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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 02-04-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Lured by financial gains, the two 19-year-olds were tasked by Russian intelligence to place a bomb at a police station – not knowing the bomb was meant to detonate before they got away.
Russian intelligence hired two 19-year-olds to bomb a police station in Rivne in western Ukraine – with plans to kill them in the process, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) stated.
The SBU said they were caught while planting the bomb, during which the bomb and “additional covert surveillance equipment with a remote access function for the Russian special services” were seized upon their arrest, the SBU said in its Monday press release.
A UN report on Monday records an escalation in the mistreatment of captured Ukrainian military personnel including summary executions over the last six months.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, cited in a UN press release on Monday, Feb. 3, has documented 24 separate incidents in which Russian troops have executed 79 captured Ukrainian soldiers since late August – which are war crimes.
The UN report was based on video and photo evidence, obtained from both Ukrainian and Russian sources, which it said had been verified using geolocation, chronolocation [time confirmation] along with eyewitness testimonies. It said these incidents occurred in areas where it had been documented that Russian forces were conducting offensive operations.
What the latest vote in the Bundestag – on tightening immigration controls – portends for the federal elections on Feb. 23.
A majority of the German Bundestag on Wednesday approved a non-binding motion put forward by the CDU/CSU faction to tighten the country’s migration policy, which includes the introduction of permanent border controls. The vote was hotly contested as it passed with the votes of the AfD, which is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. Europe’s press weighs in.
Deep rifts in the center
A trade war between the EU and the U.S. would be “a cruel paradox,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said, adding that such an “unnecessary” conflict must be avoided at all costs.
Tusk’s remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday warned he would “absolutely” impose tariffs on the EU after announcing levies of 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10% on Chinese goods.
The U.S. paused new tariffs on Mexico on Monday for one month, after Mexico agreed to tighten controls at its northern border to curb illegal drug trafficking. But tariffs on Canada and China are still set to take effect on Tuesday.
The world in focus, as seen by Canadian leading global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw in a quick review of the biggest news in international media today.
Donald Trump says the US will “definitely” impose trade tariffs on the EU, after already announcing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China. The 25% import tax on goods from Canada and Mexico, and 10% on goods from China, begin on Tuesday. Asked by the BBC if the EU was next, President Trump says “it will definitely happen.” On tariffs on UK goods, Trump says the UK is “out of line. But… I think that one can be worked out.” Trump has given a range of reasons for imposing tariffs on countries, including border security, inflows of drugs, and trade deficits. A European Commission spokesperson said the EU will “respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods”. Meanwhile, stock markets fell in Asia during Monday’s trading, while European markets dropped shortly after opening – BBC
A day after signing steep new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, Donald Trump acknowledged what economists, members of Congress and even some of his own aides — in their previous lives — have been saying all along: Americans may find themselves paying the costs. “THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA! WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump posted, in all capital letters, on his Truth Social platform. The message, which appeared in the hour before Trump arrived to his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club for the second day in a row, amounted to an advance warning. Trump is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises to end illegal immigration, curb the flow of deadly drugs and rebalance continental trade. But doing so will be uncomfortable, Trump is suggesting, and could serve to undermine another of his top campaign vows: lowering costs for Americans – CNN
One US official told Reuters that divisions within the administration remain over how much support Washington should continue providing to Kyiv.
US military aid to Ukraine was briefly paused in recent days before resuming over the weekend, as the Trump administration deliberated its policy toward Kyiv, Reuters reported on Feb. 3, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
According to two of the sources, shipments restarted after the White House reversed an initial assessment to halt all military aid to Ukraine.
The air raid alert in Kyiv was declared twice—first from 1:06 to 3:58 a.m., and again from 5:00 to 6:05 a.m.
Kyiv came under a Russian drone attack early on Tuesday, Feb. 4, with explosions heard as air defense systems engaged the UAVs, according to city officials.
The air raid alert in Kyiv was declared twice—first from 1:06 to 3:58 a.m., and again from 5:00 to 6:05 a.m.
One reason for this may be the occurrence of many casualties, but the exact details are still being monitored, South Korea’s spy agency told AFP.
North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk front line appear not to have been engaged in combat since mid-January, South Korea’s spy agency told AFP Tuesday, after Ukraine claimed they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
“Since mid-January, it appears that the North Korean troops deployed to the Kursk region of Russia have not engaged in combat,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said.
Trump’s $500B AI push was meant to secure U.S. dominance—but days later, a Chinese startup delivered a ChatGPT rival at a fraction of the cost. Panic hit Wall Street, stocks plunged.
The rollercoaster ride involving Artificial Intelligence (AI) garnered headlines with a half-trillion-dollar announcement by Trump about American dominance, followed by a trillion-dollar correction following an announcement that China had overtaken America in AI development. This marked the latest twists and turns in the 21st-century contest for global technological dominance. On January 22, President Donald Trump announced the $500-billion AI Stargate project to build data centers and double electricity in America to serve them. Just days later, a Chinese startup called DeepSeek revealed its own AI model, equivalent to America’s ChatGPT and produced at a fraction of the cost. Investors panicked, and shares plunged. The innovation shocked Wall Street, embarrassed Silicon Valley and Washington, and hoisted Beijing’s status to the top of the global tech sweepstakes. But the significance was captured best by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who described it as “one of the most remarkable breakthroughs I’ve ever seen… It’s AI’s Sputnik moment.”
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
“Independent media plays a vital role in ensuring the continued flow of information to Russian audiences,” Brussels explains.
Ukrainska Pravda on Monday wrote that the European Commission would provide almost €3 million in aid to independent journalists exiled from Russia and Belarus who have found shelter in the European Union and have continued their reporting from there.
Brussels announced that those funds will go toward supporting independent media and journalists from Belarus and Russia working in EU countries, enabling them to continue producing and distributing content to their audiences without “editorial interference.”
“If we are attacked in terms of trade, Europe, as a true power, will have to stand up for itself,” Macron warns.
The threat of a transatlantic trade war loomed large Monday over a gathering of European leaders aimed at boosting the continent’s defenses in the face of an aggressive Russia.
The EU’s 27 leaders, Britain’s prime minister and the head of NATO were in Brussels to brainstorm ways to ramp up European defense spending, a key demand that President Donald Trump has made to America’s allies.
As stalled military shipments to Kyiv resume, the US President says Zelensky is open to the idea of barter, which likely would include lithium, a key component of batteries for electric cars.
Speaking to reporters from his desk in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump announced his idea of sending more military aid to Ukraine in exchange for that country’s rare earth metals.
“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said on Monday. “They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.”
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