According to the Ukrainian armed forces, the hit oil depot is the largest in the region. Ukraine again attacked an oil depot in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region in the east of the country on October 11, causing a large fire. Ukraine has a history of targeting Russian-held weapons and fuel depots, including inside Russia. This attack was the third in two years on the Rovenky oil depot.
Ukrainian forces attacked two Russian oil depots in Kaluga and Tula Oblasts on the night of January 17–18, 2025. The Ukrainian General Staff reported on January 18 that units of the Ukrainian Special Operation Forces (SSO) and other Ukrainian forces attacked an oil depot of the Kaluganeftprodukt (JSC) joint-stock company near Lyudinovo, Kaluga Oblast, causing a fire at the facility on the night of January 17–18. Kaluga Oblast Governor Vladislav Shapsha claimed on January 17–18 that a drone strike caused a fire at an unnamed industrial enterprise in Lyudinovo, Kaluga Oblast, later adding that Russian forces had shot down seven drones over the region.[2] Russian sources released footage allegedly showing the fire at the oil depot. On January 29, 2025, a massive fire was started by drones at the Russian oil refinery in Kstovo. The refinery had a capacity of 17 million tons per year. The environmental damage is enormous. Ukrainian drones caused fires in several oil tanks at the Glubokinskaya oil depot in the Rostov region of Russia on August 27.
In early March 2025, Ukraine used drones to attack an oil refinery 1,300 km deep inside Russia, causing it to catch fire.
Zelensky received three mobile HIMARS missile systems from US stockpiles. The missile systems, paid for by Germany, have a range far behind the front lines. Due to a budget deficit in Germany, further financial aid to Ukraine for 2024, including a doubling of 8 billion euros in aid, has been suspended .
Russia warned it would launch a “devastating revenge attack” if Ukraine attacked Crimea or the Crimean Bridge. Kyiv planned to attack the bridge on or before May 9, 2024, the day Russia commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Vladimir Putin had already ordered a “training exercise” with nuclear weapons to carry out combat missions, just to be on the safe side, and the threat paid off. Missile formations in Russia’s Southern Military District and naval forces took part in the exercise. The EU was already in a mild panic, with calls to use the €422 billion from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) for defense purposes. Zelensky also declared martial law to give the Ukrainian military leadership the authority to seize private or communal property for state purposes.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian forces have destroyed 600 Ukrainian warplanes, 1,300 multiple rocket launchers, 274 helicopters, 24,111 unmanned aerial vehicles, 521 surface-to-air missile systems, 16,053 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 1,300 multiple rocket launchers, 9,607 field artillery guns and mortars, and 21,753 special military motor vehicles. In the past 24 hours, they have destroyed three more tanks, two armored fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, a Polish-made 155 mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, a 122 mm D-30 howitzer, and a 122 mm BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, and are winning.
Putin appointed Defense Minister Shoigu as the new chairman of the Russian Security Council, replacing Nikolai Patrushev, who had held the position since 2008. Patrushev is also one of the so-called siloviki, Putin’s closest confidants. The 68-year-old Shoigu had been Defense Minister since 2012. Former Deputy Prime Minister and economist Andrei Belousov will be the new Defense Minister. The Kremlin had already decided to oust Shoigu last summer after the Wagner mercenary group mutiny against the Russian military leadership. After a career in academia, Belousov was Minister of Economic Development for a year before being appointed Putin’s economic adviser in 2013. He has been First Deputy Prime Minister since 2020.
Kyiv’s State Security Service (SBU) said it had “foiled” plans to assassinate Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, including SBU head Vasyl Maliuk and the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency Kyrylo Budanov. One of the suspects had received two drones and ammunition from Russia’s State Security Service (FSB), which they planned to transfer to another accomplice to carry out an explosion.
The Netherlands, together with the help of other Patriot-owning countries, wants to assemble and donate a Patriot system to Ukraine in the short term. To this end, the Netherlands itself is making core components available from its own stock and is calling on European countries to add core components. President Biden instructed his team to ensure that Ukraine can use American weapons for counterfire purposes in the border area near Kharkov , so that Ukraine can strike back if Russian forces hit them or prepare to hit them. The policy of not allowing long-range attacks inside Russia has not changed. France and Germany have previously stated that Ukraine may attack military targets in Russia with Western weapons if Ukraine is attacked from there. A total of ten important allies of Ukraine have now adopted this position, including the Netherlands.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has asked his NATO colleagues to extend an invitation to Kiev to join NATO. This is part of a “ victory plan ” outlined by President Volodymyr Zelensky last month to end the war sparked by the Russian invasion in 2022, but could sooner lead to World War III as this was one of the reasons Russia started the war on Ukraine.
At the summit in Switzerland on 15 and 16 June 2024, the heads of state and government firmly rejected a Russian offer. Swiss officials sent out around 160 invitations, but only 90 delegations, including a handful of international organisations such as the United Nations, attended. Vice President Kamala Harris was there instead of Joe Biden. Russia was also absent. Zelensky did not want Russia to be involved in the talks. The conference contained elements of a ten-point peace formula that Zelensky presented at the end of 2022. Zelensky only wants peace if Russia withdraws completely from its internationally recognised territory, including Crimea, and felt supported in this by the EU and the US. The final declaration was approved by 80 of the 93 participating states. In the declaration, the signatories call for the Russian-occupied Zaphorizhia nuclear power plant to be protected and for any threat of using nuclear weapons to be condemned. In addition, the 80 states are committed to unhindered grain exports from Ukraine, which are particularly important for poor countries in Africa, for example. The summit declaration also calls for the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of children and other civilians abducted to Russia. Among the countries that did not agree were six states from the G20 group of the world’s major economic powers: Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, India and Indonesia. Armenia, Bahrain, Thailand, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia and the Vatican did not sign the final declaration.
Zelensky went to the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris on December 7, 2024, to ask Trump for help. Donald Trump then called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine and negotiations to end the conflict. “Zelensky and Ukraine want a deal and an end to the madness. Ukraine lost 400,000 troops and many more civilians in a ridiculous way,” Trump said.
Putin sent his ultramodern war fleet to Cuba as an exercise and provocation a few weeks after America gave Ukraine permission to also target Russian territory with the weapons they supply. This action further increases tensions. The Russian ships were welcomed with multiple salutes by Cuba and those that docked in the port of Havana on June 12, 2024. The ships have new and advanced weapons on board and can also carry nuclear weapons. In the meantime, Russia warns both the Netherlands and France about their involvement in the war.
Moscow authorities warned Washington that it would face “consequences” over Ukraine’s deadly attack on Crimea, allegedly carried out with long-range missiles supplied by the United States. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attack on the city of Sevastopol “barbaric” and accused the United States of “killing Russian children.” Five people were killed, including three children, and 125 were wounded. On July 8, Russia launched a relentless counterattack on an operational children’s hospital in Kiev. The United Nations Security Council met on July 9, 2024, to discuss the attack in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Russia considered the Crimean attack to be an American attack due to the use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles. The US ambassador to Russia was summoned . The Russian Defense Ministry claims that US specialists coordinated the ATACMS missiles with information from spy satellites and a reconnaissance drone, making Washington directly responsible for the attack. The Russian ministry noted an increase in US drone flights over the Black Sea and warned that this could lead to a “direct confrontation” with NATO. A Russian jet reportedly shot down a US Global Hawk reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. Over the weekend, civilians were killed in Dnipro and Vilniansk. Novooleksandrivka was occupied as the Russian army pushes further west into the Donetsk region. The town – located northwest of occupied Ocheretyne – is now the westernmost point of the region controlled by Moscow. A crowdfunded Ukrainian satellite has been allowing military intelligence to observe Russians from space for two years. “The results have been overwhelming,” says Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also known as HUR. The microsatellite purchased from Finnish company ICEYE allows Ukrainians to spy on Russian troop locations, logistics, tanks and ships. 60 foreign policy experts sent an open letter urging NATO not to make any promises about admitting Ukraine to NATO ahead of the organization’s anniversary summit in Washington from July 9-11.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced new “peace initiatives.” He also added that criticism does not deter Budapest. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that Ukraine’s accession to NATO could provoke a global conflict. NATO’s current position remains that Ukraine will be allowed to join after the war. On July 18, 2024, Ukraine attacked the Crimean coast guard base with more than 30 unmanned drones, while one would expect all its forces to be focused on defending Kiev, which is under heavy fire. Russia managed to shoot down most of the air defenses. Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine to €4 billion by 2025.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party has seen its political dominance erode and fragmented into several factions. As a result, the party is now relying on the support of lawmakers from the previously banned Opposition Bloc party to pass crucial legislation. The resulting disarray in parliament is said to hamper its ability to effectively oversee government activities. Zelensky’s cabinet is said to be amassing excessive power, exceeding the authority the country has already been granted under martial law. NATO continues to provoke Russia. On July 21, Russia was forced to deploy fighter jets to prevent two US strategic bombers from crossing the border via the Barents Sea in the Arctic. The B-52H bombers will operate from Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu air base near the Black Sea.
More than three thousand former prisoners in Ukraine were deployed to strengthen the army. Belgian F16 fighter jets have arrived in Ukraine and are ready for combat. The Russian army is fighting Ukraine in the western border region of Kursk, after Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Russia. Ukraine has now captured approximately 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory, after Ukrainian troops crossed the border on August 6. The cross-border invasion of Ukraine into Russia has disrupted the plans of Russian mercenaries in junta-led Burkina Faso. Many of them have now withdrawn to strengthen the defenses at Kursk. Zelensky thus brought World War III a little closer. During the peace negotiations, Russia managed to recapture Kursk. Russian troops have advanced to the center of the Russian city of Suja, which was occupied by the Ukrainians, in the Russian oblast of Kursk. Ukraine has received approximately 27 F-16s (15 from the Netherlands, 12 from Denmark). On August 26, 2024, the first crashed, probably due to pilot error, killing pilot Oleksii Mes. On April 12, 2025, a second F-16 was lost during a combat mission, killing pilot Pavlo Ivanov. At least eight aircraft were lost while still parked. Since July 2024, $200 million of equipment has been lost.
Given the presence of Western military equipment, the use of Western munitions and missiles in attacks on civilian infrastructure, and the irrefutable evidence of the participation of foreigners in the attack on Russian territory, one could conclude that the world is on the brink of World War III, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Sheremet said. The weapons intended and intended for self-defense were used for the attack on Russian territory with the consent of NATO and the EU. Due to the Ukrainian operation on Russian territory, planned negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Qatar were canceled. In the capital Doha, delegations were supposed to talk about ending attacks on each other’s energy plants through a Qatari delegation. Immediately after, energy infrastructure in fifteen regions of Ukraine was hit by Russian missile and drone attacks for two days. In addition to deaths, there were also injuries. There were also explosions in Kyiv. In some parts of the capital, there is a power outage and no water is coming out of the taps. The attack began around midnight on August 25. The Russian Defense Ministry says it has used high-precision weapons to attack key energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Donetsk is now one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia has annexed. In all haste and silence, the Netherlands has transported 28 of the 73 newly purchased Viking-Bandvagn S10 tracked vehicles to Ukraine in recent days. This year, the Netherlands has already donated more than three billion euros worth of ammunition and equipment to Kyiv. Putin was invited to visit Mongolia to commemorate the victory of the Soviet-Mongolian troops over Japan in the Battle of Chalkhin Gol in 1939. Russia and Mongolia recently held joint military exercises under the name Selenga-2024. Mongolia has been an ally of Russia for years and has taken a neutral position regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Mongolia is a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that governs the ICC, which technically obliges it to comply with the court’s demands to arrest Putin, but this was not done. Ukraine hit targets a few kilometers from the Kremlin. On September 2, Russian attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv continued, and on September 3, two Russian ballistic missiles in the city of Poltava killed at least 41 people and wounded more than 180 others when a building of the Institute of Communications was targeted. Lviv was also hit, killing seven people, including three children. Dozens of people were injured. Historic buildings in the city center were damaged. A rehabilitation center located in a monumental building from 1893 was destroyed.
Zelensky became frustrated and lashed out. He again had three ministers resign. The ministers were responsible for the war industry, for justice and for the environment. At least seven ministers have now been dismissed or left. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has also resigned. The diplomat had been a minister since 2020 and abroad he is the best-known face of the cabinet. Over the past 2.5 years he has traveled continuously to capitals around the world to gather financial and military support. Iran supplied Russia with hundreds of ballistic missiles in early September 2024. These are missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers and an explosive charge of 150 kilograms. Russian troops carried out heavy attacks near the strategic city of Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine. With this, the country is threatening an important supply route for Ukrainian troops. In Latvia, a Russian drone of the Iranian type Shahed with explosives crashed. The drone was probably on its way to Ukraine. From Belarus, the drone entered Latvia, where it was detected by the radar system. The drone landed about 90 kilometers inland. Remains of a Russian drone were also found in Romania, near the border with Ukraine. One or more attack drones flew through Romanian airspace.
China held joint military exercises with Russia. The two allies continue to intensify military and economic cooperation to counter what they see as US dominance in the world. The Chinese Ministry of Defense announced that its naval and air forces will also participate in the “North-Joint 2024” exercises in the air and around the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. The two sides sent naval fleets to “relevant sea areas of the Pacific Ocean” for a joint maritime patrol. China is also participating in Russia’s “Ocean-2024” strategic exercise.
US and British officials discussed Zelensky’s request to relax the rules for firing long-range weapons at Russia. Putin warned that the West risks “war” if it supports Ukraine for long-range strikes. In mid-November 2024, Zelensky obtained permission from Biden to strike targets in Russia with the US-supplied long-range missiles. In response, Russia has expelled British diplomats. The Netherlands has been the only country to give permission so far, and Putin has noticed.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged a loan during a visit to Kyiv as part of a broader plan of more than 44 billion euros to help Ukraine, previously agreed by the United States and the G7. Ukraine wants to use the money for weapons such as drones and air defenses, the construction of bomb shelters at schools and the protection of the country’s energy supply.
Vladimir Putin told a meeting of the Russian Security Council in September that he considered any attack backed by a nuclear power a joint attack and that if the country were attacked, he could use nuclear weapons. The Kremlin said a revised nuclear doctrine allowing Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states should be seen as a warning to the West. Ukraine will receive the so-called JSOW, a glider bomb capable of carrying out precision strikes over long distances. The US is also helping with other missiles, drones, munitions and training for 18 additional F-16 pilots. The US military is refurbishing an old Patriot system for Ukraine’s air defense, among other things. The US is also supplying additional Patriot and AMRAAM missiles. Ukrainian troops carried out another unsanctioned attack on a nearby power station at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant . The plant was captured by Russian troops in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Putin promised in a video message on September 30 that Moscow will achieve all the goals it has set for itself in the ongoing war against Ukraine, that the truth is on their side and that all the stated goals will be achieved. The Russian army announced on September 26 that it had captured the Ukrainian city of Ukrainsk in the eastern Donetsk region. The Ukrainian army announced on October 2 that it was withdrawing from Vuhledar, where they faced heavy Russian attacks and the risk of being surrounded. Russian troops captured Zhelanne Druge “the settlement of Zhelannoye Vtoroye” in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk on October 5. The village is located near Pokrovsk. Zelensky had wanted to exchange the occupied territory in the Kursk region for Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, but Putin did not agree to this. Russian troops have reached the eastern Ukrainian city of Toretsk. The city in the Donbas region has been the site of heavy fighting between Russia and Ukraine for years. Britain and the United States accuse Russia of using the toxic drug chloropicrin .
Russia used Kinzhal (dagger) missiles on October 14 during attacks on the Ukrainian airfield at Starokostyantyniv. These are advanced missiles that fly faster than sound, and cost about nine million euros each. On October 6, Kinzhal missiles also flew towards the town of Pryluky, where there is also an airbase. They flew past Kyiv, on their way to the town of Starokostyantyniv in the west of the country, where about 30,000 people live. Right next to that town is a military airfield, where F-16s may also be parked. The Ukrainian air force has confirmed that the missiles were headed towards that town. The main targets are Su-24 fighter jets and F-16s”. A series of Russian airstrikes on Zaporizhia have damaged 29 buildings and several roads with glider bombs. Zaporizhia is a major logistics and industrial hub and home to a nuclear power plant that the Russians have already captured. On October 14, the village of Mykhaylivka, south of the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, was captured. Russia is receiving aid from Iran, China and also from North Korea, which supplies Russia with missiles, parts and weapons, and manpower. Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since the creation of North Korea after World War II and have grown closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In June, Putin visited Pyongyang, where he and Kim Jong-un signed a mutual defense agreement. Today, troops on both sides of the conflict line communicate in Spanish, Nepali, Hindi, Somali, Serbian and Korean. North Korea has sent 12,000 troops to Russia. The first group of 2,600 North Korean soldiers went to Kursk Oblast. The North Korean special forces of Chongjin, Hamhung and Musudan were transported to Vladivostok between October 8 and 13, and on October 22 a second group of another 1,500 troops arrived. The North Koreans are being provided with Russian identity papers and were deployed from November 1, 2024. In April, Chinese were also found to be fighting for Russia. The Ukrainian army captured two of them in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine is said to have hit the Swedlow factory with drones. The largest munitions factory is located about 900 kilometers deep in Russia, in the Nizhny Novgorod region. There, among other things, aircraft and artillery shells, air bombs and nuclear warheads are made. For South Korea, a safe playing field to fight out the disputes with North Korea. South Korea considered sending military advisors to Ukraine. The team that would be sent would consist of military personnel from intelligence services, who can analyze tactics on the North Korean battlefield or interrogate captured North Koreans.
Russia fired approximately 120 missiles and 90 drones at Ukraine on November 16, 2024. Explosions are reported in Zaporizhia, Odesa and the capital Kyiv and the southern city of Mykolaiv, among other places. According to the Ukrainian Minister of Energy, it was a large-scale attack on energy infrastructure. The US suddenly gave the requested permission to use the previously sent Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS). On November 19, Ukraine immediately fired the first of these long-range missiles at a munitions storage site near the city of Karachev in Bryansk Oblast in western Russia, more than 70 miles from the Ukrainian border. For the first time, British Storm Shadow missiles were also used on Russian territory. Putin threatened that a cluster of Oreshnik missiles have the effect of a nuclear weapon and that they did not rule out using this missile to hit military targets, or for example in places where decisions are made, including Kyiv. Biden considered giving Ukraine nuclear weapons before leaving the White House on January 20.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is heavily on the losing side in early December, with many soldiers fleeing and deserting . Russia is considering using its new medium-range missile, the Oreshni k, again. Russian General Igor Kirillov, in charge of nuclear forces, was killed in a bomb attack in Moscow together with an employee. A bomb in a parked scooter went off as the two were leaving a building in Moscow. Kirillov, 54, had been the commander of Russian units specializing in operations in circumstances involving the use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons since 2018. In late December, the villages of Lozova in the northeastern region of Kharkiv and Krasnoye, known in Ukraine as Sontsivka, were captured by the Russians. The latter is close to the resource hub of Kurakhove, which is almost surrounded by Russia. This would be an important victory for taking the entire Donetsk region. Ukraine has a large supply of various raw materials in its soil. Ukraine has lithium, which is used to produce batteries, but also titanium. This is often used in the defense industry to build aircraft and missiles. It also has gallium in the ground, which is often used to produce semiconductors. Trump also has his sights set on the raw materials and has no desire to wait until the war is over.
Donald Trump wants to secure half a trillion dollars in resources from Ukraine, which he says “could one day be Russian.” This is part of negotiations over continued US aid to Kiev to defend the country against invading Russian forces. “I want our money to be secure, because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier. “They can make a deal, they can’t make a deal. They could one day be Russian, or they could one day not be Russian.” So far, Washington has provided $65.9 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Another $69.2 billion in military aid was provided after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused Zelensky of attempted bribery. According to Fico, Zelensky offered him 500 million in Russian assets in exchange for support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO. Slovakia has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the country’s accession. Zelensky fired the Ukrainian ambassadors to Japan, China, Lithuania and a handful of other countries. An SBU colonel turned out to be both head of the Ukrainian intelligence services and a spy for the FSB , the Russian Federal Security Service.
Putin vows revenge after Ukraine hits Russian city of Kazan with drone strike. At least eight drones attacked apartment buildings in the city, causing fires. The Russian army has taken the village of Storozheve as part of an attempt to surround the nearby city of Velyka Novosilka. An Azerbaijan Airlines plane was accidentally shot down by Russia and crashed while en route to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Debris from the plane was found near the city of Aktau in southwestern Kazakhstan. At least 38 people were killed in the crash, with 29 passengers surviving. The Kremlin said the plane was diverted because Grozny was attacked by Ukrainian drones, which were stopped by Russian air defenses, which also hit the plane. Putin has apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Putin apologized for the “tragic incident” in Russian airspace.
In his last two weeks as president of the United States, Joe Biden tried to quickly increase the pressure and provide additional support. About 500 million dollars worth of weapons were sent to Ukraine. Biden also wanted to quickly impose more sanctions on Russia. Russian forces have carried out hundreds of attacks on Ukraine in the past week, using almost 700 aerial bombs and more than 600 attack drones to capture the villages of Yantarne in the Donetsk region and Kalynove in the Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, Ukraine has carried out attacks deep inside Russia in the Bryansk, Tula and Saratov regions. In Bryansk, which is 200 kilometers from the border, a munitions factory and a missile production facility were hit. In Tula, which is 150 kilometers south of Moscow, a factory was attacked. Near the town of Engels, which is almost 1,000 kilometers east of Kharkiv, an ammunition depot of an air base was attacked. Russian forces are said to have used munitions containing chemical agents banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) 434 times in Ukraine in December 2024, bringing the total to 5,389 documented cases since February 2023. Trump has tasked retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy for Ukraine, with resolving the conflict within 100 days. He has limited himself to threatening Russia if it does not start negotiations, but has stressed that he does not want to harm Russia by doing so. Vladimir Putin believes the main goals of the war have already been achieved, including establishing control over the area connecting mainland Russia to Crimea and weakening the Ukrainian military. He also “recognizes the pressure” the military operations are putting on the Russian economy. North Korean troops have reportedly not fought in Russia’s Kursk Oblast since mid-January, further confirming that the original 11,000 to 12,000-strong North Korean contingent sent to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine has been withdrawn after suffering significant losses. However, North Korea has sent even more troops to Russia, according to South Korea’s intelligence service (NIS). It is not known exactly how many North Korean troops are involved. In February, new North Korean troops were already stationed on the front line in the Kursk region. Von der Leyen announced in February 2025 that Ukraine would receive another €3.5 billion in aid from the EU in March and that the country would benefit from European plans to scale up arms production. For example, a €20 billion military aid package for Ukraine is being prepared and there are already plans behind the scenes for a European army, should the US leave NATO.Zelensky confirmed on April 7, 2025 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are also active in the Russian region of Belgorod. A Russian commander was killed on April 11, 2025, in a Ukrainian attack in the Kursk region, reportedly using an American-made HIMARS system, according to the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Dosye Shpiona. The attack targeted the command post of the Russian military 30th Motorized Rifle Regiment and led to the deaths of seven people, including the regiment’s deputy commander, a radio operator and five soldiers. Zelensky dismissed the governor of the Sumy region after the city of Sumy was targeted by a Russian missile attack due to his actions. Zelensky initially spoke of an attack on civilians, while Russia had already said that a military rally was taking place in the city center. Several high-ranking military officers who were due to receive decorations were killed in the attack. The Ukrainian army says it then attacked the Russian base from which the missiles were fired at the Ukrainian city of Sumy. The Russian attack on April 24 killed 35 people and wounded more than a hundred. A North Korean missile attack on Kiev killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens. According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian army is still fighting in the Russian border region of Kursk. A day earlier, Moscow had claimed the “complete liberation” of the western region. The Ukrainian army remains active in the southern Russian border region of Belgorod. On the night of May 5-6, Ukraine fired more than 100 drones at Russia . Among other things, the capital Moscow came under fire and the operation of a dozen airports was disrupted. A rare and expensive Russian vehicle-mounted maritime radar system was also destroyed, a maritime version of the Zaslon radar originally developed for the MiG-31 interceptor aircraft. More than 50,000 Russian soldiers have gathered in the Sumy region at the end of May. Moscow has stepped up its military efforts towards the Ukrainian region of Sumy in recent weeks. Zelensky said he believes Moscow is trying to create a 10-kilometer buffer zone in the area. Ukraine, on the other hand, attacked several military airfields in Russia at the end of May, including the Belaya air base near the Siberian city of Irkutsk, more than 4,300 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. There was also a drone attack in the Murmansk region, in the far northwest of Russia. A military airport was also said to have been the target there. Ukraine managed to damage or destroy dozens of Russian bombers. Forty strategic bombers were said to have been involved in the attackswere neutralized at four different bases, including aircraft capable of delivering atomic bombs. These aircraft are also used to launch long-range missiles into Ukraine. Russia has launched a manhunt for a former Ukrainian DJ Artem Timofeev and his wife, Ekaterina “Katya” Timofeeva, a writer of erotic fiction, who are said to have organized the attacks. Under Operation “Spider Web,” they are said to be behind the large-scale drone attack in the Irkutsk region. The trucks with drones used were registered to him. His wife is suspected of helping her husband. She has not been online for two weeks and has deleted her normally active social media accounts. “Operation Spider Web” caused Russia damage of around $7 billion. There is controversy over the damage and the role of the former DJ. The Russian narrative minimizes the impact, emphasizing the interception of drones and portraying the attack as an act of terrorism, while the timing just before peace talks emphasizes the strategic implications. A major Russian drone strike struck several neighborhoods in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on June 17, 2025, damaging an apartment building and killing at least 14 people, the head of Kyiv’s military administration said Tuesday. An American citizen was also killed in the overnight attack. Russian forces took control of the Chervona Zirka settlement in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on June 28. Russian airstrikes from eastern to western Ukraine on June 28 left at least six people injured, including a child. One person was killed in a drone strike in Kherson. According to the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 477 drones and 60 missiles, destroying 211 drones and 38 missiles. It was one of the largest airstrikes since the start of the war. Some of the drones that were not destroyed were neutralized by Ukraine by disrupting them and deflecting them. The attacks were spread across the country and came a day after President Putin said he was ready to resume ceasefire talks.
Another Ukrainian F-16 fighter crashed in a counterattack. The aircraft was damaged during the firing and lost altitude. The pilot did not have time to use his ejection seat and was killed. It was the third F-16 to be lost.
War between Russia Ukraine and Mali
Ukraine and Russia have also been fighting each other on the African continent since the summer of 2023. Ukrainian special forces are carrying out drone strikes in support of the military regime of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Mali is raging in a series of overlapping and complex civil wars involving separatists, ethnic militias, jihadists, the Malian government army and international actors such as Russia and Ukraine. The insurgency in northern Mali that began in 2012 took on a geopolitical dimension in 2022 when French and Western European troops withdrew and Russian Wagner troops replaced them. Wagner Group not only helped the Malian army in its fight against insurgents, it also exploited several gold mines in the resource-rich country. Elements of these new private armies are now also being deployed by Russia for special missions in Ukraine and Africa. The reconstituted paramilitary groups have already forced the Biden administration to withdraw troops from Niger and Chad. In June 2024, a large unit of Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries was ambushed by Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, West Africa. The attack left some 84 mercenaries and 47 Malians dead. The next day, a spokesman for the Ukrainian secret service acknowledged that Ukraine was involved in the attack.
War between Russia - Moldova
Moldova will become the 2nd Ukraine. Former Minister Kajsa Ollongren had indicated in Moldova that she wanted to support the country against Russian influence. The Eastern European republic is closely linked to the situation in Ukraine. Earlier, the former minister visited Greece where she emphasized to her counterpart Nikos Dendias the importance of cooperation in military support for Ukraine. She also visited the headquarters of Operation Aspides, in which the Netherlands is contributing. Moldova wants to become a member of the EU. The Netherlands is in favor of this. But because of this European course, the country is facing a major hybrid threat from Russia. The Netherlands is supporting the European Union Partnership Mission for Moldova with €4 million. This is to ensure the resilience of the Moldovan state institutions.
War between Russia and Kazakhstan
Outgoing Prime Minister and candidate Secretary General Rutte is meanwhile working on NATO partner (non-member) Kazakhstan to prevent it from siding with Russia. On May 8, he will visit the capital Astana. This will be followed by a reception by President Tokayev. During a bilateral meeting and a working lunch, they will discuss bilateral and economic relations, including cooperation in the field of water, and the Russian war against Ukraine and the related sanctions imposed on Russia. Many of the sanctions are evaded via Kazakhstan. In April 2024, Russian oil revenues will have more than doubled compared to April 2023, despite international sanctions. The Ukrainian armed forces confirm that they have withdrawn from a district in the strategically important Chasiv Yar in the east of the country. Russia is also approaching the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
War between Israel-GAZA/HAMAS
In the year 622 in Medina it was formally established that Mohammed would enter into a covenant with the Arab and Jewish tribes of Medina. The various tribes of the oasis would bury their old enmity and form a new super tribe, as it were. The Muslims and the Jews had to live peacefully next to the pagans of Medina. It was formally established then that Mohammed would enter into a covenant with the Arab and Jewish tribes. The various tribes of the oasis would bury their old enmity and form a new super tribe, as it were.
That people have been trying to kill each other since then may have something to do with civilization and greed. After almost 2000 years of trying to kill each other, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were able to respect each other again. They received the Nobel Peace Prize for this in 1994. After Hamas won the elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006, all hell broke loose again. As usual, people were trying to kill each other again, due to persistent oppression and land grabbing, reaching a climax in October 2023 when Hamas decided to literally slaughter more than 700 Israeli citizens and more than 400 foreign citizens at a party. As cover, 250 citizens were kidnapped, held hostage and raped. Since then, the floodgates have opened and Netanyahu has had enough and will not be stopped until Hamas has been completely wiped out.
Together with Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International and PAX, The Rights Forum is taking the Dutch state to court for exporting weapons to Israel. This makes the Netherlands partly responsible for violations of the law of war and the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza. Aware of cause and effect, the Netherlands subsequently donated 10 million euros in food aid by sea for Gaza. In the meantime, anonymous officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the role of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Ministry of General Affairs in the Gaza war in a letter to the Court. There was also disagreement between Foreign Affairs and General Affairs. On the campuses of various universities in Canada, including Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, students have set up pro-Palestinian camps. The Canadian protests come at a time when the police in the neighboring United States have arrested hundreds of student activists. At the University of California in Los Angeles, among other places, there were violent confrontations between police and activists.
Hamas has submitted in vain a comprehensive vision of a ceasefire agreement aimed at stopping “Israeli aggression” in the Gaza Strip, providing aid to the victims, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Hamas has also submitted a plan for the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but has only agreed to exchange 42 Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, not simply release them all.
Netanyahu therefore approved the plans for a military operation in Rafah. David Barnea, head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, was in Qatar on March 17 to renegotiate a possible ceasefire. Hamas militants had in the meantime regrouped in the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. In November, the army found a Hamas command post and weapons under the hospital. Furthermore, there was supposedly evidence that hostages were being held there and 50 to 90 armed militant fighters were killed in and around the hospital, including a high-ranking Hamas commander.
The al-Shifa hospital was later again set up as a command center by Hamas. The hospital was therefore finally razed to the ground. On March 25, 2024, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution in vain demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In addition, an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages was demanded. Meanwhile, the people of Turkey want war or at least very heavy sanctions against Israel and even voted against Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP in the local elections. Erdogan is now being forced to tackle Israel if he wants to have a chance in the upcoming elections. Israel is cracking down hard and ruthlessly on the Gaza Strip, with seven employees of the World Central Kitchen, an organization that provides humanitarian aid in Gaza, being killed in Deir al Balah in central Gaza.
It is said to be an American, an Australian, a Briton, a Canadian, an Irishman, a Palestinian and a Pole. The organization provided meals to victims of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent Gaza war, some 103 journalists and media workers have also been killed by Israeli attacks. Of them, 90 are Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese. The parliament in Jerusalem has passed a law that makes it possible to ban Al Jazeera. Israel claims that the channel, which reports critically on the war in Gaza, incites viewers against Israel. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Jerusalem to protest against Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The evacuated kibbutzim near Gaza are still subject to airstrikes from Gaza several times a week. President Biden threatened Netanyahu with measures to no avail because the humanitarian situation in Gaza was becoming unacceptable. As a result, the Erez crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, which had been closed since October 7, was opened to allow food aid to pass through, and the Israeli port of Ashdod, some 40 kilometers north of Gaza, was also allowed to be used to deliver aid to the Palestinians.
Three sons of Hamas’s highest political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp near Gaza City called Shati. Haniyeh himself does not reside in Gaza, but mainly in Qatar. Turkish pro-Hamas president Erdogan received Ismail Haniyeh on a visit and immediately afterwards also received Mark Rutte, who went there on his own. Turkey then stopped all trade with Israel. Last year, some 6.4 billion euros worth of trade was conducted between the countries. Three quarters of that concerned the export of Turkish products to Israel.
In Gaza, Yahya Sinwar is the top administrator. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that all Hamas leaders will be killed, and Marwan Issa was killed by the Israeli army. He was at the top of the militant branch of Hamas, along with Mohammed Deif, who is still at large. In the occupied West Bank, the local leader of Islamic Jihad, Mohammad Jaber, was also killed. Jaber was the head of the terrorist group in the Tulkarm region and was in charge of about fifty fighters of the group. His brother was killed in December. As for ending the fighting in Gaza, there are international calls for arrest warrants to be issued for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the army leadership for the war crimes committed.
For example, a mass grave containing 324 bodies was uncovered in the Nasser Medical Complex by Gaza Civil Defense personnel after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area. Israel has indicated that it will abandon its original demand for the release of 40 Hamas hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire and is now said to be prepared to accept the release of 20 hostages, as long as they are women, men over 50, and seriously ill. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is said to be planning to issue arrest warrants next week for Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials, but Netanyahu does not recognize the organization. Arrest warrants are also said to be in the works for Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and members of the Israeli security services.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, about two-thirds of whom are children and women . The count does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas members. There is now a new peace proposal for a ceasefire in which 33 hostages will be released and there will be no fighting for six weeks. If Hamas completely disbands its militant wing and all hostages are released in phases, there will be a 40-day ceasefire in return. Hamas was initially unwilling to accept the proposal. Netanyahu is going to invade the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip with his army, regardless of whether or not a ceasefire is reached. The Israeli armed forces have made all necessary preparations for an invasion.
A Hamas delegation led by Hamas deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya gave the group’s positive response to the ceasefire proposal after meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo over the weekend. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have urged residents of the Gaza Strip town of Rafah to evacuate the area and move to the so-called “expanded humanitarian zone.” Israel has previously said it will not agree to a ceasefire in which Hamas’ military wing remains. Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on May 7. The Kerem Shalom crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel has been reopened for humanitarian aid. The first trucks carrying aid have already arrived at the crossing and are allowed to cross after a “thorough security inspection.”
Israel closed the crossing on Sunday after a rocket attack by Hamas. The Palestinian group had fired rockets at Israeli soldiers at the border crossing. Four soldiers were killed and ten others were wounded. Biden has temporarily halted the delivery of 3,500 bombs to force Israel to end the attack. The Philadelphia corridor, the border strip between Rafah and Egypt, fell completely into Israeli hands on May 30. 82 tunnel entrances and 20 tunnels have been found, which are currently being destroyed. This means that the routes for Hamas to rearm have been cut off.
There are regular uprisings throughout Europe that are accompanied by a lot of violence and aggression. It has degenerated from a protest against Israel to a pro-Hamas demonstration. Often sponsored by Saudi Arabia and George Soros. The police in Amsterdam ended the pro-Palestinian protests at buildings of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The demonstrators not only threw stones but also ammonia. The Binnengasthuisterrein in the city center was occupied by demonstrators, causing approximately 100,000 euros worth of damage.
The pro-Palestinian protest groups have occupied and destroyed several universities. This happened after so-called ‘walk-outs’. At the building of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on the Roeterseiland campus in the centre of the capital, the riot police had to intervene again because serious destruction took place in the building. The destruction is not done by the students themselves but by special groups of Hamas activists from, among others, the squatter movement Antifa, the banned Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Samidoun and PLFP. This is done with so much aggression that the students do not dare to take action themselves. These violent activists are financially supported by Soros , Dyanet and Qatar. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations criticized billionaire George Soros for donating 15 million dollars to organizations that support Hamas and called this ‘shameful’. Soros has also been accused of financing groups that are anti-Israel such as AROC, PFLP, the BDS and the OSF that has ties to the Royal House
The Israeli ambassador claimed that Soros has transferred billions of dollars to organizations that support BDS and have wanted to isolate Israel for years. “It was never about real peace or any kind of solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Israeli ambassador said. BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign targeting the Jewish state. The German and Austrian parliaments have classified BDS as an anti-Semitic movement. George and Alexander Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) donated $13.7 million to the California-based Tides Center.
A financial project of the Tides Center is the Arab Resources and Organizing Center (AROC), a Palestinian advocacy organization. In October 2023, AROC organized anti-Israel protests and student strikes in the California Bay Area, with attendees chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Mabel Wisse Smit, the widow of Prince Friso , became executive director of George Soros ’s Open Society European Policy Institute in Brussels in 1997. In 2003, she became advocacy director at its London officeShe has served on the OSF board since December 2012. The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has announced a $3.3 million emergency funding initiative to support human rights organizations documenting violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.
In August 2016, hackers posted correspondence, reports and detailed financial information about projects sponsored by the Open Society Foundations online, the so-called Soros Leaks, which revealed, among other things, the extent to which Soros financed Palestinian civil rights movements and attempted to influence elections and referendums.
Satellite images in some areas of Rafah show vehicle tracks and large patches of disturbed earth from the destruction caused by bulldozers and other heavy machinery. The earlier airstrikes have been followed by ground operations in an effort to put more pressure on Hamas during the negotiations. Israel has called on residents of the town of Jabalia, some 100,000 to 150,000 people, to leave the city and carried out airstrikes on Jabalia, a few kilometers north of Gaza City, overnight Saturday into Sunday.
The army launched a large-scale attack on Zeitoun, killing thirty Hamas members. Several homes were destroyed during the attack. In a school in Zeitoun, the Israelis found dozens of weapons. According to the Israeli army, a tunnel was also found near Rafah in the south. Gazans are offering themselves en masse as a shield for Hamas and chanting that they want to die for Hamas. At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah on June 15, when their armored vehicle was blown up in a Hamas ambush.
George Soros, a Hungarian-American philanthropist, and his son fund pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Hamas organizations with millions
EU countries including Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia plan to formally recognise the Palestinian state on 21 May, ahead of a United Nations vote on granting Palestine full membership. The recognition is seen as a symbolic gesture in support of the two-state solution for lasting peace in the region. The decision follows increased international calls for a ceasefire and a permanent solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has escalated due to the Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas militants. The UN General Assembly is expected to endorse the Palestinian bid for full membership and refer the matter to the Security Council for further consideration. The EU countries plan to jointly announce their recognition of Palestine on 21 May.
The US is sending $700 million worth of tank ammunition, $500 million worth of tactical vehicles and $60 million worth of mortar shells to Israel. Pro-Palestinian protesters have again occupied a building at Leiden University (UL) in The Hague. On May 20, 2024, the prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague decided that arrest warrants would be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, his defense minister Gallant and three leaders of the terrorist group Hamas, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The prosecutor states that he has sufficient evidence against the five to prosecute them for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas leaders are blamed for the killings, hostage-taking and rapes since the October 7 attack. Netanyahu and Gallant are blamed for civilian casualties in the response, including bombings and famine. In late May, Israel made a new proposal to Hamas for a temporary six-week ceasefire. Under this, Israel would withdraw all its troops from the “inhabited areas of Gaza” while negotiations would be held on the release of hostages and a permanent end to the war.
US President Joe Biden announced the Israeli proposal. Hamas responded by saying it was looking positively at the proposal. Four hostages, three men, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv and a woman Noa Argamani, who were kidnapped at the Nova music festival were freed on June 8, 2024 by IDF, ISA and police at two different locations in central Gaza. The UN Security Council adopted a US resolution supporting Joe Biden’s plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. Russia was the only country to abstain from voting, while the other fourteen members of the council expressed their support.
The Israeli military announced on June 16, 2024 that it would suspend daytime fighting along a route in southern Gaza to clear a backlog of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet in mid-June 2024. The cabinet was formed after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. One of its members, Benny Gantz, resigned earlier this month, and therefore the basis for its existence was gone. The war cabinet consisted of six members, but only three of them had voting rights. They were Netanyahu, Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Currently, there are heavy attacks on central and eastern parts of Rafah. The Israeli army has also reportedly demolished homes in the east and south. Attacks have also been carried out on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps.
A pro-Palestine demonstration on the UvA campus at the Science Park in Amsterdam on 18 June turned into a very aggressive occupation that lasted for hours, during which stones were already being removed from the street. Masked activists had set up blockades, just as they had done on Roeterseiland and the Binnengasthuis terrain. However, around 00:30 they unexpectedly left, after having previously stated that they would remain, including the barricades that had been erected. The focus of the Israeli attacks is currently on Rafah and the Deir al-Balah region in the middle of Gaza, where Nuseirat is also located. The Israeli army (IDF) is calling on Palestinians in the Shejaiya neighbourhood in Gaza City to evacuate the area.
The army is calling for evacuations to the southern Gaza Strip, where there is a humanitarian zone. Israel noted that Hamas militants attacked from a school. According to Israel, several Hamas militants were hit in the airstrike on the school. The Hamas members were hiding among more than seven thousand people who were sheltering in the school. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran. He and one of his bodyguards were killed in their home.
The 62-year-old Haniyeh is the Palestinian political leader of Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Mohamed Deif was killed in an attack on a tent camp. Deif is seen by Israel as one of the masterminds behind the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was also killed by Israel. The United States is optimistic about the negotiations on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This week, “constructive” talks are said to have taken place in the Qatari capital Doha. They will continue on August 19 in the Egyptian capital Cairo. In the meantime, the Israeli army is busy with a major invasion of the occupied West Bank in the cities of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm in the last week of August 2024.
These cities are home to a large number of Palestinian armed groups. It is the largest operation by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank in more than twenty years. In addition to a large force, drones and snipers have been deployed, and bulldozers are destroying infrastructure and closing off access roads to Jenin and Tulkarm. Homes are being searched for known terrorists. In this largest military incursion, twenty militants have been killed in Jenin and Tulkram in three days.
Meanwhile, a polio epidemic has broken out in the Gaza Strip. This was already feared after the polio virus was found in sewage samples earlier this month. WHO and UNICEF had called for two seven-day humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow 640,000 children under the age of ten to be vaccinated against polio. The vaccinations were to be administered in two rounds, starting in late August.
Israel has agreed to a humanitarian pause of at least three days to allow UN health officials to administer polio vaccinations. More than 40,000 Palestinian deaths have been recorded in Gaza since the war began. The true death toll is likely higher, with thousands more missing and possibly buried under the rubble. The Israeli army (IDF) found the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel under the southern Gaza town of Rafah in late August. Hamas has about 100 people still held hostage. Several dozen hostages are known to be dead.
Almost everything was closed in Israel on September 2nd and over half a million protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv. The protesters see Netanyahu refusing to do enough to get those hostages back. They see Netanyahu as the man who refuses to do enough to get those hostages back. All banks, government offices and most businesses were closed, schools were running at half capacity, and no buses were running. The protesters demanded that Netanyahu make an immediate deal to get the remaining hostages freed, but that did not happen. Hamas shot the six hostages dead, but Netanyahu is seen as complicit.
The US government wants a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages as soon as possible. If one of the parties refuses to make a deal, this could mean that the US will pull out. The United Kingdom is also not happy and the government is therefore suspending 30 of the approximately 350 licenses for arms exports. These are said to be licenses for parts of fighter jets and drones. The Israeli army is said to have killed eight Hamas militants in an airstrike in Gaza City. One of them is identified as Ahmed Fozi Wadia, a Hamas commander who, according to the army, can be seen in a video of the attack on October 7. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was also killed on October 17, 2024. Yahya is said to be responsible for the attack of October 7, 2023.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that if Israeli attacks on Gaza continue, the hostages will not be returned to Israel alive. “Netanyahu’s insistence on military pressure, and no deal, to free the prisoners will result in them being returned to their families in coffins,” Abu Obeida said. “The families must choose whether they want them dead or alive.” Abu Obeida, the terror group’s spokesman, said Hamas had issued new instructions to the hostages’ guards if Israeli troops approached, without specifying what those instructions were. It is believed that just over 100 hostages remain. At least 40 Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a tent camp near Khan Younis on September 9. The camp was filled with Palestinians who had fled from other parts of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hamas command center. At least three Hamas officials were believed to be staying there.
With the vaccination campaign against polio, 446,000 children in the center and south have now been vaccinated, and another 200,000 are to be vaccinated in the north in the coming days. In about four weeks, the vaccination campaigns will start again to give all children a second dose. Netanyahu is considering a plan that states that the north of Gaza will be declared a military zone. All civilians would then have to leave the area and anyone who stays would be considered a terrorist by the Israeli army. They will then be besieged until the Israeli hostages are released or freed. After it became known in January that 9 employees of the aid organization UNRWA turned out to be members of Hamas and participated in the massacre on October 7, it has now also been revealed that the now suspended employee Fateh Sherif Abu Al Amin was a Hamas leader in Lebanon.
Hamas reported on September 30 that Amin had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Nine employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have since been dismissed. UNRWA has a total of 32,000 employees working in the region, of whom 13,000 are active in Gaza. After the discovery, many countries, except the Netherlands, stopped funding UNRWA. Israel has deliberately destroyed healthcare in Gaza, which amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is the conclusion of a United Nations investigation. The same pattern is now occurring in Lebanon.
On October 28, 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the UN organization UNRWA from working in the country. According to the parliament, the organization has been infiltrated by members of Hamas. The Israeli parliament therefore passed a law banning the UN organization UNRWA from working in the country. The Israeli army destroyed the foundation’s headquarters with a bulldozer. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.
According to the ICC, they have committed war crimes, including the use of hunger as a weapon of war and ‘murder, persecution and other inhumane acts’ that amount to crimes against humanity. Amnesty International is also the first major human rights organization to state that there is sufficient evidence of genocide in Gaza . According to the 300-page investigation report, Israel acts with the aim of destroying the Palestinian population in whole or in part. on December 5, at night, the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza stormed. Before the invasion, there were airstrikes and heavy shelling on and around the hospital.
Hundreds are said to be dead and wounded. Israel has taken the director and dozens of employees of Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention center on suspicion of Hamas membership. Israel says it launched the operation because the hospital was a “stronghold of terrorist organizations” and that “terrorists” were using the hospital as a cover.
In December 2023, Ahmed Kahlot, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, confirmed to Israeli interrogators that he and other staff members were Hamas activists. During interrogation, Kahlot described how the terrorists used hospitals and ambulances to hide agents, launch military operations, transport members of terror cadres, and even hand over a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Israeli army killed five journalists in an airstrike on a van in central Gaza. The journalists from Al-Quds Today were there to report on events near al-Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 141 journalists have been killed in the Gaza war since October 7, 2023. Poland will not arrest Netanyahu if he decides to attend this year’s Auschwitz memorial.
It has been eighty years since the Nazi extermination camp was liberated. A breakthrough in the peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas is reported from Doha in Qatar. After Trump’s threats, an agreement was reached on January 15. It included proposals for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Israel and Hamas would stop fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. This was supposed to end the 15-month war. The agreement was the result of months of negotiations that were conducted intermittently by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the support of the United States. The first phase of the ceasefire was supposed to start on Sunday morning, January 19, 2024 at 8:30 local time (7:30 Dutch time), but Hamas did not honor the agreement and did not release any names.
The agreement was clear that 33 of the 98 Israeli hostages would be released in the first phase of the ceasefire with prior announcement of their names. These are women, children, men over 50 and people who are sick and wounded. It was clearly established and agreed that Hamas would always give 24 hours’ notice of who would be handed over. Israel had already indicated that it would not tolerate any violations of the agreement.
“The responsibility lies entirely with Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The list of hostages will be sent “soon,” according to Hamas, and will only be released after approval by Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar. That is why Israel, after a final warning, attacked “terrorist targets” in northern and central Gaza. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Minister of National Security, is leaving the Israeli cabinet along with two other ministers. The far-right leader of one of the coalition parties does not support the ceasefire agreement. Ben-Gvir had already announced his departure. He called the ceasefire agreement “terrible.” The agreement included:
- Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners over the next six weeks.
- For each additional hostage taken, Israel releases thirty Palestinian prisoners.
- If Hamas releases an Israeli female soldier, fifty Palestinian prisoners will be freed.
- Israeli troops in Gaza are withdrawing from part of the area, towards the Israeli border.
With the release of three hostages on February 15, 2025, a total of nineteen hostages have been freed. In addition, Hamas also released five Thai hostages. In the second phase of the ceasefire, the remaining 43 hostages are to be released in return for a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas only released a list of names after much delay. The treaty thus entered into force on 19 January. Hamas released 3 hostages against 90 Palestinian prisoners. 915 trucks with aid supplies were allowed into Gaza. That was considerably more than the minimum of 600 per day agreed in the ceasefire.
Israeli forces meanwhile carried out an airstrike in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank in an anti-terrorist operation. The previous siege was aimed at the militant Jenin Battalion, which includes members of other groups such as Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas. On 26 January, another exchange followed. The hostages were held in or under UN buildings. UNRWA employees were not only involved in 7 October but have been part of the Hamas organisation all along.
Elise Stefanik, the US ambassador to the UN, has promised to work with the House, Senate and White House to ensure that UNRWA is dismantled. America will no longer fund terrorist organizations, Trump says. Hamas then has about 130 to 200 hostages. Many of these hostages are both Israelis and foreigners. US President Donald Trump says he wants to take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate the Palestinians and then renovate the area. “The United States will take over the Gaza Strip, “we will own the area and will be responsible for dismantling dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons. We will remove all the destroyed buildings,” Trump said.
Netanyahu has confirmed that he is sending a delegation to Qatar to negotiate the second phase of the ceasefire. The announcement came shortly after Hamas released three hostages on Saturday and Israel freed 183 Palestinian prisoners. According to Hamas official Basem Naim, Netanyahu is dragging out the negotiations and delaying things. The first phase lasted six weeks.
According to Basem Naim, Israel is not really prepared to fulfill all its obligations and is thus endangering the ceasefire. Hamas suspended the release of Israeli prisoners indefinitely on February 10, alleging that Israel has repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire and that Israel is delaying the return of refugees to northern Gaza. Israel is also said to be failing to allow emergency aid, generators and hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz, in turn, called Hamas’s decision a gross violation of the ceasefire and put the Israeli army in Gaza on high alert. Netanyahu and Trump threatened that the Israeli army would resume the offensive in Gaza if Hamas did not release all Israeli hostages by Saturday afternoon, February 15. Hamas then partially met the demand and released three men: Argentine-Israeli Iair Horn, Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov and American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen. Almost immediately after the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, the Israeli army moved into the West Bank for a ground offensive and air strikes that have now been going on for weeks.
On Saturday, February 22, 2025, six hostages were released and four bodies of deceased hostages were handed over in exchange for 620 Palestinian prisoners. Israel announced that it was postponing the release of the Palestinian prisoners, “until the release of the next hostages was secured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.” During a visit to Cairo, Hamas successfully reached an agreement on a solution. The agreed four bodies will arrive in a week. In return, Israel will also allow mobile homes and construction equipment into the Gaza Strip. Negotiations on the second phase have stalled after Hamas rejected a ceasefire proposal. Israel immediately halted the import of aid. According to the rejected proposal, half of the surviving hostages should be released as well as the already deceased hostages. In the event of a permanent ceasefire, the remaining hostages should then be released.
Israel had proposed to Hamas to extend the first phase by another 42 days in exchange for the release of more hostages, until after Ramadan, but Hamas did not agree to that either. Donald Trump has given Hamas a ‘final warning’ via his platform Truth Social to release hostages. If this does not happen, ‘all hell will break loose’, he wrote. At the same time, the US is in direct talks with Hamas for the first time since 1997, it became clear last night. He also wrote: Release all the Hostages now, not later, and immediately bring back all the bodies of the people you have killed, or you are FINISHED”, he wrote. ” and “I am sending Israel everything it needs to get the job done, no member of Hamas is safe if you do not do what I say”. He also addressed the people of Gaza in his message: “There is a bright Future ahead, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!” Hamas did not respond to these threats. There are still 59 hostages in the Gaza Strip. On March 17, the deeds were followed by words and heavy attacks were again carried out in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian emergency services report at least a hundred dead and dozens wounded.
Prime Minister Essam al-Daalis and his family members were killed. The head of internal security Bahjat Abu Sultan and a top official of the Interior, Mahmud Abu Watfa, were also killed. Local hospitals in the Gaza Strip speak of at least 400 deaths. Many victims are also said to be still under the rubble. The attacks are spread throughout the Gaza Strip. On March 23, 2025, Israel killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in an airstrike on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The army is also preparing for a major ground offensive in Gaza. In the Gazan city of Beit Lahiya, hundreds of Palestinians have taken to the streets to demonstrate against Hamas.
It is the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023. Videos are being shared widely on social media showing a large group of demonstrators walking through the bombed streets and chanting “Down with the Hamas government.” Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others with batons, intervened and the demonstrators were forcibly dispersed. Several of them were attacked.
An Israeli attack on March 23, 2025 on a convoy of ambulances in the Gaza Strip is a blatant violation of the laws of war. The ambulances were fired upon near Rafah and, despite their flashing lights, were immediately fired upon when they stopped. Israel previously said the vehicles were not recognizable as ambulances and were not driving with lights. The Israeli military also said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were riding in the vehicles, as has happened before and was acknowledged by captured Ahmed Kahlot, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. The Israeli commander responsible has been dismissed. The military says mistakes were made and regrets that people who were not Hamas affiliated were killed in the attack on the ambulance convoy.
But after footage emerged of the attack, Israel admitted there may have been a mistake. At a briefing, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) official said the military had “mistakenly” identified the paramedics as a threat and that the incident was being “thoroughly investigated.” The ambulances and paramedics were rushed to be buried with a bulldozer but later found. Video footage of the shelling was found on one body. Israeli Defense Minister Katz said the military would remain in parts of the Gaza Strip indefinitely.
Israeli forces have now captured more than half of Gaza. An Israeli scaled-up offensive in Gaza must now ensure the capture of the entire enclave, which includes the “conquest of the Gaza Strip and the retention of the territories” and the transfer of the Gaza population to the south. There is also said to be a new plan for the delivery of aid. The transfer of the population is necessary to prevent Hamas from taking control of the supplies and destroying Israel’s capacity to govern.
The Israeli security cabinet approved the plan to intensify the attacks on the Gaza Strip. The plan is expected to be implemented after US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region, scheduled for next week. Netanyahu reportedly stated during the cabinet meeting that he continues to support Trump’s plan to allow the voluntary departure of Gaza residents and that negotiations on this matter are continuing. The Israeli army has subsequently started a large-scale deployment of ground troops. In the north and south of the coastal area, soldiers are fighting the Hamas movement. The Israeli air force carried out a first wave of attacks from early to mid-May to support the ground operations. More than 670 Hamas targets were hit, such as weapons depots and rocket launchers. Dozens of Hamas fighters were reportedly eliminated.
Benjamin Netanyahu says that with the new offensive he wants to increase the pressure on Hamas to release hostages that are still being held. The plan also provides for a transfer of the Palestinian population from the north to the south. In The Hague, around 100,000 Dutch people protested against the genocide on 18 May. The demonstration was an initiative of various aid and human rights organisations and pro-Palestinian groups, including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Pax, Oxfam Novib, The Rights Forum and Plant an Olive Tree. More than a hundred trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs entered the Gaza Strip on 25 May. The Israeli authorities reported this almost a week after the end of the complete blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza. In the meantime, the attacks continue. The death toll from the night-time attack on a school in Gaza City has risen to 36. According to Israel, the school, where many displaced Gazans are hiding, is said to be serving as a Hamas command centre.
According to the Israeli army, this has hit ‘important terrorists’. Israeli attacks have also killed people in other parts of Gaza. At least 19 people were killed in an attack on Jabalia in northern Gaza. Israel says it has carried out more than 200 attacks on Gaza in the past two days. More than a week ago, the army decided to intensify the military offensive in the area. Hundreds of people have already been killed in air strikes. Furthermore, the army plans to occupy large parts of Gaza. On Sunday afternoon, 15 June, 150,000 people demonstrated on the Malieveld in The Hague. They protested in red clothing in a march towards the Peace Palace against the government’s policy regarding Israel and Gaza. With the red clothing, they wanted to indicate that, as far as they are concerned, a red line has been drawn with the genocide of the Palestinians. They demand more measures from the Dutch government.
Since June 15, dozens more Palestinians in Gaza have been killed near two aid posts run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Medics at Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip reported that at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF post near the Netzarim corridor.
Two others died on their way to another aid station in Rafah in the south. Dozens of other people were killed in airstrikes on Beit Lahiya in the north, the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and various places in the south. That was the last straw for GroenLinks PVDA and they opted for an arms embargo. Frans Timmermans wants his faction to vote to temporarily stop supplying weapons to Israel, not even if they are intended to defend civilians against rocket attacks. The reasoning behind this is “conclusive”, he told the PvdA members at the start of their party congress.
Also 391 lawyers, including a hundred former judges and many (former) lawyers and scientists, wrote an open letter to caretaker Prime Minister Schoof. In their letter they write that the Netherlands is obliged to make an effort to prevent genocide in Gaza. The lawyers point out that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has imposed provisional measures on Israel in three rulings to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The Netherlands has signed the Genocide Convention and is therefore, according to the letter writers, obliged to do what it can to contribute to the prevention of genocide.
“Let the Netherlands not treat the law as a menu of options, but show respect for the value of the law in word, deed and voting behaviour. Failure to do so undermines the international legal order. We therefore urge you to act expeditiously in accordance with the fundamental international obligations of our country,” say the almost four hundred lawyers. It is not the first time that lawyers and other legal experts have taken up their pens and made an urgent appeal to the cabinet to change the government’s position. In May, more than 400 lawyers signed a letter to the NOvA in which they spoke of a ‘painful silence about Gaza’. US President Donald Trump says he will not tolerate a further corruption trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was charged in 2019 with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. In 2020, a trial against him started on three corruption counts. The case has been delayed due to the war in Gaza, but on Friday a court in Jerusalem ruled that the prime minister, who had again requested a postponement, must testify in the case soon. Trump, on his Truth Social channel, claims the testimony will disrupt Netanyahu’s negotiations with Hamas and Iran, calling it “a political witch hunt” for the prime minister to take the witness stand. “The United States of America spends billions of dollars a year, far more than any other nation, to protect and support Israel. We will not stand for this,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its attacks in Gaza at full force. The famine and scarcity deliberately created by Israel pose a direct threat to tens of thousands of lives. In May alone, more than 5,000 children were diagnosed with severe malnutrition. The month before, that number was 3,500. In early March, the army closed Gaza to virtually all aid and since then most international aid organizations and the United Nations have not been allowed to distribute aid. For Gazans, it is life-threatening to collect food from the few aid points of the controversial Israeli-American organization GHF. This is the only aid provider that Israel allows to operate in the vast majority of Gaza. Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip have been ordered to shoot at crowds of unarmed civilians at aid centers. According to soldiers, commanders give orders to disperse crowds and fire on them, without these groups posing a threat to Israelis. One soldier calls Gaza “a killing field,” where crowds are shot at daily. Another soldier said the activities are called ‘Operation Salted Fish’, the Israeli name for the children’s game Annemaria Koekoek. The goal is to try to reach the other side. If you make an unexpected or unauthorized move, you are out, which means you will be shot at. In the space of a month, at least 549 people have been killed and more than 4,000 wounded.
Since GHF began distributing food in late May, at least 549 Palestinians have been shot dead while trying to reach a distribution point, Hamas officials in Gaza said. The UN put the death toll at “more than 400.” Hamas has given a “positive response” to mediators on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas “is fully prepared to begin negotiations immediately on the mechanism for implementing this framework.” In addition to a two-month ceasefire, it would also include the release of 10 live hostages and the release of the bodies of 18 hostages who died. It would also include the release of Palestinian prisoners and the immediate opening of Gaza to aid. Talks on a permanent ceasefire would also begin immediately. Israel had already agreed to the proposal. Israeli officials have not yet commented on Hamas’s response. Trump said on July 4 that he considered Hamas’s response “good” and hoped for an agreement next week. Hamas had demanded changes to the deal, including ending a US-backed aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in favor of the UN and its partners, and US guarantees that the war would not resume if the talks failed. The plan would also provide for the phased release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. About 50 hostages are being held in Gaza, of whom at least 20 are believed to be alive. Israel is sending a delegation to Qatar on July 6 to negotiate with Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.
War between Israel and Iran
To understand where this enmity between Israel and Iran comes from, we have to go back 45 years in time, to February 11, 1979 to be precise. On that day, the clerical Shiite leader Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran.
Until then, Iran was a monarchy, with a shah (the Persian word for king) as head of state. After months of demonstrations against the regime, the shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fled to Egypt, after which Khomeini proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In 1979, after 15 years in exile, Khomeini returned to Iran to depose the Shah.
The Islamic state that was installed prescribed religious law, Sharia, which, for example, prohibited drinking alcohol and required women to wear sober, traditional clothing.
Not only domestic policy, but also foreign policy is turned upside down in one fell swoop. Where the Shah was very close to the United States and Israel, the new regime fiercely opposed what is seen as Western imperialism of these two countries. The clergy sided with the Palestinians and cut all ties with Jewish Israel.
The enmity between Israel and Iran has grown steadily since then. For example, during the Lebanese civil war in the early 1980s, Iran helped found Hezbollah. This political party and heavily armed militant movement emerged from opposition to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Although Hezbollah is a Shiite organization, they support the Sunni Hamas in its fight against Israel.
Another bone of contention between Israel and Iran is the possession of fissile material. Israel has nuclear weapons, but it wants to prevent its arch-enemy from developing these all-destructive weapons. For years, the West – led by Israel and the US – has feared that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb.
The United States wants Iran to stop enriching uranium altogether to prevent Iran from secretly working on a nuclear weapon. However, Iran claims that the enrichment is for peaceful purposes and refuses to stop the program, saying that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes such as medical applications and alternative energy supplies. The lack of openness has aroused much suspicion in the West. That suspicion has been translated into economic sanctions against Iran.
In 2015, under President Obama, the US struck a historic deal with Iran. In that ‘Iran deal’, Iran promised to be more open about its nuclear program. In return, the US promised to ease some of the sanctions against the country. The agreement was welcomed worldwide, except in Israel.
Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, sided fully with Israel and decided in 2018 not to renew the deal with Iran. Since then, Iran has felt less compelled to abide by the agreements and in 2022, news broke that the country had started building a new nuclear power plant.
The West is aiming for a new deal, but no progress has been made so far. If Iran were to become a nuclear power, it would make the conflict with Israel much more difficult than it already is.
Belgium, France, Canada, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Norway have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon and Israel immediately by the end of July 2024. The decision was in response to recent military incidents, including a rocket that landed on a football field in Majdal Shams, highlighting the security threat to foreigners in the region. No such call has been made in the Netherlands. In late December, a suspected Israeli airstrike killed another Iranian Revolutionary Guard general, Sayyed Razi Mousavi.
That happened in a suburb of Damascus. Israel then withdrew troops from Gaza to focus on the coming attack, which came on the evening of April 13, when Iran, Iraq and Yemen fired some 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 ballistic missiles at Israel. Most of the missiles and drones were shot down by Israel, and a few hit a military base and equipment. Without a counteroffensive by Israel, Iran promised to leave it at that.
Israel failed to comply and early on April 19, 2024, sent drones with explosives to the military air and missile bases in the cities of Isfahan (Isfahan itself has four nuclear facilities with three Chinese research reactors ), Tabriz (Iran’s second missile base) and Nata. Isfahan also has a facility that converts uranium ore into yellowcake ( yellow powder of concentrated uranium, ed. ), which is then eventually enriched and thus becomes a nuclear weapon. The drones were reportedly destroyed before they hit their target.
Israel again carried out preventive attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in March and April. Despite the airstrikes and the threat of war, Emirates’ civil aircraft flew from Amsterdam to Dubai over Tehran. KLM also resumed daily flights to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on 19 April. The airline briefly suspended these flights.
By resuming flights, KLM is ignoring the war situation, just as happened with MH17 that was shot down over a war zone. EasyJet has suspended all flights to Israel until the end of October. Iranian President Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on their way to the city of Tabriz. The helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had to make a hard emergency landing on May 19, 2024 due to bad weather conditions and crashed. The aircraft was flying together with two other helicopters. As a result, the ultimate power of Iran now lies with Ali Khamenei.
Israel has carried out a retaliatory strike on targets in southern Lebanon after approximately ten rocket launches were made from there into the areas of Malkia and Har Dov in northern Israel. In the retaliation, an army unit was hit near Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah then fired 160 rockets from Lebanon into Israel in retaliation after the attack on the southern Lebanese town of Jouya killed Commander Taleb Abdullah, also known as Abu Taleb, and at least three Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah’s attack was one of the largest since October, when fighting broke out between Hezbollah and Israel after Hamas’s massive assault on Israel. Hezbollah reportedly hit a weapons factory in the Israeli village of Sasa. The group also said it struck several military targets in northern Israel.
The Israeli army says it has destroyed one of Hezbollah’s rocket launch sites with an airstrike. The navy ship Zr.Ms. Holland was present in the eastern Mediterranean from November 28, 2023 until the end of January 2024. She was on standby to support any evacuations from the region. The Houthis have been attacking shipping in the Rose Sea for some time. Two freighters and a British tanker have already been sunk with missiles. They do this in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Under the name Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Netherlands sent the frigate Zr. Ms. Tromp in March 2024 and the Zr. Ms. Karel Doorman in April to help secure the route there. The Houthi attacks have caused shipping through the Red Sea to decline significantly: there are currently 50% fewer shipping movements than normal during this period.
As an open and maritime trading nation, these attacks also threaten Dutch interests. In the Netherlands, marines, airmobile soldiers and a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft are ready to quickly take action in the event of a possible evacuation or other humanitarian aid. A small team of soldiers is in Cyprus for logistical purposes. This way, units can be deployed quickly if necessary.
The US-led campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels has become the most intense naval battle the Navy has faced since World War II. On June 18, 2024, debris and oil were found at the site where the Greek cargo ship Tutor was last seen in the Red Sea. The ship is believed to have sunk, making the Tutor the second ship sunk by the Houthis in the Gaza war. A Houthi spokesman claimed that the cargo ship Verbena also sank. What is clear is that the Verbena was also hit and was sinking on Saturday, June 15.
The Tutor was hit by missiles and an exploding naval drone near the port city of Hodeida on June 12, 2024. The crew reported damage to the engine room, the ship went out of control and took on water. The US Navy evacuated the crew on Saturday . The Houthis have been firing on ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden since November if they suspect a ship has links to Israel. Ships change flags for this reason when they enter the danger zone.
Israeli Foreign Minister Katz is threatening an all-out war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. “We are getting very close to the moment when we decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Katz writes. Hezbollah is the lord and master in the south of Lebanon and an ally of Hamas. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been attacking each other. The navy ship Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman, which was sent especially for this purpose, had defective goalkeepers and could not be deployed. The Ministry of Defence did not say which system had failed. On 20 June, Hezbollah fired rockets at the north of Israel after the Israeli army had killed a commander of the group. According to the army, some 25 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Zar’it, in the north of Israel.
The Hezbollah group fired more than 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel on July 4, 2024, in retaliation for an attack that killed one of its top commanders. The attack, one of the largest in the ongoing conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, has significantly increased tensions in recent weeks. Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian on his victory in the presidential election. The Syrian government has announced an investigation into the massive outbreak of violence in the northwest of the country. A commission has been set up for the purpose, consisting of judges, lawyers and an army officer. Clashes with pro-government protesters occurred. Syrian security forces reportedly fired into the air to disperse the two groups. The violence in Syrian towns along the Mediterranean Sea has killed more than 1,000 people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. More than 700 civilians are said to be among the dead.
Since 2014, a war has been raging in Yemen, with Houthi rebels backed by Iran on one side and an internationally recognized government backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia on the other. It is estimated that more than 150,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed in the war. The UN has suspended aid to the population of Saada province in northern Yemen after the capture of eight more UN workers by Houthi authorities there. The reason is that the necessary conditions and guarantees for security are lacking. Time is needed to free the captured UN workers and create conditions for emergency aid to be delivered.
In recent months, dozens of UN staff have been arrested in the area, as well as aid agency staff and former US embassy staff in the capital Sanaa. Last month, UN staff stopped traveling to parts of the country occupied by the Houthis. Three people were killed and nearly 90 wounded in an Israeli attack on the city of Hodeidah in Yemen on July 20, 2024.
Hodeidah is a Houthi-controlled port city on the Red Sea. Israel says it attacked the city in response to hundreds of attacks from Yemen on Israel in recent months. The Houthi movement called it “abhorrent Israeli aggression” and said it would respond “appropriately” to the attack. Israel says it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen and headed for the southern coastal city of Eilat in the hours after the attack. The missile was neutralized before it entered Israeli airspace.
Hodeidah is more than 1,700 kilometers from Israel. An F-15 carried out the attacks, which is said to have returned safely to Israel. According to Israel, weapons from Iran are delivered to the Houthi rebels via the port of Hodeidah. On Friday, the Houthis attacked the Israeli city of Tel Aviv with an Iranian-made drone. One person was killed and four were injured.
The Israeli army then retaliated by carrying out fighter jet attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on July 27. The conflict between Israel and Lebanon threatens to escalate into a full-blown regional war in which Iran will also make its presence felt. Israel has bombed an apartment complex in the Lebanese capital Beirut. According to a Lebanese security official, a Hezbollah leader was the target of the attack. It is not yet clear whether the leader was injured.
The retaliatory strike would be aimed at ’the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has ordered an immediate attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing. Khamenei gave the order during an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security on July 31, 2024. Britain and America have called on citizens still in Lebanon to leave the country. There are great fears of a regional conflict. As a precaution, the US has accelerated the dispatch of a second aircraft carrier, naval vessels, fighter jets and a submarine to the Middle East. The United States has sold $20 billion worth of weapons to Israel, including fighter jets and advanced air missiles. Most of these weapons will not go to Israel immediately and will only be delivered in the coming years. Israel carried out attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on the night of August 24-25, 2024.
About 100 IAF fighter jets hit and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers that were aimed at direct fire towards northern and central Israel. More than 40 Hezbollah launch sites were hit. According to the Israeli military, this was a preventive action because Hezbollah was planning a “large-scale attack” on Sunday.
A hundred fighter jets were deployed and more than forty launch sites were hit. According to Israel, these rocket sites would otherwise not have been used much later for attacks on the north and center of Israel. The Israeli attacks reportedly resulted in one death. Later that night, Hezbollah itself fired more than 320 rockets at Israel.
The attacks are in retaliation for the Israeli attack on Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut in late July. The Lebanese militant group claims to have hit 11 Israeli military sites. On September 17, 30 people were killed and around 3,600 wounded by exploding pagers/beepers (type AR-924) and walkie-talkies (Icom) of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and Syria.
The pagers were detonated simultaneously by remote control, and according to CNN and the New York Times, the operation was carried out on the orders of Israel through a joint operation between the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) and the Israeli military. Israel placed explosives in the Taiwan-made pagers and radios. The explosives were placed next to the battery in each Gold Apollo pager, and a switch was built in to remotely detonate them with the explosive PETN . However, according to Hsu Ching-Kuang, the company’s founder, the pagers were manufactured in Budapest by the Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT, which had a license to use the Gold Apollo brand. Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono is the registered owner of the company in Hungary. The Gold Apollo pagers and the Japanese Icom radios were reportedly ordered and delivered at the same time. There were also reports of radio explosions from southern Lebanon and Beirut.
Explosions are also said to have occurred in the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold. Other installations such as biometric readers, solar panel systems, radios and even modern motorcycles also appear to explode. In addition to BAC, Israel has set up two other companies to conceal the operation, one of which may be located in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. An international arrest warrant was quickly issued for a 39-year-old Norwegian man from Oslo who is suspected of involvement. The man is the owner of a Bulgarian company that is linked to the sale of the exploded pagers. He is said to have founded the company in 2022.
The man was of a different origin but had lived in Norway for 12 years. He is said to have left for the United States on a business trip last week and has not been heard from since, not even by family. Other countries that are linked to the pager attack in Lebanon are Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria. The action resulted in 879 dead terrorists, 291 dead commanders, 509 blind people, 1735 wounded and 613 disabled. Shortly afterwards, Israel carried out large-scale and heavy air strikes on targets in Lebanon. On 19 September, the Israeli army carried out attacks on Hezbollah targets in the south of Lebanon. The shelling reportedly hit a weapons depot, among other things. On the other side of the border, in the north of Israel, a number of civilians were injured by anti-tank missiles from Lebanon.
In a large airstrike with F35 fighters on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut, a building where a meeting of Hezbollah leaders was taking place was hit by four rockets. Fifteen people were killed and 59 wounded, including Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operational commander. Hezbollah fired about 60 rockets back, all of which were destroyed by air defenses. At least 492 people were killed and more than 1,600 people are said to have been wounded in the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on September 23, 2024. Israel has already bombed some 1,600 targets. When Hezbollah fired rockets at the Mossad headquarters and a long-range missile at Tel Aviv, Israel had had enough and prepared an invasion. This was the fourth time that the Israeli army has attacked Lebanon by land.
The first time was in 1978 and then in 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Israel then aimed to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the country and occupied part of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah was founded in response to that occupation and played a major role in the withdrawal of Israeli troops in 2000, after eighteen years. In 2006, a new war in the south followed, after Hezbollah militants entered Israeli territory and attacked soldiers there. That war lasted a month. The Israeli army carried out a major bombardment of several large apartment buildings and a bunker in the Lebanese city of Beirut, killing around 300 people.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was in this bombed underground bunker and was killed, as was commander Ali Karki. In previous attacks, 15 commanders including Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi were killed. In late September, another attack killed 3 Palestinian leaders. Israel launched a ground offensive during the night of September 30 and October 1.
Hezbollah, which is temporarily led by Naim Qassam, fired another 15 rockets during the offensive towards Upper Galilee and Metula. Naim Qassam became the new leader of Hezbollah at the end of October. Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah, was initially supposed to be the successor, but he was also killed on October 3 in a targeted bombardment of his bunker. Israel carried out eleven air strikes in quick succession, in densely populated areas. After the ground offensive was expanded on October 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to help several hundred Dutch people from the area return to the Netherlands and sent two defense aircraft on October 3 and 5.
In Belgium, a first plane arrived in Brussels on the afternoon of October 2. KLM will not fly to Tel Aviv until the end of this year. Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1. Some 200 missiles were fired, one of which hit an air base. Iran wants to limit itself to this retaliation, but Israel intends to strike back. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has been declared persona non grata and is therefore no longer welcome in Israel, because he did not unequivocally condemn Iran’s large-scale attack yesterday. The G7 leaders held an emergency telephone meeting about the Iranian attack in Israel.
Opinions on the issue were undivided. Hamas leader Saeed Atallah Ali was killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Beddawi refugee camp in Tripoli, Lebanon, on the night of 5 October. Three of Ali’s relatives were also killed in the bombardment. Ali was the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. Israel wants Ireland to withdraw its UN peacekeepers from Lebanon, but refuses to do so. Irish President Michael D Higgins will not evacuate the troops, even though Israel has stepped up its airstrikes on the militant group Hezbollah. Ireland has 347 peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon as part of a joint battalion with Polish soldiers. Two of the 25 outposts on the Blue Line that effectively separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights are under Irish command. Israel also wants to attack Lebanon from the sea.
Israel deliberately hit UN posts during the shelling of southern Lebanon. Two blue helmet soldiers, including a Dutchman, were injured. According to the UN, there have been at least three incidents in the past 24 hours. For example, an Israeli tank fired at an observation tower of the UN mission UNIFIL. The two peacekeepers were injured by a fall. They were taken to hospital. The headquarters of the blue helmets was also hit.
The shooting took place in Nakura in the southern border region, the first major city on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast close to the demarcation line with Israel. According to the UN, the Israeli army deliberately shot at and disabled security cameras. The Israeli attack on southern Lebanon killed more than 50 health workers and forced the closure of six hospitals and 40 medical centers. In downtown Beirut, an attack on October 10 killed 22 people and wounded at least 117 others.
A Hezbollah drone attack on the northern Israeli town of Binyamina on October 13, 2024, wounded 67 people, four of them seriously. The United States plans to send the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Israel, along with American troops to operate it. On October 16, a UN peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) watchtower in Lebanon was shelled by the Israeli army. This is strictly prohibited under international law. On October 20, Israel bombed banks in Beirut that it says are part of Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure.
Israel has announced that it will now also target Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure. ‘The bank Al Qard Al Hasan is an organization that is part of Hezbollah’s social services.’ In retaliation for the Iranian attack on October 1, Israel carried out air strikes in Iran on October 25, which mainly targeted military targets. Air defense systems and weapons factories were hit, among other things. Hezbollah is supported by Iran, and has been fighting Israel since October 7 last year. By the end of October 2024, about a quarter of the buildings in 25 different Lebanese towns near the Israeli border had been destroyed or damaged by the Israeli army.
Several people were also killed after Israeli strikes in and around the Syrian town of Al-Qusayr, near the Lebanese border. At least 10 people were wounded in the attacks. The Israeli military has confirmed the strikes in Syria. According to the military, the attacks targeted weapons depots and command centers used by Radwan fighters, an elite unit of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran is preparing a new attack on Israel from Iraqi territory. The attack could be carried out with a large number of drones and ballistic missiles before the US elections next week.
During the turmoil of the American elections, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was fired. His successor Israel Katz, until recently Minister of Foreign Affairs, will succeed him. With Gallant’s departure, the Israeli cabinet has lost a “more moderate voice.” According to the Lebanese authorities, 24 people were injured and five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the center of Beirut.
The airstrike was carried out in a neighborhood with government buildings and embassies. There are no reports that these buildings were hit. Israel has been carrying out attacks on the center of the capital more often lately. Recently, the chief spokesman of Hezbollah was killed in a bombardment of the city center. In the run-up to a ceasefire, Israel carried out a quick massive bombardment on the Lebanese capital Beirut on November 26, with at least ten consecutive attacks on the outskirts of Beirut.
The ceasefire went into effect on November 27, 2024 at 03:00 Dutch time. However, the Houthis continued to attack Israel from Yemen. Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the militia leader, says he has no intention of stopping the “operations to help the Palestinian people.” The Houthis occasionally fire rockets at targets in Israel, more than 1,500 kilometers north of Yemen. These attacks rarely cause damage or casualties in Israel. A senior Iranian-American Pentagon staffer, Ariane Tabatabai, is said to have leaked the top-secret documents detailing Israel’s military preparations for an attack on Iran.
The FBI is investigating the matter, which has raised concerns about the security of the U.S. intelligence community. The leaked documents allegedly show that Israel is conducting covert military activities and that another attack is planned in retaliation for Iran’s attack on Israel earlier this month. Ariane was already exposed in October 2023, when many Republicans labeled her an Iranian spy. Media outlets such as the New York Post reported that she was a willing recruit in a covert operation carried out by Tehran’s Foreign Ministry, based on leaked files from September 2023 by Semafor. Despite this, the Biden administration allowed her to retain her top-secret clearance.
She still has access to sensitive information, despite being widely known as a spy. For the first time since the beginning of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the Israeli army carried out a first airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital Beirut in late March 2025.
The Israeli military had issued an evacuation order for an apartment building shortly before the attack. The military says the building contained a Hezbollah drone warehouse. Israeli Defense Minister Katz said two missiles were fired into Israel from Lebanon overnight. Katz said Israel will “react forcefully to threats” to ensure the safety of residents of northern Israel. Hezbollah denies firing missiles.
Iran’s defense minister warned that she would attack American military bases in the region if a conflict with the United States breaks out and has already threatened to withdraw from the international treaty against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Parliament is preparing a bill to that end, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on June 16, 2025. It concerns the so-called Non-Proliferation Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
It is a pact that actually limits the possession of nuclear weapons. It is based on three pillars: non-proliferation, the reduction of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful applications. It has been ratified by almost 200 countries. In addition to Iran, the United States and China have also signed the treaty, but nuclear weapons superpowers such as India and Pakistan have not. Israel has also not ratified it. The spokesman of the Iranian ministry emphasizes that Iran is still against the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Since April, Washington and Tehran have held five rounds of negotiations to discuss the terms of a new nuclear deal. However, the US remains firmly opposed to allowing Iranian uranium enrichment, while Tehran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. Israel is also believed to secretly possess nuclear weapons of its own. Tel Aviv has never confirmed or denied its nuclear capabilities, but many experts estimate that Israel is the world’s eighth-largest nuclear power, with just under 100 warheads.
During an appearance on the podcast Pod Force One, Trump expressed increasing skepticism about the prospects for a deal. “I’m less confident now than I was a few months ago. Something happened to them, but I’m much less confident that there’s going to be a deal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel threatened a missile attack. According to US sources, Israel is ‘fully prepared’ for it, while Tehran is said to be preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel. The US is already withdrawing embassy members for this. The planned and feared attack on a nuclear facility in Iran was carried out by Israel on June 12, 2025. Two hundred fighter jets were used to strike one hundred targets, according to Israel. The attacks killed, among others, Hossein Salami, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – a powerful branch of the country’s armed forces. Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and a number of nuclear scientists were also killed .
Iran responded immediately by sending about a hundred drones to Israel. Israeli air defenses were reportedly busy intercepting them. The attacks continued on both sides. A fire broke out at Mehrabad International Airport in the Iranian capital Tehran and the military section of the airport was hit by two “projectiles” fired by Israel. A hangar with fighter jets was hit. At least four people were killed by Iranian missile attacks on Israel during the night and at least seventy people were injured. Three people were killed in the city of Rishon LeZion, 20 kilometers southeast of Tel Aviv. A woman died in Tel Aviv.
Iran fired 150 rockets at Israel overnight. Several rockets landed in Tel Aviv. One hit a 32-story apartment building. Several buildings were also destroyed in Ramat Gan, east of the city. People in that city are trapped under the rubble. A search for victims is also underway in Tel Aviv. General Mohammed Kazemi, the head of the intelligence service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite unit of the army, was killed in the Israeli attack. Two other generals of the Guard were also killed.
Iranian missile strikes on June 15 caused damage in Tel Aviv and several other locations in central Israel. 87 wounded were taken to hospitals from four different locations. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claims to have used a new method to evade Israeli air defenses. Missile strikes were also reported in Haifa. According to British maritime security company Ambrey, a fire broke out at a power station near the port. The company says it has verified video footage of two hypersonic missiles hitting. Haifa is strategically important: the city has an oil refinery, a major seaport and a naval base.
At least 100 rockets were fired in the attack. The total death toll in Israel since Friday has now reached 18. In Iran, 224 people have been killed so far, according to the Iranian Ministry of Health. Israel also says it has carried out new attacks on Iran. The Israeli military reports that “command centers of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian army” in the capital Tehran were hit. The Israeli army announced on June 17, 2025, that it had killed Ali Shadmani, whom it identified as the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces and, according to the army, was the top military commander.
According to Israel, Shadmani was the person in charge of the Iranian attacks on Israel. Last week, after the Israeli attacks on the Iranian army and nuclear facilities, Ayatollah Khamenei made Shadmani the country’s top military officer. Iran asked Trump to intervene and wanted a deal. Trump immediately left the G7 meeting to enter into talks. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did not want to negotiate with the United States as long as the country continued to be bombed. Two American B-2 bombers were brought to the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, from where they flew to an air base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. From Diego Garcia, they were ready to be deployed. After several airstrikes between Israel and Iran, Trump decided on June 22 to risk a third world war and bombed with six heavy bombers 14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs the nuclear sites Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan with B2 bombers. Russia and China have not yet responded. In addition to the 14 heavy penetration bombs, 125 military aircraft and various diversionary maneuvers were used. “Very few people knew about Operation Midnight Hammer.” Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities would have been completely and utterly destroyed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) immediately called an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Vienna. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi canceled a trip to Brussels on June 23, where he had planned to attend a meeting of EU foreign ministers. Instead, he will remain in Vienna, where the IAEA Board of Governors is now meeting for extraordinary talks on the situation. According to Russian company Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, 300 Russians and a total of 500 people from the former Soviet republics work at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant . He says the situation at the Bushehr complex is normal and work is being carried out. According to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin has received guarantees from Israel about the safety of workers at the plant, which is located near the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Special High Security Council is set to decide on the possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway between Iran and Oman. The Iranian parliament approved the closure on June 22, but decisions must be approved by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The strait connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. About a fifth of all oil and gas flows through the strait to the world market. After the US bombing, Israel has again attacked the nuclear facility in Fordow. According to the Israeli military, the attack was intended to destroy the complex’s supply routes. Iran has again launched a missile attack on Israel on June 22, 2025, with twenty to thirty missiles. An attack on the city of Haifa was reported, among other things. Israel says it has attacked the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
According to the army, this is part of an attack of “unprecedented force” on the capital Tehran. Israel claims that buildings of the regime and the government are being bombarded. In part of the city, the power has gone out after an energy system was hit. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the army also shelled the Evin prison. According to human rights organizations, many political prisoners are held there. In response to the US bombardments, Iran fired 10 missiles at the US air base Al Udeid in Qatar, where some 10,000 soldiers are stationed. The base is the headquarters of the American army in the Middle East. A missile was also sent to a US base in Iraq, Qatar, where some 10,000 soldiers are stationed. A drone was also sent to the Taji military base and one to a district where American troops are stationed near the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Iran then fired missiles at a US base in Qatar and sent two drones into Iraq where US troops were stationed. None of the missiles or drones did any real damage because they were announced in advance. The attack was more to let the Iranian people know that the regime is not to be trifled with.
The United Kingdom joined the fight, sending fighter jets and other military assets to the Middle East. “We are moving assets into the region, including fighter jets, and that is for emergency support,” Starmer said. Since Israel began striking Iran on Friday, Starmer has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. “Our constant message is de-escalation,” Starmer said. The United Kingdom already has fighter jets in the Middle East as part of an operation to counter threats in Iraq and Syria. Starner, Trump and Netanyahu immediately agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire with Iran. “Israel and Iran are in full agreement that there will be a complete and total ceasefire… for twelve hours, after which the war will be considered over!” Trump said in a message on Truth Social. He also wrote: “Assuming all goes as it should, and it will, I would like to congratulate both countries, Israel and Iran, for their endurance, courage and intelligence in putting an end to what should be called ‘THE 12 DAY WAR’. This is a war that could have lasted for years and devastated the entire Middle East, but it did not and never will!”
Iran would be the first to stop its attacks, and twelve hours later Israel would stop as well. “Officially, Iran will begin the ceasefire, and at the twelfth hour, Israel will begin the ceasefire, and at the 24th hour, an official end to the twelve-day war will be greeted by the world,” President Trump explained. “During any ceasefire, the other side will remain peaceful and respectful.”
“Assuming everything works out the way it’s supposed to, which it will, I want to congratulate both countries, Israel and Iran, for having the stamina, courage and intelligence to end what should be called the ‘12-day war.’ This is a war that could have lasted for years and devastated the entire Middle East, but it didn’t and it never will!”, President Trump boasts. But unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the countries to start blaming and attacking each other again while Trump was in the Netherlands. Trump responded on his social media with: They don’t know what the f@£k they’re doing.” On his Truth Social, he warned Israel: “ DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS .”
Israeli Defense Minister Katz says Israel planned to kill Iranian leader Khamenei in recent weeks. But he said the opportunity did not arise. Katz previously called Khamenei a “modern Hitler” who “cannot continue to exist.” Israel was unable to locate the Iranian leader after he hid in a bunker. “He went very deep underground, broke off contact with the commanders. So in the end it was not realistic,” Katz told Kan.
After Marc Rutte, as Secretary General of NATO, texted Donald Trump and complimented him on the attack on Iran, it caused bad blood in Iran. On X, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted: “It is shameful, despicable and irresponsible of the Secretary General of NATO to congratulate for a truly extraordinary criminal act of aggression against a sovereign state”. “Someone who condones an injustice lacks integrity”. “Someone “who supports a crime is considered an accomplice.” The confidential text message was posted by Donald Trump on his social media to let Iran know that NATO supported his action. Rutte had written: “Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran”, “That was truly extraordinary and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.”
Syria
Israel killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi of the Revolutionary Guards, one of the leaders of the Quds Force, responsible for foreign operations, in a bombing of the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus. A total of eight people were killed in the bombing, including two generals and five officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, indicating that the consulate was used for military purposes, which is prohibited. Syria is home to many militias affiliated with the Iranian regime. Russia carried out intensive bombardments in areas captured by anti-Assad rebels in late November 2024, to no avail. After heavy fighting, the rebels entered Hama on December 5, 2024, and captured Damascus on December 8. Hayat Tahrir al-Sharam thus ended Assad’s rule. The civil war had been raging since 2011, but Assad had always won with the support of Iran, Russia and the US. Now that Russia needed all its attention for Ukraine, the jihadist rebels saw their chance. Assad had ruled Syria for almost a quarter of a century. Before that, his father Hafez had been in power for decades. Assad’s support for the Houthis and the Palestinians ultimately proved fatal. Assad was fiercely opposed to Zelensky because of his Nazi practices and was the cause of the many Syrian refugees to the West. He also lost the support of the West. The removal of Assad means that millions of Syrian refugees can return to their own country. Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia and had already sent a quarter of a billion dollars in cash in advance over the past two years. The Syrian dictator’s central bank sent about 250 million dollars in cash to Moscow in two years, in almost two tons of 100 and 500 dollar notes by plane to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, while it was struggling with major shortages of foreign currency. The money was parked in bank accounts in Russia. His relatives also secretly bought real estate in Russia.
War between North Korea and South Korea
The ECC is a partnership of 10 countries. They ensure that North Korea cannot trade in crude oil in the East China Sea. This sanction was imposed in 2017 after the country carried out nuclear tests. On 7 June, Chinese fighter jets circled Zr.Ms. Tromp several times in the East China Sea. The naval ship’s NH90 maritime combat helicopter was also approached by Chinese fighter jets and a helicopter during a patrol. Zr.Ms. Tromp was carrying out patrols in the East China Sea at the time in support of a multinational UN organisation that monitors the enforcement of maritime sanctions against North Korea as defined in the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Zr.Ms. Tromp will continue her journey as part of Pacific Archer ’24 as planned and will then head for Japan. Zr.Ms. Tromp completed her last port visit in Asia on 16 June. The navy ship left Nagasaki today. The Tromp is now preparing for the next phase of the Pacific Archer world voyage . The ship will soon participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercisearound Hawaii. This is the largest naval exercise in the world. In mid-June, Vladimir Putin visited North Korea. He promised Kim Jong-un to deepen trade and security relations and openly expressed support for North Korea in the fight against the United States. North Korea is the only country that has tested nuclear weapons in this century. Putin praised North Korea’s attitude towards the US by, among other things, ‘resisting American economic pressure, blackmail and threats’. Russia also previously supported North Korea in a vote in the UN Security Council, which has put pressure on the monitoring of sanctions against North Korea. Putin promised that he would ‘jointly oppose with Kim Jong-un unlawful unilateral restrictions’ to develop trade and strengthen security throughout Eurasia. Putin emphasized that Russia has ‘always’ expressed support for North Korea. North Korea has already helped Russia with arms supplies. North and South Korea are going to fight out their differences in Ukraine. North Korea sides with the Russians and South Korea sides with Ukraine. Tensions continue to rise. Kim Jong-un’s army says it is preparing for war and has placed large loudspeakers on the border with South Korea that are used to irritate the population of the neighboring country. The 354 residents – mainly people in their sixties – have been bombarded for months with “loud, cracking noises that sound like an ominous, giant gong being struck over and over again, 10 to 24 hours a day”, according to the American newspaper. Although it is not always the same noise. The residents sometimes hear wolves howling loudly, metal crunching against each other, an angry monkey hitting a piano or screams that seem to come from a horror film. In recent decades, North Korea has used noise as a weapon against its neighbor more often, although this involved propaganda messages played very loudly, music and insults. Psychological warfare, which was used more frequently when tensions were high than during calm moments of understanding on the peninsula, and the fact that irritating sounds are now being used, shows once again how the relationship between the two countries seems to be evolving to an all-time low. In a speech to a battalion of commanders and instructors in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had called on his army on Friday to prepare for war. Kim said that South Korea and the United States had brought tensions on the Korean peninsula to “the worst stage ever.” South Korea’s main opposition party demanded that President Yoon Suk-yeol step down and accused him of rebellion. The leader of South Korea’s ruling party called Yoon’s decision to declare a state of emergency “tragic” and called him to account.President Yoon Suk-yeol’s chief of staff and several “key staff” have already resigned. The officials resigned after Yoon suddenly declared a military emergency, saying the constitutional order was in danger from communist forces in North Korea. Yoon lifted the military emergency under pressure from parliament and protesters. AAn attempt to oust President Yoon Suk Yeol subsequently failed.
Anyone who distributes drama series or K-pop from South Korea in North Korea faces the death penalty. Several people have been executed for this, and in some cases even publicly. This was stated by several North Koreans who have fled to South Korea. The testimonies of the North Korean refugees were given during public sessions organized by the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul to shed light on the human rights situation in North Korea over the past decade.
One of the North Koreans who fled was Kim Il-hyuk. “A 22-year-old man I knew was executed by firing squad in public for distributing three South Korean dramas and 70 K-pop songs,” he said during the public hearing. “Such public executions by firing squad occurred about twice every three months, with up to 12 people being shot in one session. Half of them were people convicted of violating the law banning reactionary ideologies and culture,” Kim said.
A female North Korean refugee, who spoke anonymously in a separate session, also testified about the tougher punishments for people caught watching South Korean dramas in the North. She said the North Korean regime had been tightening its controls since 2015. The controls were further intensified around the coronavirus pandemic. People who tried to flee have since been executed by firing squad.
“North Korea has started imposing such (execution) sentences because it considers South Korean drama series to be harmful, like drugs. The regime seems to see them as a threat, as the popularity of South Korean culture has had a significant impact on North Korean society,” the female refugee said.
The UN Human Rights Office in Seoul has interviewed almost 400 North Korean refugees in total. The office is doing this in preparation for a report assessing the human rights situation in North Korea over the past ten years. The report is expected in September. At that time, it will be ten years since the UN Human Rights Council reported on systematic violations of human rights in North Korea.
War between China and Taiwan
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that China has no legal basis for this claim. China also claims democratic Taiwan as its territory, despite strong objections from the latter. Germany has deployed two military ships to the Indo-Pacific region amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan. The tension is putting freedom of navigation and free passage on trade routes under pressure. About 40 percent of Europe’s foreign trade passes through the South China Sea. The supply ship “Frankfurt am Main” left Wilhelmshaven for the region, while the frigate “Baden-Württemberg” left the Spanish port of Rota. The ships meet at sea and then sail to Halifax, Canada, and then on to the Indo-Pacific region. The ships will sail through the South China Sea. It is not yet clear whether they will also sail through the Taiwan Strait, as US ships have done, which will undoubtedly anger Germany’s most important trading partner, China. On October 14, major military exercises began around Taiwan. as a warning against the “separatist actions of the Taiwan Independence Forces.” The United States calls the exercises unjustified and points out the risk of escalation. “We call on China to exercise restraint and avoid further actions that could undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader region, which are essential for regional peace and prosperity.” China has conducted similar exercises before and has now deployed boats and aircraft. China must accept the will of the Taiwanese people to live in a democratic way and refrain from military provocations, the Taiwanese presidential office responded to the exercises. China increased the number of airstrikes by the Chinese People’s Army across the median line, the de facto border in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, fivefold (from 36 in January to 193 in August). The number of Chinese naval vessels around Taiwanese waters also increased (from 142 in January to 282 in August). Not only are there more of them, they are also sailing ever closer to the Taiwanese coast. The US, Japan, South Korea and the rest of the world are resisting escalation. Taiwan is important to the world because of its semiconductor industry.
Iraq
An American military base in Iraq, where Dutch soldiers are also stationed, has been attacked for the second time in a short period of time. The Al Asad Airbase, northwest of the capital Baghdad, was attacked with multiple rockets. Earlier, there was an attack with drones on the base where 120 Dutch soldiers are stationed. Together with 2,500 American soldiers, among others, they are participating in a mission against Islamic State in the region. They are also contributing to a NATO mission to support the Iraqi government, stabilize the region and ensure that IS does not gain a foothold again. In an Iraqi-American operation against Islamic State (IS)In the west of Iraq, fifteen militants were killed at the end of August 2024. The operation took out the high-ranking IS militants. Seven American soldiers were also injured in the operation. Two of the seven had to be evacuated from the battlefield. The operation took out the high-ranking IS militants. They had various weapons, grenades and explosive belts with them at the time of the attack. The American soldiers were assisted by the Iraqi army during the operation. The American army currently has around 2,500 soldiers in Iraq. They are involved in the fight against IS, among other things. Then Minister of Defence Hennis and the top of her department have ’time and again incompletely and incorrectly informed’ the House of Representatives about the circumstances and consequences of the bombing of a target in the Iraqi village of Hawija in the summer of 2015. At least 70 civilians were killed in the immediate vicinity during that bombing of a small arms factory. This is the conclusion of a committee after four years of research led by former minister Winnie Sorgdrager. Hennis provided incomplete and incorrect information to the House of Representatives about the type of F16 missions, the process of deploying weapons and the number of civilian casualties. The committee points out that then-minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the top of Defence told the House of Representatives that the pilot of the F16 that bombed the target could have decided at the last moment not to carry out the bombing. The report describes two types of air force missions. One in which other aircraft are supported and one in which an attack is carried out itself. The bombing of Hawija fell into the latter category. According to the committee, weapons are deployed at great distances during such a mission. “The pilot cannot make an additional assessment because he has no view of what is happening on the ground and certainly not at night. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (1973) has been the UN special envoy in Lebanon since 2024. Furthermore, Defence has always maintained that a separate legal advisor (LEGAD) was involved in the decision to bomb the target in Hawija. However, such a legal advisor was certainly not present at the command centre where the attack was decided. “The LEGAD was stationed in Jordan and was never involved in this decision-making process.” The bombing of the workshop in Hawija led to a very large second explosion. This caused much greater damage than expected, and at least 70 civilian casualties. According to the then minister and the top of the department, prior to the decision to bomb, not only computer simulations were carried out to assess the chance of a ‘secondary explosion’, but an analysis was also carried out by experts on possible secondary explosions. “That is incorrect”,writes the investigation committee . The committee determined that such analyses were not done. There is great secrecy from Defense and other departments such as Foreign Affairs and General Affairs about the number of civilian casualties in the attack. On June 25, 2015, ten days after the attack, Defense was already informed by the Americans that it was ‘credible’ that there were civilian casualties in the bombing. Six months later, the Americans even call that ‘plausible’. 70 innocent people were killed by a Dutch bombing and now it appears time and again that the House has heard things about this that were completely wrong. Hennis led the UN mission in Iraq and was a member of the House of Representatives for the VVD from March 23, 2017 to September 13, 2018 and Minister of Defense from November 5, 2012 to October 4, 2017. Six operational F-16s were made available, which were involved in precision bombing over Iraq. Hennis resigned as Minister of Defence in October 2017 due to a 2016 grenade accident in Mali that killed two Dutch UN soldiers.
War between Philippines and China
War between Sudan and South Sudan
The split in 2011 after South Sudan voted for independence became the scene of decades of fighting by the mainly Christian and animist south against the rule of the Arab-Muslim north. Sudan’s civil war is an interesting preyfor Russia, China and Iran. Army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Buhran is supported by Russia, Iran and China, all of whom are eyeing the raw materials uranium, diamonds and gold. After the death of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russia renamed the Wagner group to the Africa Corps. They are active in several African countries where these kinds of raw materials can be found. In Sudan, under the leadership of Prigozhin, they supported the para-army RSF. Now they have made a turn and are supporting the Sudanese army of Burhan. They are exchanging weapons for a naval base on the Red Sea. More control and influence in that region was Moscow’s goal and that maritime logistics center will be built there. The Red Sea is also an important strategic location for controlling international shipping. In addition to Russia, Iran is also on the side of the Sudanese army. Sudan is an important Islamic country in Africa and is located south of Egypt. The pressure on Egypt is in Iran’s interest. China is also involved and has an agreement with African countries to exchange raw materials for schools and roads under the guise of development cooperation. Army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Buhran refuses to join peace talks to end the civil war and the famine. Ukrainian commandos have been fighting together with Sudanese government units in Sudan since the summer of 2023 against the Russian Wagner mercenaries who support the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan. The battle between the government army, led by General Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF fighters of General Hemedti, began almost two years ago. Heavy fighting is taking place throughout the country, especially around the capital Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur. Tens of thousands of civilians have already been killed, around ten million people have fled, two million of them to neighboring countries such as Chad and South Sudan. Millions of people are going hungry. According to the data project ACLED, Sudan is now the fourth deadliest conflict in the world. At least 120 people were killed in Sudan in early December 2024 by attacks by the two opposing factions in the country. For 20 months, Sudan’s state army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been battling for power. The army has carried out airstrikes on parts of the country controlled by the RSF; the RSF has attacked with artillery and looted villages. The state army is now being blamed for a deadly airstrike on Monday on a market in the Darfur region, killing more than 100 people. In the Khartoum region, the group fighting the army also hit a bus. A state governor said the attack “killed everyone on board and turned 22 people into body parts.” The war in Sudan is becoming increasingly bloody. Sudan accounts for 10 percent of the world’s people in humanitarian need, despite being home to less than 1 percent of the world’s population.” 11 million Sudanese have been displaced, and an estimated 150,000 have already been killed. According to the UN, 26 million Sudanese are suffering from acute hunger. In August, the Famine Review Committee officially declared famine in the Zamzam refugee camp. A classification that is only given in the worst case scenario, which is also evident from the fact that this was the first time in four years that a famine has been declared anywhere in the world. While civilians starve, military leaders enrich themselves bySudan’s flourishing gold trade . Gold has always been the country’s most important export product, but since the start of the war, much more gold has been mined and traded than before. This year alone, almost 820 million euros worth of gold was mined in mines in the Darfur region, owned by the RSF. The government also owns gold mines. Both parties do not use the money from this gold trade for the citizens or the economy, but to finance their own struggle. Gold also played a major role in the start of the war. The RSF gained a lot of power after it violently took over one of Sudan’s most profitable gold mines in 2017. Partly because of this, the group came into conflict with the state army in a struggle for power. At the start of the war, the RSF immediately captured a gold mine and a refinery from the government army. Control over gold mines still plays an important role in the power struggle between the two armies, especially now that the price of gold is only increasing. The majority of the RSF’s gold ends up in the United Arab Emirates. According to Swiss Aid, some 2,500 tons of gold, worth almost 110 billion euros, were smuggled into the Emirates in ten years. There is credible evidence that the UAE also supplies weapons to the RSF, although the country denies this. At the same time, an Emirati company with ties to the royal family owns one of the largest mines in territory controlled by the Sudanese state army. This mine probably generates millions of euros for the Sudanese government, which in turn buys weapons from it. In this way, the UAE finances both sides of this war.
In the west, Russia works with the RSF, in the east with the army,” says Lanfranchi. Since the Wagner Group was dissolved, Russian activities have fallen under the Russian Africa Corps. “Russia is even a co-owner of a number of mines. Some of that gold goes directly to Russia
War between Democratic Republic of Congo and rebels
Thirteen foreign soldiers have been killed in recent days in fighting with the military rebel group M23 in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six of them were part of a UN peacekeeping mission. The soldiers who died came from South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay. The rebel group M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks. The Congolese rebel group M23 took control of the city of Goma in eastern Congo on 27 January 2025. Despite the help of UN soldiers participating in the peacekeeping mission Monusco and soldiers from the regional cooperation body Southern African Development Community (SADC). The rebels are trying to regain control of the valuable raw materials in the region, such as cobalt and gold. Experts from the UN and the United States, among others, say that the militia is supported by Rwanda. The rebels previously captured the important supply city of Minova. The rebels also fought against the army in 2012 and 2013 and since November 2022 the fighting has flared up on a large scale. Since then, hundreds of civilians have been killed and more than seven million Congolese have been displaced within their own city limits. Several countries have called on their citizens to leave Goma, and family members and other non-essential UN personnel are also leaving. Goma borders Rwanda and is now virtually surrounded. It is a large city where many people from the surrounding area have fled to in recent decades because of violence by armed groups. As a result, there are many refugee camps around the city. French President Macron says he has called the Congolese and Rwandan leaders to ask for an end to the fighting. While this may be seen as an important action by France, as is today’s emergency UN meeting, there has long been evidence of Rwanda’s role in the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many countries have wanted to keep Rwanda on their side for self-interest. For example, the EU has an agreement with the country on the export of raw materials. Embassies, including that of the Netherlands, will be besieged on 28 January 2025.
War between Turkey with Iraq and Syria
Turkey carried out air strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria on October 23, after an attack was suspected by the PKK on an aviation company in the Turkish capital Ankara. According to Turkey, the targets of the attacks were 32 positions of the Kurdish movement PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US. The Turkish Ministry of Defense reports that the attack was aimed at “terrorists” from the PKK. A man and a woman arrived in a taxi at the entrance of the state aviation company TUSAS, which plays an important role in the Turkish defense industry, around 3:30 p.m. The taxi driver appeared to have been murdered and was lying in the trunk. Immediately after leaving the taxi, the two terrorists started shooting around them with automatic weapons and set off explosives. At least five people were killed and more than twenty injured in the attack. The perpetrators were shot dead.
Defence has designated Staphorst and the Maasvlakte for construction and training. Both locations are an addition to previously designated areas that the armed forces are investigating within the National Programme Space for Defence. In Staphorst, this concerns the expansion of a storage facility for ammunition. The Maasvlakte is considered an area to be investigated for so-called amphibious training. As long as no definitive decisions have been made, there will be additional information evenings for protesting local residents in September and October. According to the current planning, the Draft National Policy Vision Space for Defence, including the environmental impact report (planMER), will be published in early 2025. The preferred alternatives of spatial requirements, whereby the (expansion) location has not yet been definitively determined.
Private equity in the war industry
It’s not all fun and games for these investors, as KKR, for example, also invests in companies like Axel Springer, which advertises real estate in the occupied West Bank. KKR also invests in defense technology companies, weapons for Israel, and 188 fossil fuel projects in 21 countries, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Canada. In the UK, Vanguard, along with BlackRock, is one of the largest investors in weapons companies like BAE Systems (~7% ownership) and Rolls-Royce (which supplies engines for military aircraft).
The arms industry is dominated by large investors. The CEOs of these companies, such as Jim Taiclet (Lockheed Martin, estimated net worth ~$100 million) or Gregory Hayes (RTX), earn millions through salaries and shares in the arms industry. In the UK, BlackRock, together with Vanguard and State Street, is one of the top investors in arms companies such as BAE Systems, QinetiQ and Babcock International, with a combined average stake of 16.3% in these companies. These companies profit from UK government contracts and arms exports to countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Many investors in the arms trade operate through intermediaries, consultancy firms or offshore structures, which makes them difficult to trace. This is consistent with the corruption investigations surrounding NATO, such as the recent NSPA scandal, where suspects may have profited from secret deals.
The arms industry thrives on conflict and geopolitical tensions, such as the war in Ukraine and Gaza, which boosts profits for companies and individuals. This raises ethical questions about the role of multimillionaires who profit from wars and instability. While figures like Strnad and Khashoggi have become exceptionally wealthy, much of the industry’s wealth remains hidden behind corporate structures or illegal activities, such as Bout’s. Transparency is often lacking, and regulation is weak, particularly in the international arms trade.
BlackRock is a major shareholder in leading US defense companies, including:
- Lockheed Martin: $9.7 billion invested.
- Boeing : $6.9 billion.
- Raytheon (RTX): $11.5 billion.
- General Dynamics: $4.2 billion.
- Northrop Grumman: $4.4 billion.
These companies produce weapons, including fighter jets (F-35, F-16), missiles, drones and nuclear weapons systems, which are used in conflicts such as in Palestine, Yemen and Ukraine.
BlackRock also has interests in smaller arms manufacturers, such as:
- Sturm, Ruger & Co.: 15.9% ownership, valued at ~$200 million. This company produced, among other things, the rifle used in the assassination of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Palestine.
- Vista Outdoor: 15.26% owned, valued at $307.7 million, producer of ammunition for both civilian and military purposes.
- Axon Enterprise: BlackRock is one of the largest shareholders in this maker of tasers, which are supplied to police and military forces in the U.S. A 2019 Reuters report documented at least 1,081 taser deaths in the U.S., with a disproportionate number of black and Latino victims.
Specific funds:
BlackRock manages the iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA), which focuses on the U.S. aerospace and defense sector. The fund tracks an index that includes companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and had significant investments in the sector as of May 2025.
The BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund has 5.69% of its portfolio ($996.47 million) invested in military contractors, 5.5% ($963.84 million) in nuclear weapons manufacturers, and 4.15% ($726.56 million) in controversial weapons like cluster munitions and depleted uranium. This fund gets an “F” rating from Weapon Free Funds for its high exposure to weapons.
BlackRock is investing in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest publicly traded arms company, which supplies drones and surveillance technology for military operations in Gaza and Israel’s apartheid wall. These investments have been criticized by the UN and human rights groups as potentially complicit in violations of international law.
BlackRock also has investments in Chinese companies linked to the People’s Liberation Army and nuclear weapons programs, such as Hikvision, despite U.S. sanctions, leading to accusations of undermining U.S. national security interests.
Larry Fink (CEO and Founder): Estimated net worth of $1.7 billion (Forbes, 2025). Fink has built BlackRock into the world’s largest asset manager since 1988. His focus on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investments is often criticized as being at odds with BlackRock’s large holdings in weapons and fossil fuels.
Robert S. Kapito (President): Estimated net worth ~$500 million. Kapito is a co-founder and plays a key role in BlackRock’s strategic investments, including those in the defense sector.
Other founders: Susan Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein and Keith Anderson, who were involved in the early years, also built significant fortunes, although less documented.
Fidelity Investments, with $4.9 trillion in assets under management (2025), is another large asset manager investing in defense companies such as Lockheed Martin (5-6% ownership), Boeing (~5%) and Raytheon (RTX, ~5%). Their investments are primarily passive via index funds, similar to Vanguard and State Street.
Billionaires: Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson has an estimated net worth of $29 billion (Forbes, 2025), making her one of the richest women in the world. Her family owns Fidelity, and part of her wealth comes from the company’s wide-ranging investments, including defense.
Like BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, Fidelity benefits indirectly from NATO contracts through its investments in weapons companies.
Fidelity is similar in scale to State Street and slightly smaller than Vanguard and BlackRock. Its investments in the gun industry are significant, but less in the spotlight than BlackRock because of a lower public profile.
KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.), for example, is a global investment firm best known for its leveraged buyouts and private equity investments. While KKR is active in various sectors such as real estate, technology and infrastructure, it is also involved in the weapons and defense industry
. Investments in defense companies:
Novaria Group (2019): KKR acquired Novaria Group, an American manufacturer of specialized aerospace hardware, which also supplies components for military applications.
Circor International (2023): KKR acquired Circor International for $1.6 billion. The company produces industrial, aerospace and defense components, including technologies used in military systems.
OHB SE (2024): KKR acquired a 28.6% stake in OHB, a German space and technology company with activities in aerospace and defense. OHB provides technology for military satellites and other defense-related projects, contributing to Europe’s defense infrastructure.
Advanced Navigation (2023): KKR invested $108 million in this Australian company, which provides technology for defense and navigation systems, including autonomous systems used in military applications.
KKR’s investments in companies linked to Israeli technology, weapons manufacturers and defense contracts are not without controversy. Critics point to KKR’s interests in companies active in the occupied Palestinian territories and in surveillance and weapons technology.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and groups such as No Arms in the Arts have called for a boycott of KKR-related festivals, arguing that KKR’s investments violate ethical values, particularly due to its ties to the arms industry and Israeli companies.
KKR’s broad portfolio also includes indirect defense investments, with a focus on technology and infrastructure that supports military applications, such as data centers and surveillance systems.
Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts are the founders of KKR, both with an estimated net worth of over $10 billion. They have built KKR since 1976 into one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with investments in defense companies as part of their portfolio.
Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, KKR’s current co-CEOs, have also built up significant personal fortunes of their own, although exact figures are less public. They guide KKR’s current investment strategies, including those in the defense sector.
Vanguard’s massive investments in the arms industry, primarily through passive funds, make it a central player in financing weapons used in controversial conflicts. While Vanguard does not directly control companies like Lockheed Martin or Elbit Systems, its enormous shareholder power makes it partly responsible for the ethical implications of these investments. The parallels with BlackRock are striking, but Vanguard’s lower profile and unique structure make it less of a target for public ire. In the context of NATO corruption (such as the NSPA investigation and the Agusta scandal), Vanguard’s role remains indirect: it benefits from the profits of arms companies, but there is no evidence of active involvement in corruption. Still, the scale of Vanguard’s investments raises questions about the moral responsibility of passive investors in an industry that thrives on conflict.
State Street Corporation , with approximately $4.5 trillion in assets under management (2025), is one of the largest asset managers in the world and plays a significant role in the weapons and defense industry through its investments in weapons manufacturers and military contractors. Like BlackRock and Vanguard, State Street focuses primarily on passive investments via index funds and ETFs, resulting in significant equity stakes in defense companies without direct operational control.
State Street is a major shareholder in major defense companies, including:
- Lockheed Martin: ~7-8% ownership, worth $3-4 billion.
- Boeing : ~6-7%, worth $4-5 billion.
- Raytheon Technologies (RTX): ~7%, valued at $5-6 billion.
- Northrop Grumman: ~7%, worth $2-3 billion.
- General Dynamics: ~7%, worth $2-3 billion.
These companies produce weapons such as fighter jets (F-35), missiles, drones and nuclear weapons systems, which are used in conflicts such as in Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen.
State Street also has interests in smaller gun manufacturers, including:
- Sturm, Ruger & Co.: ~10% ownership, manufacturer of firearms.
- Vista Outdoor: ~8%, manufacturer of ammunition for civilian and military purposes.
In the UK, State Street, along with BlackRock and Vanguard, is a major investor in arms companies such as BAE Systems (~5-6% ownership) and Rolls-Royce, which supplies engines for military aircraft.
Specific funds:
State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), one of the largest ETFs in the world, includes defense companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing because of their presence in the S&P 500. This fund has significant exposure to the defense sector.
The SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) focuses specifically on the aerospace and defense industry, with holdings in companies such as Lockheed Martin, RTX and L3Harris Technologies. This fund is often criticized by ethical investors for its focus on weapons.
State Street is investing in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company that supplies drones, surveillance technology and munitions for military operations in Gaza. This has led to criticism from human rights groups, who accuse State Street, BlackRock and Vanguard of complicity in violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories. In Europe, State Street is backing companies such as Airbus and Thales, which execute military contracts for NATO countries and the EU.
State Street’s investments in Chinese companies such as Hikvision (surveillance technology with military applications) have led to controversy, especially since these companies are on US sanctions lists due to ties to the Chinese military.
Ronald P. O’Hanley (CEO): Estimated net worth in the tens of millions of dollars. As CEO since 2018, O’Hanley receives ~$10-15 million in annual compensation (salary, bonuses, and stock), but his exact net worth is not public. His wealth is more modest than that of BlackRock’s Larry Fink ($1.7 billion) or KKR’s Henry Kravis ($10 billion).
Cyrus Taraporevala (former head of State Street Global Advisors, until 2022): Taraporevala led the investment division and earned millions in bonuses and stocks. His net worth is estimated in the tens of millions.
Joseph L. Hooley (former CEO, 2008-2018): Hooley’s net worth is estimated at ~$50-100 million, accumulated through his long tenure at State Street.
State Street benefits indirectly from NATO’s standardized weapons purchases, as companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and RTX, in which State Street invests, win large NATO contracts. The recent NSPA corruption investigation (since May 2025მო
State Street benefits indirectly from NATO’s standardized arms procurements, as companies in which State Street is invested, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and RTX, win large NATO contracts. The recent NSPA corruption investigation (since May 2025), which is looking into irregularities in NATO procurements for munitions and drones, could potentially affect companies in which State Street is invested.
The Agusta scandal of the 1990s, which saw Willy Claes resign as NATO secretary general over bribery, underscores the recurring problem of corruption in defense procurement. While State Street’s investments in arms companies do not directly implicate the company in corruption, they fuel debate about the ethical responsibility of large asset managers.
State Street’s investments in the arms industry, while passive, make it a major financier of weapons used in controversial conflicts such as Gaza and Ukraine. This stands in contrast to State Street’s public commitment to ESG principles, raising questions about the consistency of its ethical claims. Like BlackRock and Vanguard, State Street hides behind the “passive” nature of its investments, but its significant shareholder power (5-8% in major arms companies) gives it leverage that is rarely used to force ethical change. In the context of NATO corruption, such as the NSPA investigation and the historic Agusta scandal, State Street indirectly benefits from a lack of transparency in defense procurement, but there is no evidence of direct involvement in corruption. The broader question remains how passive investors like State Street take responsibility for the impact of their capital in the arms industry.
Vanguard , with more than $9 trillion in assets under management (2025), is one of the world’s largest asset managers and a major player in the weapons and defense industry through its investments in weapons manufacturers and military contractors. Like BlackRock, Vanguard focuses primarily on passive investing through index funds and ETFs, meaning it holds large equity stakes in defense companies without direct operational control.
Vanguard’s Investments in the Arms Industry
Key Holdings:
Vanguard is a major shareholder in leading defense companies, including:
Lockheed Martin: ~8-10% ownership, worth $4-5 billion.
Boeing: ~7-9%, worth $5-6 billion.
Raytheon Technologies (RTX): ~8%, valued at $6-7 billion.
Northrop Grumman: ~8%, worth $3-4 billion.
General Dynamics: ~8%, valued at $3 billion.
These companies produce weapons such as fighter jets (F-35), missiles, drones, and nuclear weapons systems, which are used in conflicts such as in Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen.
Vanguard has interests in smaller gun manufacturers, such as:
- Sturm, Ruger & Co.: ~14% owned, manufacturer of firearms, including weapons used in controversial incidents.
- Vista Outdoor: ~10%, manufacturer of ammunition for civilian and military purposes.
Specific funds:
Vanguard’s Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and S&P 500 ETF (VOO) have significant exposure to defense companies because of their broad index approach. For example, Lockheed Martin and Boeing are part of the S&P 500, so these funds are automatically invested in weapons.
The Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS) includes a significant stake in defense companies, such as Boeing and RTX, with a focus on the industrial and aerospace sectors.
According to Weapon Free Funds, many Vanguard funds receive low scores (D or F) because of their investments in controversial weapons, such as cluster munitions and nuclear weapons.
Vanguard has investments in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company that supplies drones, surveillance technology and munitions for military operations in Gaza. This has led to criticism from human rights groups, who accuse Vanguard and BlackRock of complicity in violations of international law.
In Europe, Vanguard backs companies such as Airbus and Thales, which are involved in military contracts for NATO and EU countries.
Vanguard’s investments in Chinese companies such as Hikvision (surveillance technology with military applications) have led to controversy, especially since these companies are on U.S. sanctions lists due to ties to the Chinese military.
Vanguard operates differently from BlackRock and KKR because it has a unique ownership structure: it is owned by its funds, which in turn are owned by the investors in those funds. This means that there are no individual billionaires like Larry Fink (BlackRock) or Henry Kravis (KKR) at the helm. Still, there are a few key people with significant net worths:
Mortimer J. “Tim” Buckley (former CEO, until 2024): Buckley led Vanguard from 2018 to 2024, earning millions in salaries and bonuses.
Greg Davis (current CEO): Davis took over as CEO in 2024. His net worth is less documented, but as CEO of Vanguard he receives millions in annual compensation.
John C. Bogle (founder, died 2019): Bogle founded Vanguard in 1975 and introduced index funds. While he was not a billionaire (his net worth was estimated at ~$80 million at his death), his influence was enormous. His legacy lives on in Vanguard’s passive investment strategy, which includes the gun industry.
Like BlackRock, Vanguard benefits indirectly from NATO’s standardized weapons procurements, as many of its investee companies (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.) win large NATO contracts. The recent NSPA corruption investigation , which looked into irregularities in NATO procurements for munitions and drones, may affect companies in which Vanguard invests.
Three smaller players in the arms industry:
JPMorgan Chase one of the largest banks in the world, invests in and finances defense companies through lending, equity ownership, and asset management. They have stakes in Lockheed Martin (3-4%), Boeing (3%), and RTX (~3%). In addition, they lend to weapons manufacturers and are involved in defense-related bonds. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has an estimated net worth of $2 billion (Forbes, 2025). JPMorgan’s financing of weapons companies makes it an indirect beneficiary of NATO procurement. The bank has been criticized in the past for financing controversial industries, including weapons. JPMorgan’s role is more focused on financing than direct shareholder power, but their influence in the defense sector is significant.
Berkshire Hathaway , led by Warren Buffett, has smaller but notable investments in defense-related companies, such as Boeing (~1-2% ownership) and General Dynamics. While Berkshire is less heavily invested in weapons than BlackRock or Vanguard, it is active in related sectors such as aerospace technology. Warren Buffett, with an estimated net worth of $135 billion (Forbes, 2025), is one of the richest people in the world. However, his defense investments are a small part of Berkshire’s portfolio, which is more focused on insurance, energy, and technology. B uffett’s name doesn’t come up as often in discussions about weapons, but Berkshire’s scale makes it a potential player.
Carlyle Group, a private equity firm like KKR, also invests in defense companies like Booz Allen Hamilton, a large military contractor that provides consulting services to NATO and the Pentagon, and ManTech International, a cybersecurity and defense company. Carlyle’s investments are more active than those of BlackRock, Vanguard, or State Street, as they acquire and restructure companies. Founders David Rubenstein, William Conway Jr., and Daniel D’Aniello each have net worths of ~$3-5 billion. Their wealth comes from Carlyle’s private equity deals, including defense. Carlyle’s investments in defense companies that perform NATO contracts make it an indirect beneficiary of NATO procurement. Carlyle’s active defense investment strategy makes it similar to KKR, but it is smaller and less prominent in the public eye.