Portal:Current events/2025 August 18

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia is suspended after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Druzhba pipeline in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó confirms the suspension. (Reuters)
  • Kharkiv strikes, Zaporizhzhia strikes
    • Russian missile strikes kill at least seven people in Kharkiv and three in Zaporizhzhia. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 European and Mediterranean wildfires
  • Spain deploys 500 army troops to help fight raging wildfires in the country as the death toll rises to four following the death of a firefighter in Castile and León. (BBC News)
• The death toll from a fire and explosion at a gunpowder plant last week in Shilovsky District, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, rises to 24 with at least another 157 people injured. The government declares a day of mourning. (CBS News)

International relations

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • August 2025 European-White House crisis meeting
      • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders meet with U.S. president Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C. to discuss pathways to peace negotiations for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Crime in Norway, Monarchy of Norway
  • Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, is charged with 32 offences including rape and domestic violence. If found guilty, he may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. (France 24)
• Mass shootings in the United States
  • Two people are killed, including the gunman, and three others are injured in a mass shooting in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, United States. (AP)
• Australian Federal Court judge Michael Lee fines national airline Qantas AU$90 million (US$59 million) for unlawfully outsourcing 1,820 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the AU$120 million (US$78 million) compensation the airline has already agreed to pay its former employees. (AP)

Politics and elections

• By-elections to the 45th Canadian Parliament
  • 2025 Battle River—Crowfoot federal by-election
    • Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre is elected in a by-election in Battle River—Crowfoot, and returns to the House of Commons and his role as opposition leader after previously losing re-election during the 2025 Canadian federal election in Carleton. The seat was vacated by Conservative MP Damien Kurek to specifically give Poilievre an opportunity to return to Parliament. (The Globe and Mail)