Amira Barkhush

Since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, survivors have reported sexual violence in occupied towns, detention centers, and prisons. Years of investigations suggest these were not isolated acts, but part of a broader pattern that has become one of the war’s most difficult crimes to document—and one of its hardest to prosecute.

Before the NATO Summit began, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined a simple goal: leave Ankara with stronger air defenses, new defense industry partnerships, and concrete security commitments for Ukraine. Two days later, how much of that did Ukraine actually achieve?

For more than two centuries, Sweden remained militarily non-aligned. Russia’s aggression changed that almost overnight. Today, Sweden is one of Kyiv’s largest military backers, has joined NATO , and is even adapting its own armed forces based on lessons learned from Ukraine’s battlefield.

The 35th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group concluded on June 18th, with allies announcing more than $4 billion in new military assistance for Ukraine. This underscores continued international support for the country, as Russia intensifies its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Just a few years ago, Ukrainian soldiers arrived at  NATO training grounds as students. Today, they’ve returned as instructors. In Sweden’s Exercise Aurora 26, Ukrainian drone operators shared their drone expertise forged through more than four years of existential war.

In a rare dyadic interview with UNITED24 Media, Germany’s Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, and Ukraine's Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, shared their insights on defense cooperation between the two nations.