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The Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian military jet crashes into sea off Crimea

A Russian military plane crashed Thursday into the sea off Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula, the Moscow-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol said.

“A military plane has fallen into the sea,” Mikhail Razvozhayev said in a post on Telegram, without giving the cause.

Footage on social media showed a plane in flames falling out of the sky.

Sevastopol, the historic headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sits on the southern tip of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The region has come under frequent Ukrainian attack during the two-year conflict.

“The pilot ejected. He was picked up by rescuers from the Sevastopol Rescue Service at a distance of 200 metres from the shore. His life is not in danger,” Razvozhayev added.

Other videos appeared to show the pilot drifting down in a parachute after ejecting.



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Russian military jet crashes into sea off Crimea

MOSCOW: A Russian military plane crashed Thursday into the sea off Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula, the...
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Russia-Ukraine war news roundup : Ukraine introduces blackouts in three regions​

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held “sincere and comprehensive talks” with his Indian counterpart during a visit to New Delhi.

A man was killed and two others injured after a drone crashed into an apartment building in Belgorod, according to the governor of the region.

US President Joe Biden said Washington would “impose costs” for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use US citizens as “bargaining chips” on the anniversary of the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Russia evacuated more than 3,500 children from Belgorod, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region.

Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said the Ukrainian military would need to mobilise fewer people than initially expected to fend off Russian troops.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Ukraine's air force downed two Russian missiles in the southern port city of Odesa on Friday afternoon, officials said, but debris hit civilian infrastructure, injuring five people.

A 15-year-old boy who was outside at the moment of the strike was among the injured, Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov added on Telegram.

"The enemy insidiously directs missile strikes on industrial and residential areas of Odesa," the southern military command said on the Telegram messaging app.

Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian airstrikes across the country.


Reuters
 
Russia demands Ukraine extradite own security chief

Russia asked Ukraine on Sunday to extradite a number of people, including its security chief, over claims they were behind "terrorist" acts on Russian territory, but Kyiv called the demand "worthless".

In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry repeated a claim that the March 22 attack on a concert hall outside Moscow was linked to Ukraine and accused it of being behind a number of attacks and assassinations on its territory.

Russia has alleged Kyiv was linked to the concert hall attack, despite an affiliate of Islamic State having claimed responsibility.

Invoking two international anti-terrorism conventions, the ministry said it had demanded Ukraine "immediately arrest and extradite" a number of people, including security service chief Vasyl Maliuk.

It said Maliuk had admitted to having "organised the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022 and revealed details of the organisation of other terrorist attacks".

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

"The Russian side demands that the Kyiv regime immediately cease any support for terrorist activities, extradite those responsible and compensate for the damage caused to the victims," it said.

It was not clear how Russia conveyed its demands, as Ukraine severed diplomatic ties with Moscow shortly after it launched its military assault in February 2022.

Ukraine's SBU security service balked at Russia's statement, which it called "worthless" and "cynical".

"Statements about terrorism are especially cynical coming from a terrorist country," it said.

Maliuk earlier this week dismissed Moscow's calls to arrest him, after giving a television interview detailing extra-judicial killings of Ukraine's opponents in Russia.


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Russia demands Ukraine extradite own security chief

MOSCOW: Russia asked Ukraine on Sunday to extradite a number of people, including its security chief, over claims...
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NATO boss floats 100 billion euro military aid fund for Ukraine​

BRUSSELS, April 2 (Reuters) - NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg has proposed a 100 billion euro ($107 billion), five-year package of military aid to Ukraine that would give the Western alliance a more direct role in providing support to Kyiv, five diplomats said on Tuesday.

Under the plan, NATO would take over some coordination work from a U.S.-led ad-hoc coalition known as the Ramstein group - a step designed in part to guard against any cut in U.S. support if Donald Trump returns to the White House, diplomats said.

The proposal is expected to be discussed at a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday, with the aim of finalising a package in time for a NATO summit in Washington in July.

Until now, NATO as an organisation has restricted itself to non-lethal aid for Ukraine out of fears that a more direct role could trigger an escalation of tensions with Russia. Most of its members provide weapons to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.

But diplomats said there was a growing view within NATO that the time had come to put military aid to Ukraine on a more sustainable, long-term footing and the Western alliance was best placed to take on much of that role.

Some also said that threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would regard various steps taken by NATO allies as escalatory had not led to retaliatory action against them.

As part of the plan, NATO would create a NATO Mission for Ukraine, although it was as yet unclear whether the mission would operate inside the country, diplomats said. Some countries were cautious about even naming the operation as a mission.

Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general, has said the plan is partly "to shield against winds of political change" in any NATO member but Trump is uppermost in the minds of many, a senior NATO diplomat said.

NATO declined to comment in detail on Stoltenberg's proposals but a NATO official said foreign ministers would "discuss the best way to organise NATO's support for Ukraine, to make it more powerful, predictable and enduring".

"No final decisions are to be taken at the April ministerial meetings, and discussions will continue as we approach the Washington summit in July," the official said, declining to be named.

Diplomats cautioned that discussions on the proposal were at an early stage and it was unclear whether the 100 billion euro total would be accepted or how it would be financed. All NATO decisions require consensus among the alliance's 32 members.

"It goes some way to protecting in case of Trump. But it is impossible to create something Trump-proof," said another diplomat.

"A fund of 100 billion looks very optimistic, knowing how difficult it was to agree on a smaller amount at EU level," the diplomat added.

Source: Reuters
 
NATO considering €100bn package to 'Trump-proof' war effort

NATO foreign ministers are meeting today in Brussels and will discuss long-term support for Ukraine, including a proposal for a €100bn five-year fund that does not get affect even on Trump's victory in upcoming US elections 2024.

Source: Sky News
 
Ukraine attempting to attack Russia in Russian territories shows that Europe has stopped funding them. That's why they now want to use every last resort before sinking.
 
Ukraine lowers combat call-up age to boost numbers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a bill lowering the military mobilisation age by two years from 27 to 25.

Kyiv and Moscow have both faced heavy losses on the battlefield after two years of war, but Russia has benefited from a sizeable advantage in manpower.

The move will allow Ukraine to call up more people to replenish its reserves, after volunteer numbers dropped.

Mr Zelensky said in December 500,000 more soldiers needed to be mobilised.

But on Wednesday, he said: "We don't need half-a-million." Last week, Ukraine's top general said the required number of mobilised soldiers had been "significantly reduced" following a review of available resources.


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Ukraine lowers combat call-up age to boost numbers

The move will allow Ukraine to call up more people after facing a reduction in volunteer fighters.
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FearlessRoar said:
Ukraine attempting to attack Russia in Russian territories shows that Europe has stopped funding them. That's why they now want to use every last resort before sinking.
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Ukraine destroyed six warplanes at Russian base: Kyiv source​


Ukraine attacked Russia’s Morozovsk military air base in the Rostov region, destroying six Russian warplanes in a joint operation conducted by the SBU security service and military, a Kyiv intelligence source told Reuters on Friday.

Reuters could not independently verify the claim. The source did not say how the attack was conducted but that eight more warplanes had also been damaged.

Russia’s RIA news agency cited the Russian defense ministry earlier as saying Russian air defenses had downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the Rostov region.

The source said the Morozovsk air base was used by Russian tactical bombers like the Sukhoi Su-24 and Su-24M that Moscow’s air force uses to fire guided bombs at the Ukrainian military and frontline towns and cities.

The source described the operation as an important one.

Ukraine has significantly stepped up its drone attacks on targets in Russia in recent weeks, focusing on oil refineries in an effort to reduce Russian oil revenue.

A senior government official told Reuters earlier this year that Ukraine hoped to produce thousands of long-range drones in 2024, part of a priority defense progra in its war with Russia.

Unable to rapidly produce long-range missiles and with limited access to those made by Western allies, Kyiv has focused on developing long-range uncrewed vehicles to strike back at Russia, which has used a sprawling arsenal of missiles and drones to bomb Ukraine.

 
Russian Forces Up Pressure on Ukraine's Eastern Front

Ukraine warned on Friday that a key frontline town was coming under "constant fire" from advancing Russian troops as Moscow said it had captured another small village.

Russia's advances on the battlefield came as Ukraine said it had destroyed at least six military planes at a Russian airbase in one of its largest overnight drone attacks in weeks.

Buoyed by their advantage in manpower and arms, Russian forces are on the offensive.

The Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region appears to be their next major target.

"The town has become even more dangerous," the head of the Chasiv Yar military administration, Sergiy Chaus, told AFP on Friday during an interview in the nearby city of Kramatorsk.

"If before there were moments when you could hear silence in the town, now there is no silence... There is constant fire" he said.

Both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers with links to the armed forces said on Friday that Russian troops had reached the outskirts of the town.

Chaus declined to comment on those reports. He said there were around 770 people still living there.

"There is not a single building left intact," he added.

Chasiv Yar is an important logistics hub for Kyiv's forces and sits a few kilometres west of Bakhmut, which was flattened by months of artillery fire before it was captured by Russia last May.

Russia has recently secured its first territorial gains since seizing Bakhmut and is now trying to press onwards against Ukrainian units hobbled by delays in the supply of vital Western military aid.

- Airbase attacked -

Further to the south, Russia's military claimed on Friday to have captured the small village of Vodiane, on the outskirts of Donetsk city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that his forces had "managed to stabilise our positions" and had halted Russian advances, despite a "shortage of shells and a significant slowdown in supplies".

Zelensky inspected military fortifications under construction in the northern region of Chernihiv, according to a video released by his office Friday.

With its troops on the defensive, Kyiv has stepped up its aerial attacks on Russian territory, targeting both military sites and energy facilities in an attempt to knock out Russia's fuel and equipment supplies for its invasion.

Kyiv fired more than 50 drones at Russian territory overnight, Russia's defence ministry said on Friday, one of its largest attacks in weeks.

A security source in Kyiv told AFP that a drone strike on the Morozovsk air base in Russia's southern Rostov region had destroyed at least six Russian planes and "another eight were heavily damaged".

"This is an important special operation that will significantly reduce the combat potential of the Russians," the source said.

There was no immediate response from Moscow and AFP was unable to verify the claims.

Russia said 44 of the 53 drones Kyiv fired overnight targeted the southern Rostov region, which borders Ukraine and is the location of several military sites, including the command headquarters for the invasion of Ukraine.

Rostov governor Vasily Golubev said on Friday that investigators were injured while inspecting a drone that had been downed near the air base.

"In the Morozovsk district, not far from the airfield, an explosive device in one of the downed drones detonated around noon, injuring eight people according to preliminary data," he said in a post on Telegram.

He said earlier that the attack inflicted only "insignificant damage" to a power station and blew out windows in an apartment building.

Russia rarely comments on Ukrainian claims of successful strikes.

- 'Completely destroyed' -

Both sides also reported shelling and injuries in frontline towns and villages.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) humanitarian organisation said a 3:00 am Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian-held town of Pokrovsk had "completely destroyed" its office in the town.

In a post on X, MSF said it "condemns this attack on the office, which supports its emergency medical humanitarian assistance".

Ukrainian police said five civilians were wounded in the strike.

Other Ukrainian drone attacks in the early hours of Friday targeted Russia's Belgorod and Kursk border regions, as well as Saratov and Krasnodar.

In Saratov, the governor said a drone had targeted Engels, a city around 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the border.

Engels is home to a major Russian air base that has previously been hit. Meanwhile, a Russian strike in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least three people and wounded another 13, the regional governor said on Friday.

Earlier, Ukraine's air force said Russia launched five missiles and 13 drones at its territory overnight.

Kyiv said it downed the 13 drones but did not say anything about the missiles, which targeted the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that a recent wave of attacks against Ukraine was "retribution" for Kyiv's attempts to hit its own energy facilities.

And a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova claimed Friday that an explosive drone hit a military base, without causing injuries or major damage, three weeks after a similar incident.

Officials in the break-away region of Transnistria said a radar installation appeared to be the target of the attack, without directly blaming Ukraine.

SOURCE: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/30676
 
Drones attack the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, according to plant officials

Officials at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant said that the site was attacked Sunday by Ukrainian military drones, including a strike on the dome of the plant’s sixth power unit.

According to the plant authorities, there was no critical damage or casualties and radiation levels at the plant were normal after the strikes. Later on Sunday, however, Russian state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom said that three people were wounded in the “unprecedented series of drone attacks," specifically when a drone hit an area close to the site's canteen.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that its experts had been informed of the drone strike and that “such detonation is consistent with IAEA observations.”

Without apportioning blame, the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, warned of the safety risks of such attacks.

“I urge refraining from actions that contradict the 5 IAEA principles and jeopardize nuclear safety,” he said on the social media site X.

The power plant has been caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. The IAEA has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. Both Ukraine and Russia have regularly accused the other of attacking the plant, which is still close to the front lines.

The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.


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Major Russian air strikes destroy Kyiv power plant, damage other stations

Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, officials said, ramping up pressure on the embattled energy system as Kyiv runs low on air defences.

The major attack more than two years since Russia's full-scale invasion completely destroyed the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital, a senior official at the company that runs the facility told Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had been obliged to launch the strikes in response to Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks on energy targets inside Russia.

Footage on social media showed a fire raging at the large Soviet-era facility and smoke belching from it. Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as the Trypilska station.

"We need air defence and other defence support, not eye-closing and long discussions," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram, condemning the attacks as "terror".

The Russian defence ministry said it hit fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine in what it described as a massive retaliatory strike using drones and high-precision, long-range weapons from air and sea.

The strikes were a response to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's oil, gas and energy facilities, it said.

Putin told his ally, Belarusian Presudent Alexander Lukashenko that the attacks were a part of Russia's objective of the "demilitarisation" of Ukraine - one of the objectives of the Kremlin's 2022 invasion of its neighbour.

"Unfortunately, we observed a series of strikes on our energy sites recently and were obliged to respond," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling Lukashenko.

"The strikes on energy are linked in part with solving one of the tasks we set for ourselves, and that is demilitarisation. We believe above all that in this way we will affect Ukraine's military industrial complex and in a very direct way."

Russia, he said, had refrained from carrying out such attacks in winter "out of humanitarian considerations".

Kyiv's appeals for urgent air defence supplies from the West have grown increasingly desperate since Russia renewed its long-range aerial assaults on the Ukrainian energy system last month.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was blunt in repeating calls for more U.S.-made Patriot systems.

"What is there to discuss?" he told the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform during a visit to Slovakia. "There is only a single question: Give us Patriot systems! If we had Patriots, we would not have lost all of this today."

The attacks, which hammered thermal and hydroelectric power plants, sparked fears about the resilience of an energy system hobbled by a Russian air campaign in the war's first winter.

Ukraine's air force commander said air defences took down 18 of the incoming missiles and 39 drones. The attack used 82 missiles and drones in total, the military said.

The destroyed power plant outside Kyiv, a major supplier for the capital and Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, is the third and last facility owned by state-owned energy company Centrenergo.

"Everything is destroyed," Andriy Gota, head of the supervisory board of the company, said when asked about the situation at Centrenergo.

BIGGEST ENERGY SUPPLIER NEAR THE CAPITAL

The Trypilska plant was the biggest energy facility near Kyiv and was built to have a capacity of 1,800 megawatts, more than the pre-war needs of Ukraine's biggest city.

The Ukrenergo grid operator said its substations and power generating facilities had been damaged in attacks on the regions of Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Kyiv.

Ukraine's largest private electricity company DTEK, which lost 80% of its generating capacity in attacks on March 22 and March 29, said Russia's attacks hit two of its power stations.

On Thursday afternoon, Russian forces attacked a thermal power station in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine with guided bombs. The scale of damage was not immediately clear.

The strikes also attacked two underground storage facilities where Ukraine stores natural gas, including some owned by foreign companies, energy company Naftogaz said. The facilities continued to operate, it added.

"The situation in Ukraine is dire; there is not a moment to lose," said U.S. ambassador Bridget Brink, adding that 10 missiles struck infrastructure in the Kharkiv area alone.

The grid operator issued a statement urging Ukrainians to minimise their use of electricity in the peak evening hours.

The region of Kharkiv, which borders Russia and already has long, rolling blackouts in place, was forced to cut electricity for 200,000 people, presidential aide Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Ukraine has warned it could run out of air defence munitions if Russia keeps up the intensity of its strikes and that it is already having to make difficult decisions about what to defend.

There has been a slowdown in Western assistance and a major U.S. aid package has been blocked by Republicans in Congress.

SOURCE: REUTERS
 

Ukraine says eastern front has 'deteriorated significantly'​


Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky warned on Saturday that the situation on the eastern front had "deteriorated significantly" in recent days.

The comments come after Russian forces began to make inroads in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk this year.

The gains come after a year of the front line being mostly frozen and against a Ukrainian army dogged by manpower and ammunition shortages, amid delays in Western aid.

Syrsky said the fighting had intensified after Russia's presidential election, in which President Vladimir Putin triumphed against his permitted opposition.

"The enemy is actively attacking our positions in the Lyman and Bakhmut sectors with assault groups supported by armored vehicles. In the Pokrovsk sector, they are trying to break through our defense using dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers," the commander-in-chief said.

Kyiv has said the situation around the eastern frontline city of Chasiv Yar is "difficult and tense" with the area under "constant fire."

Chasiv Yar lies 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Bakhmut, which was flattened by months of artillery fire before being seized by Moscow's forces last May.

Syrsky took over as commander-in-chief in February after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his popular predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny.

He said Russians also had superior weapons, and that Moscow's forces were making periodic gains.

"This is primarily due to a significant intensification of the enemy's offensive after the presidential elections in Russia," he said, adding that decisions were "made to strengthen the most problematic defense areas with electronic warfare and air defense."

Syrsky then warned that Ukraine urgently needs to achieve technical superiority over Russian forces via the use of high-tech weapons.

"Only this will enable us to defeat a larger enemy and create conditions for seizing the strategic initiative," he said.

The military chief also spoke about the need to train Ukraine's military personnel, especially infantry units, "so they can make the most of all the capabilities of military equipment and Western weapons."

This week, Ukraine adopted new legislation, making it easier to recruit urgently needed soldiers and fining those who try to escape military drafts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia may be preparing a big offensive in late May or June. He did not say where.

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Ukraine says eastern front has 'deteriorated significantly' – DW – 04/13/2024

Ukraine's commander-in-chief says Kyiv's military is struggling as Russia intensifies its efforts to move forward in the east of the country.
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Ukraine army chief says Russia making significant 'gains' in east of country​


The head of Ukraine's military has warned the battlefield situation in the east of the country has "significantly worsened" in recent days.

Fierce battles are ongoing in a several villages in the eastern Donbas region.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia was benefitting from warm weather - making terrain more accessible to its tanks - and making tactical gains.

It comes as Germany said it will give Ukraine an extra Patriot missile defence system to fend off air attacks.

In his update posted to social media on Saturday, Gen Syrskyi explained the situation on the eastern front had deteriorated as Russia intensified its armoured assaults.

Battles have raged for control of Bohdanivka - a village west of the devastated city of Bakhmut, he said.

The settlement lies a few kilometres northeast of the town of Chasiv Yar, a Kyiv-controlled stronghold which Russia has been trying to reach after seizing the town of Avdiivka in February to the south.

Ukrainian officials say a slowdown in military assistance from the West - especially the US - has left it more exposed to aerial attacks and heavily outgunned on the battlefield.

Despite repeated assurances that he is dedicated to Ukraine's defence, US House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to advance a new military aid bill. The Democratic-controlled Senate passed fresh funding in February which included $60bn in aid for Kyiv, but conservative Republicans in the House objected to the bill as it did not include funds for border security.

Gen Syrskyi said without fresh aid and sophisticated weapons Kyiv would be unable "to seize the strategic initiative" from the numerically superior Russian forces.

Separately on Saturday, Germany vowed to give Ukraine an additional air defence system. Ukraine has made increasingly desperate appeals for supplies of air defence missiles in recent weeks.

On Friday, a major power plant near Kyiv was completely destroyed by Russian strikes. Trypillya power plant was the largest electricity provider for three regions, including Kyiv, officials said.

In response, Berlin has agreed to give Kyiv an additional Patriot missile system. It is capable of intercepting Russia's most advanced munitions, including Kinzal hypersonic missiles.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure were causing untold suffering.

President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for the decision, calling it "a true manifestation of support for Ukraine".

Since President Vladimir Putin won his stage managed election last month, Moscow has stepped up air attacks on Ukraine.

Russia has, in recent days, unleashed three massive aerial strikes on its energy system, pounding power plants and substations.

Elsewhere, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it has foiled an assassination attempt on the governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin. Officials said two men attempted to strike Mr Prokudin's car with a Russian-manufactured drone.

"This was not the first attempt, and probably not the last one," Mr Prokudin said a message posted to Telegram.

SBU officials also said they had detained 11 networks of Russian operatives since the start of 2024. SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk said in another Telegram post that this was in addition to 47 last year.

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Ukraine army chief says Russia making significant 'gains' in east of country

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia is making tactical gains and benefitting from warmer weather.
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'Non-Sense & Funny: Putin Rips Apart Switzerland And Ukraine Over Peace Conference

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismisses the planned Ukraine conference, mocking the idea of enforced peace plans. In a recent meeting with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, Putin lashed out at Switzerland's initiative, stating Moscow's non-acceptance of the conference. While Russia wishes for a peaceful end to the conflict, it opposes imposing settlement schemes.

Souce: Times of India
 
Ukraine's top commander says Russia aims to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9

Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday Russian forces aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, setting the stage for an important battle for control of high ground in the east where Russia is focusing its assaults.

The fall of the town west of the shattered city of Bakhmut by the date Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War Two would indicate growing Russian battlefield momentum as Kyiv faces a slowdown in Western military aid.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who warned this weekend that the situation in the east had deteriorated, said Russia was focusing its efforts west of occupied Bakhmut to try to capture Chasiv Yar before moving towards the city of Kramatorsk.

Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region lies 5-10 kilometres (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, the devastated city captured by Russian forces in May last year after months of bloody fighting.

Kyiv's brigades were holding back the assaults near Chasiv Yar for now and had been reinforced with ammunition, drones and electronic warfare devices, he said in a statement on the Telegram messenger.

"The threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing Chasiv Yar by May 9," he said, without elaborating.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, writing on Facebook, said he visited Ukrainian units on the eastern front on Sunday and described the situation as "tense", with Russia trying to make headway in areas west of Bakhmut.


Reuters
 
Putin's £56m warplane 'destroyed' in devastating Ukraine attack on air base

Vladimir Putin has faced another blow after Russia's £56million warplane was allegedly blown up by Ukrainian forces.

It is believed that among the destroyed or seriously damaged aircraft is a Beriev Be-200 - an incredibly rare aircraft.

The extent of the damage remains unknown, however it has been reported that the satellite images from Planet Labs implies significant damage to one of the Be-200s.

Costing around £56m according to Aircraft24, the warplane is capable of taking off from and landing on both land and sea.

Russia reportedly had just three of the versatile aircrafts - making the potential destruction of one more significant.

It comes after Ukraine’s infrastructure was hit at the mercy of Russian missiles.

Ukraine has seen a series of drone and missile attacks damaging it energy infrastructure over recent days.

Chiefs say they can "count on one hand" the thermal and hydro power plants across the country that are not yet badly damaged or totally destroyed.


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Putin's £56m warplane 'destroyed' in devastating Ukraine attack on air base

The warplane is capable of taking off from and landing on both land and sea
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Russia's meat grinder soldiers - 50,000 confirmed dead

Russia's military death toll in Ukraine has now passed the 50,000 mark, the BBC can confirm.

In the second 12 months on the front line - as Moscow pushed its so-called meat grinder strategy - we found the body count was nearly 25% higher than in the first year.

BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022.

New graves in cemeteries helped provide the names of many soldiers.

Our teams also combed through open-source information from official reports, newspapers and social media.

More than 27,300 Russian soldiers died in the second year of combat - according to our findings - a reflection of how territorial gains have come at a huge human cost.

Russia has declined to comment.

The term meat grinder has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery.

The overall death toll - of more than 50,000 - is eight times higher than the only official public acknowledgement of fatality numbers ever given by Moscow in September 2022.

The actual number of Russian deaths is likely to be much higher.

Our analysis does not include the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk - in eastern Ukraine. If they were added, the death toll on the Russian side would be even higher.

Ukraine, meanwhile, rarely comments on the scale of its battlefield fatalities. In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed - but estimates, based on US intelligence, suggest greater losses.

Meat grinder tactics

The BBC and Mediazona's latest list of dead soldiers shows the stark human cost of Russia's changing front-line tactics.

The graph below shows how the Russian military suffered a sharp spike in the number of deaths in January 2023, as it began a large-scale offensive in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

As Russians fought for the city of Vuhledar it used "ineffective human-wave style frontal assaults", according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

"Challenging terrain, a lack of combat power, and failure to surprise Ukrainian forces", it said, led to little gains and high combat losses.

Another significant spike in the graph can be seen in spring 2023, during the battle for Bakhmut - when the mercenary group, Wagner, helped Russia capture the city.

Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, estimated his group's losses around that time to be 22,000.

Russia's capture of the eastern-Ukrainian city Avdiivka last autumn also led to another surge in military deaths.

Counting graves

Volunteers working with the BBC and Mediazona have been counting new military graves in 70 cemeteries across Russia since the war started.

Graveyards have been expanded significantly, aerial images show.

For example, these images of Bogorodskoye cemetery in Ryazan - to the south-east of Moscow - show a whole new section has appeared.

Pictures and videos taken on the ground suggest most of these new graves belong to soldiers and officers killed in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates at least two in five of Russia's dead fighters are people who had nothing to do with the country's military before the invasion.

At the start of the 2022 invasion, Russia was able to use its professional troops to conduct complicated military operations - explains Samuel Cranny-Evans of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).

But a lot of those experienced soldiers are now likely to be dead or wounded, says the defence analyst, and have been replaced by people with little training or military experience - such as volunteers, civilians and prisoners.

These people can't do what professional soldiers can do, explains Mr Cranny-Evans. "This means they have to do things that are a lot simpler tactically - which generally seems to be a forward assault onto Ukrainian positions with artillery support."

Wagner v the defence ministry

Prison recruits are crucial to the success of the meat grinder - and our analysis suggests they are now being killed quicker on the front line.

Moscow allowed leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to begin recruiting in prisons from June 2022. The inmates-turned-fighters then fought as part of a private army on behalf of the Russian government.

Wagner had a fearsome reputation for relentless fighting tactics and brutal internal discipline. Soldiers could be executed on the spot for retreating without orders.

The group continued to recruit prisoners until February 2023, when its relationship with Moscow began to sour. Since then, Russia's defence ministry has continued the same policy.

Prigozhin staged an aborted mutiny against Russia's armed forces in June last year - and tried to advance towards Moscow before agreeing to turn back. In August, he was killed in a plane crash.

Our latest analysis focused on the names of 9,000 Russian prison inmates who we know were killed on the front line.

For more than 1,000 of them, we confirmed their military contract start dates and when they were killed.

We found that, under Wagner, those former prisoners had survived for an average of three months.

However, as the graph above suggests, those recruited later by the defence ministry only lived for an average of two months.

A tale of two soldiers: Can Ukraine actually win?

Ukrainecast - Frontline fighters on the Russian threat and the prospects for peace

The ministry has created army units commonly known as Storm platoons, made up almost entirely of convicts.

Similarly to Wagner's prisoner units, these detachments are reportedly often treated as an expendable force thrown into battle.

"Storm fighters, they're just meat," one regular soldier, who had fought alongside Storm members, told Reuters last year.

Recently, Storm fighters were instrumental in the months-long battle to capture Avdiivka.

The city fell to Russia eight weeks ago and represented the biggest strategic and symbolic battlefield victory for Putin since Bakhmut.

Prisoners sent straight to front line

Under Wagner, new prison fighters were given a fortnight of military training before heading to the battlefield.

By contrast, we found some defence ministry recruits were killed on the front line in the first two weeks of their contracts.

The BBC has spoken to families of prison recruits who died - and soldiers still alive - who told us the military training offered to prison recruits by the defence ministry is insufficient.

One widow told us her husband had signed his ministry contract in prison on 8 April last year - and he was fighting on the front line three days later.

"I had been sure that there would be the few weeks of training they talk about. And that there'd be nothing to fear until at least the end of April."

She said she waited to hear from him - but found out that he had been killed on 21 April.

Another mother says she only found out her husband had been taken from prison to the battlefield when she tried to contact him about the death of their son, who had also been fighting.

The woman, who we are calling Alfiya, says her 25-year-old son Vadim - a father of twins - had never held a weapon before being mobilised.

She says she couldn't tell her husband Alexander about their son's death because he had been "taken away" to fight. She only found out he had gone via a phone call from another inmate.

Alexander grew up in Ukraine and had family there - says Alfiya - and he knew it was "a lie" that Russia had invaded Ukraine to fight fascism. When army recruiters first came to the prison "he sent them to hell," she says.

Some seven months after the death of her son, Alfiya was informed that Alexander had also been killed.

'Be ready to die'

When working for Wagner, prison inmates were typically contracted for six months. The fighters - if they survived - would then be given their freedom at the end.

But, since last September, under the defence ministry, enlisted prisoners must fight until they die or the war is over - whichever comes first.

The BBC has heard recent stories of prisoners asking relatives to help them buy proper uniforms and boots. There have also been reports of inmates being sent to fight without proper kit, medical supplies or even Kalashnikov guns.

"Many soldiers had rifles that were unsuitable for combat," writes Russian war supporter and blogger Vladimir Grubnik, on his Telegram channel.

"What a foot soldier should do on the front line without a first aid kit, a spade to dig in a trench and with a broken rifle is a big mystery!"

Grubnik - who is based in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine - claims when commanders found out that some guns were "completely broken" they said it was "impossible" for them to be replaced.

"The rifle was already assigned to the person, and the harsh military bureaucracy couldn't do anything about it."

Former prisoners have also described the high price paid by their comrades.

"If you sign up now, be ready to die, mate," says Sergei, in an online forum for Storm fighters and their relatives, where information is shared.

He claims to be a former inmate who has been fighting in a Storm unit since October.

Another forum member says he joined a Storm platoon of 100 soldiers five months ago and is now one of just 38 still alive.

"Every combat mission is like being born again."

BBC
 
BouncerGuy said:
Russia's meat grinder soldiers - 50,000 confirmed dead

Russia's military death toll in Ukraine has now passed the 50,000 mark, the BBC can confirm.

In the second 12 months on the front line - as Moscow pushed its so-called meat grinder strategy - we found the body count was nearly 25% higher than in the first year.

BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022.

New graves in cemeteries helped provide the names of many soldiers.

Our teams also combed through open-source information from official reports, newspapers and social media.

More than 27,300 Russian soldiers died in the second year of combat - according to our findings - a reflection of how territorial gains have come at a huge human cost.

Russia has declined to comment.

The term meat grinder has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery.

The overall death toll - of more than 50,000 - is eight times higher than the only official public acknowledgement of fatality numbers ever given by Moscow in September 2022.

The actual number of Russian deaths is likely to be much higher.

Our analysis does not include the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk - in eastern Ukraine. If they were added, the death toll on the Russian side would be even higher.

Ukraine, meanwhile, rarely comments on the scale of its battlefield fatalities. In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed - but estimates, based on US intelligence, suggest greater losses.

Meat grinder tactics

The BBC and Mediazona's latest list of dead soldiers shows the stark human cost of Russia's changing front-line tactics.

The graph below shows how the Russian military suffered a sharp spike in the number of deaths in January 2023, as it began a large-scale offensive in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

As Russians fought for the city of Vuhledar it used "ineffective human-wave style frontal assaults", according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

"Challenging terrain, a lack of combat power, and failure to surprise Ukrainian forces", it said, led to little gains and high combat losses.

Another significant spike in the graph can be seen in spring 2023, during the battle for Bakhmut - when the mercenary group, Wagner, helped Russia capture the city.

Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, estimated his group's losses around that time to be 22,000.

Russia's capture of the eastern-Ukrainian city Avdiivka last autumn also led to another surge in military deaths.

Counting graves

Volunteers working with the BBC and Mediazona have been counting new military graves in 70 cemeteries across Russia since the war started.

Graveyards have been expanded significantly, aerial images show.

For example, these images of Bogorodskoye cemetery in Ryazan - to the south-east of Moscow - show a whole new section has appeared.

Pictures and videos taken on the ground suggest most of these new graves belong to soldiers and officers killed in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates at least two in five of Russia's dead fighters are people who had nothing to do with the country's military before the invasion.

At the start of the 2022 invasion, Russia was able to use its professional troops to conduct complicated military operations - explains Samuel Cranny-Evans of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).

But a lot of those experienced soldiers are now likely to be dead or wounded, says the defence analyst, and have been replaced by people with little training or military experience - such as volunteers, civilians and prisoners.

These people can't do what professional soldiers can do, explains Mr Cranny-Evans. "This means they have to do things that are a lot simpler tactically - which generally seems to be a forward assault onto Ukrainian positions with artillery support."

Wagner v the defence ministry

Prison recruits are crucial to the success of the meat grinder - and our analysis suggests they are now being killed quicker on the front line.

Moscow allowed leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to begin recruiting in prisons from June 2022. The inmates-turned-fighters then fought as part of a private army on behalf of the Russian government.

Wagner had a fearsome reputation for relentless fighting tactics and brutal internal discipline. Soldiers could be executed on the spot for retreating without orders.

The group continued to recruit prisoners until February 2023, when its relationship with Moscow began to sour. Since then, Russia's defence ministry has continued the same policy.

Prigozhin staged an aborted mutiny against Russia's armed forces in June last year - and tried to advance towards Moscow before agreeing to turn back. In August, he was killed in a plane crash.

Our latest analysis focused on the names of 9,000 Russian prison inmates who we know were killed on the front line.

For more than 1,000 of them, we confirmed their military contract start dates and when they were killed.

We found that, under Wagner, those former prisoners had survived for an average of three months.

However, as the graph above suggests, those recruited later by the defence ministry only lived for an average of two months.

A tale of two soldiers: Can Ukraine actually win?

Ukrainecast - Frontline fighters on the Russian threat and the prospects for peace

The ministry has created army units commonly known as Storm platoons, made up almost entirely of convicts.

Similarly to Wagner's prisoner units, these detachments are reportedly often treated as an expendable force thrown into battle.

"Storm fighters, they're just meat," one regular soldier, who had fought alongside Storm members, told Reuters last year.

Recently, Storm fighters were instrumental in the months-long battle to capture Avdiivka.

The city fell to Russia eight weeks ago and represented the biggest strategic and symbolic battlefield victory for Putin since Bakhmut.

Prisoners sent straight to front line

Under Wagner, new prison fighters were given a fortnight of military training before heading to the battlefield.

By contrast, we found some defence ministry recruits were killed on the front line in the first two weeks of their contracts.

The BBC has spoken to families of prison recruits who died - and soldiers still alive - who told us the military training offered to prison recruits by the defence ministry is insufficient.

One widow told us her husband had signed his ministry contract in prison on 8 April last year - and he was fighting on the front line three days later.

"I had been sure that there would be the few weeks of training they talk about. And that there'd be nothing to fear until at least the end of April."

She said she waited to hear from him - but found out that he had been killed on 21 April.

Another mother says she only found out her husband had been taken from prison to the battlefield when she tried to contact him about the death of their son, who had also been fighting.

The woman, who we are calling Alfiya, says her 25-year-old son Vadim - a father of twins - had never held a weapon before being mobilised.

She says she couldn't tell her husband Alexander about their son's death because he had been "taken away" to fight. She only found out he had gone via a phone call from another inmate.

Alexander grew up in Ukraine and had family there - says Alfiya - and he knew it was "a lie" that Russia had invaded Ukraine to fight fascism. When army recruiters first came to the prison "he sent them to hell," she says.

Some seven months after the death of her son, Alfiya was informed that Alexander had also been killed.

'Be ready to die'

When working for Wagner, prison inmates were typically contracted for six months. The fighters - if they survived - would then be given their freedom at the end.

But, since last September, under the defence ministry, enlisted prisoners must fight until they die or the war is over - whichever comes first.

The BBC has heard recent stories of prisoners asking relatives to help them buy proper uniforms and boots. There have also been reports of inmates being sent to fight without proper kit, medical supplies or even Kalashnikov guns.

"Many soldiers had rifles that were unsuitable for combat," writes Russian war supporter and blogger Vladimir Grubnik, on his Telegram channel.

"What a foot soldier should do on the front line without a first aid kit, a spade to dig in a trench and with a broken rifle is a big mystery!"

Grubnik - who is based in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine - claims when commanders found out that some guns were "completely broken" they said it was "impossible" for them to be replaced.

"The rifle was already assigned to the person, and the harsh military bureaucracy couldn't do anything about it."

Former prisoners have also described the high price paid by their comrades.

"If you sign up now, be ready to die, mate," says Sergei, in an online forum for Storm fighters and their relatives, where information is shared.

He claims to be a former inmate who has been fighting in a Storm unit since October.

Another forum member says he joined a Storm platoon of 100 soldiers five months ago and is now one of just 38 still alive.

"Every combat mission is like being born again."

BBC
Click to expand...
It's been brutal - 50,000 (BBC) Russian soldiers dead . 70,000 (NYT) Ukranian soldiers dead. 20,000+ Ukranian civilians dead (United Nations). Who knows how many maimed or wounded but numbers estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Both countries are losing or have lost a generation of youth. All for what? Utter nonsensical war aims. Why did Ukraine need to try to join NATO and why did Russia want to stop it through invasion?

At least for the Palestinians and Israelis, the war is central to their existence. These guys have no such reasoning.
 
Russian missile barrage on Ukraine city kills 17

Three Russian missiles crashed into Ukraine’s historic city of Chernigiv on Wednesday, killing 17 people, as officials pleaded for more air defence systems from allies.

Pools of blood gathered on the street at the scene of one strike, where rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble and carried away the wounded on stretchers, official images showed.

Buildings and cars across the centre of the northern city were destroyed in the strike.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has urged allies to send more missiles to thwart Russian aerial attacks, said Ukraine lacked the weapons it needed to intercept the three missiles that struck Chernigiv.

He said he had spoken to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the strike and asked for “immediate steps” to bolster Ukraine’s air defences.

Resident Olga Samoilenko told AFP how she ducked with her children into the corridor of their apartment building for protection when the first missile exploded.

“Our neighbours were already there. We started shouting for everyone to fall to the floor. They did. There were two more explosions. Then we ran to the parking lot,” the 33-year-old said.

The official death toll grew to 17 during the day, while emergency services said 60 people — including three children — had been wounded.

“Search and rescue operations are ongoing,” their statement added.



www.brecorder.com

Russian missile barrage on Ukraine city kills 17

CHERNIGIV (Ukraine): Three Russian missiles crashed into Ukraine’s historic city of Chernigiv on Wednesday, ...
www.brecorder.com
 

Zelensky assassination plot arrest in Poland: Man is held for 'passing on airport details to Russian security services planning to kill Ukrainian president'​


A Polish national has been arrested on suspicion of handing sensitive information to Russia in order to facilitate a possible assassination plot against president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Paweł K faces up to eight years in prison after he was detained in Poland and charged with 'reporting his readiness to act for foreign intelligence'.

The man was tasked with 'collecting... military intelligence... with information on the security of the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport' in order to 'help Russian special services plan a possible attack' on the Ukrainian leader, according to the Polish Prosecutor's Office.

Polish authorities worked with their counterparts in Ukraine during the investigation, leading to Paweł K's detention on Wednesday.

The investigation is still ongoing.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Man arrested on suspicion of facilitating Zelensky assassination plot

Paweł K faces up to eight years in prison after he was detained in Poland and charged with 'reporting his readiness to act for foreign intelligence'.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
 
Polish man arrested over alleged Russia plot to assassinate Zelenskyy

A Polish man has been arrested and charged with plans to help Russia's military intelligence carry out an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, say prosecutors.

The suspect, identified only as Pawel K, was allegedly seeking contact with Russians directly involved in the war in Ukraine and planning to pass on detailed security information to agents about Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland.

The man's tasks would help Russian special services plan a possible assassination of Mr Zelenskyy, said prosecutors.

He was arrested in Poland on Wednesday, the office of the country's national prosecutor said in a statement.

If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison, the statement added.


SKY News
 
US Congress close to passing long-awaited Ukraine aid

After months of delay, the US House of Representatives appears poised to hold a vote on tens of billions of dollars in American military aid for Ukraine and Israel this weekend.

Both measures have vocal opponents in Congress, however, and their hopes of passage have hinged on a fragile bipartisan coalition to overcome daunting procedural and legislative obstacles.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said he is determined to bring the matter to a vote, even if it may put his hold on power in jeopardy.

The Ukraine vote will be closely watched in Kyiv, which has warned of the urgent need for fresh support from its allies as Russia makes steady gains on the battlefield.


www.bbc.com

US Congress close to passing long-awaited Ukraine aid

A huge $61bn support package that could help reshape Kyiv's war effort will go to a vote in coming days.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Ukraine war: Nato pledges more advanced air defences to Kyiv

Nato will give Ukraine more advanced air defences after urgent Kyiv pleas and deadly Russian attacks, military bloc head Jens Stoltenberg has said.

His comments come after a crisis Nato-Ukraine summit on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv needed "seven more Patriots or similar air defence systems" to defend the country's cities.

Seven people, including two children, were killed in Russian missile strikes on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

Speaking after the Nato-Ukraine Council summit held by video link, Mr Stoltenberg said: "Nato defence ministers have agreed to step up and provide further military support, including more air defence."

He said the 32-member bloc "has mapped out existing capabilities across the alliance and there are systems that can be made available to Ukraine".

"So I expect new announcements on air defence capabilities for Ukraine soon," he added.

The Nato chief said there were Patriot and other advanced air defence systems available in stocks of Nato countries that could be given to Ukraine - but he gave no details about what exactly Kyiv might get.

Last week, Germany pledged to supply Kyiv with a third US-made Patriot battery out of its military stocks.

Ukraine currently has several Patriot systems, but not enough to defend its cities from massive Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky said after the summit: "We need seven more Patriots or similar air defence systems, and it's a minimum number. They can save many lives and really change the situation. You [Nato] have such systems."

The Ukrainian leader laid out four other key priorities Kyiv has long been pressing for:

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is in its third year now, and there are no signs that Europe's biggest land war since World War Two might end any time soon.

Moscow's troops have recently been making steady - albeit slow - advances in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv faces critical arms shortages.

Mr Zelensky recently admitted that Ukraine is outgunned and could lose the war without urgent Western military aid.

Ukraine is critically dependent on advanced armoury supplies from its Western allies, particularly the US, to be able to continue fighting Russia - a far bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition.

Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian officials said seven people, including a boy and a girl, were killed and more than 30 injured in Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region.

The northern city of Chernihiv was struck in Russia's deadliest attack for some time earlier this week, leaving 18 dead and dozens wounded.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Air Force said it had brought down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber 300km (186 miles) from Ukrainian territory.

It said the plane eventually went down in Russia's Stavropol region after it had launched a missile strike on Ukraine.

Ukraine's defence intelligence described the strike as a special operation similar to January's attack on a Russian A-50 spy plane.

Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told BBC Ukraine that "we waited for a long time, prepared, and finally succeeded".

A source in Ukraine's intelligence later told the BBC the Russian bomber was shot down on Friday using a Soviet-era S-200 air defence system, which is believed to have been upgraded.

Unverified footage showed a plane on fire spiralling out of control and falling to the ground.

Russia's defence ministry blamed a technical malfunction after the bomber had carried out a "combat task".

Two pilots had been found alive, a third crew member was killed and rescue services were looking for a fourth, Stavropol's regional governor said.

BBC
 

Ukrainian drones strike Russian fuel depot, substations in major attack​

KYIV, April 20 (Reuters) - Ukraine attacked eight Russian regions with dozens of long-range strike drones, setting ablaze a fuel depot and hitting three power substations in a major attack early on Saturday, an intelligence source in Kyiv told Reuters.

The overnight attack, which was confirmed by the defence ministry in Moscow, comes amid a Russian airstrike campaign that has battered Ukraine's energy system and pounded its cities in recent weeks.

Facing mounting pressure on the battlefield more than two years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has tried to find a pressure point against the Kremlin by targeting oil refineries and energy facilities inside Russia using drones.

"At least three electrical substations and a fuel storage base were hit, where fires ignited," the Ukrainian source said, citing social media videos showing fires raging at different locations.

The source said the facilities were targeted for supporting Russian military industrial production.

Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 50 Ukrainian drones, including 26 in the Belgorod region, 10 in the Bryansk region, eight in Kursk region, two in Tula region as well as one in each of the regions of Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga and Moscow.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said two civilians were killed as a result of the attack.

The strike targeted a fuel energy facility in the western Smolensk region's Kardym district, hitting a reservoir with fuel and oil lubricants, the local governor confirmed.

"As a result of the work of air defence forces, the aircraft were shot down. However, as a result of falling debris, a tank with fuel and oil lubricants caught fire," he said, adding that firefighters were battling to put out the blaze.

It was not clear if anyone had been hurt, he said.

 
Ukraine Russia war: US House passes crucial aid deal worth $61bn

The House of Representatives has finally approved billions of dollars in new US military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia's invasion.

The much-delayed measure had vocal opponents in Congress and it took a fragile bipartisan deal to get the $61bn (£49bn) package through.

Now the focus shifts from "whether" to "when" lethal aid arrives, with reports suggesting it could begin within days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the US support as "vital".

Expressing gratitude, Mr Zelensky said: "Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it."

The aid would keep the war from expanding and save thousands of lives, he added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered by saying the package would "make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians".

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, since when tens of thousands of people, mainly soldiers, have been killed or injured on both sides, and millions of Ukrainians have had to flee their homes.

The foreign aid package passed on Saturday also includes:

  • $26.4bn in military support for Israel, with $9.1bn of that allocated to humanitarian aid for Gaza
  • $8.1bn in funding for allies in the Asia-Pacific, including Taiwan, to "counter communist China".
The House also passed a bill that would force the China-based owner of the TikTok social media platform to either sell its stake or face a ban in the US.

Cheers and applause erupted in the House when it passed, by 311 votes to 112, with some Representatives waving Ukrainian flags.

It will now go to the Senate, which is expected to pass it in the next few days before President Joe Biden signs it into law.

Welcoming the result, Mr Biden praised the bipartisan effort to "answer history's call" and urging the Senate to approve it quickly "so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs".

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the significant boost in aid would supplement the tens of billions of assistance being provided to Ukraine by European allies.

"Ukraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia," EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel said in a joint statement.

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour programme, Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine's foreign affairs committee, described the vote as a "historic decision" that would "definitely save lots of lives of our civilians and our soldiers".

"It gives us strength, it gives us courage and resolve to continue to fight, and I'm sure that the situation at the front will soon change in our favour," he said.

Ukraine, which relies on Western weapons, desperately needs the aid as it struggles to contain invading Russian troops, who have been making steady advances in recent weeks.

Ukrainian soldiers are running so low on munitions, they are having to ration artillery shells on a front line more than 1,200km (745 miles) long.

Both Mr Zelensky and head of the CIA William Burns have said that Ukraine will lose the war without American help.

That has been reinforced over the past six months by Russia taking more territory, and other Western allies struggling to fill the gap left by Washington.

Ukraine is now feeling the weight of American support once more.

This is not the silver bullet which will help Ukraine win the war, but it extends its window to fight and keep the negotiating table at bay.

The House vote had been delayed by Republicans for months, with some objecting to sending money overseas instead of dealing with the US-Mexico border issue.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he wanted to push the measures through, even if it jeopardised his position.

On Saturday, it was passed by a comfortable margin - but those numbers obscure the increasingly sharp partisan divides on the issue.

While all 210 Democrats voted in favour, more Republicans were against the legislation than in favour of it, 112 to 101.

That could spell trouble for Mr Johnson. Three House Republicans are already calling for him to be ousted as Speaker. They may even force a vote on the matter next week.

While the billions of dollars in new aid is expected to sustain the Ukrainian war effort in the months ahead, if Republicans gain more power in Congress - or take back the White House - further US support seems increasingly unlikely.

BBC
 
Ukraine aid package could help Kyiv slow Russia’s advance

President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his gratitude to the US House of Representatives for approving a new $61bn (£49bn) package of military assistance for Ukraine after months of delays. He said the aid could save thousands of lives.

While it's not uncommon for a country's future to be decided by politicians, a nation's very existence hinging on a vote 5,000 miles away is as extraordinary as it sounds.

For Ukraine, the six-month wait for this military package has been as costly as it has been frustrating.

Dwindling ammunition has cost it lives and territory.

In this period of rare boosts for Kyiv, this was a biggie - the arrival of American weaponry will allow its beleaguered troops to do more than hang on. But it's no silver bullet.


www.bbc.com

Ukraine aid package could help Kyiv slow Russia’s advance

The $61bn (£49bn) aid package keeps Ukraine in the fight but it's no silver bullet, BBC's James Waterhouse writes from Kyiv.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Red-Indian said:
It's been brutal - 50,000 (BBC) Russian soldiers dead . 70,000 (NYT) Ukranian soldiers dead. 20,000+ Ukranian civilians dead (United Nations). Who knows how many maimed or wounded but numbers estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Both countries are losing or have lost a generation of youth. All for what? Utter nonsensical war aims. Why did Ukraine need to try to join NATO and why did Russia want to stop it through invasion?

At least for the Palestinians and Israelis, the war is central to their existence. These guys have no such reasoning.
Click to expand...

War has always been old men talking and young men dying.

This world is for the rich and powerful, the rest of us here are just pawns of their game.
 

Russia has up to 25,000 troops trying to storm Chasiv Yar area, Kyiv says​

KYIV, April 22 (Reuters) - Russia has a force of 20,000-25,000 troops trying to storm the eastern Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar and surrounding villages, Ukraine's military said on Monday, describing the situation in the area as difficult.

Ukraine has full control of Chasiv Yar, which lies on strategic high ground in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, but Kyiv's top commander has said Russia wants to capture the town by May 9 when it marks Soviet Victory Day in World War Two.

"The situation around the town is difficult, however the situation is controllable... Our defenders are both receiving reinforcement and stabilising the line," said Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesman for the eastern military command.

"It's somewhere around 20,000-25,000 Russian servicemen trying to storm Chasiv Yar and the outskirts of settlements near it," he said in televised comments on public broadcaster Suspilne.

The capture of Chasiv Yar would bring Russia closer to two strategically important cities under Ukrainian control, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russia has already been inching forward, but long-delayed U.S. military assistance is expected to reach Ukraine relieving critical ammunition shortages in a matter of days following its expected final approval this week.

"It is difficult for our soldiers, but receiving the necessary assistance will even out the situation," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

 

Biden vows to 'quickly' supply new military aid to Ukraine​

Joe Biden has told Volodymyr Zelensky he will "move quickly" to send Ukraine fresh military aid, after US lawmakers passed a $61bn (£49bn) support package.

The House of Representatives approved the bill on Saturday after months of political gridlock in the chamber.

Mr Biden promised "significant" support for Kyiv - including more air defences - if senators approve the bill as expected on Tuesday.

The assurances come as Russian attacks destroyed a TV tower in Kharkiv.

Footage showed the red and white tower collapsing seconds after Russian missiles slammed into it on Monday afternoon in the eastern Ukrainian city, which lies just 19 miles (30km) from the Russian border.

Local officials said there were no casualties in the attack, with regional Governor Oleg Syniehubov writing on social media that staff were in a shelter at the time.

But Mr Syniehubov said the attack had disrupted television broadcasting in the region.

Kharkiv has been targeted in relentless air attacks by Russian forces in recent weeks. In a social media post after the attack, President Zelensky wrote that it was "Russia's clear intention to make the city uninhabitable".

He added that he had informed President Biden of the strike, which he said happened just before their call on Monday.

In a readout of the call released by the White House, President Biden said his administration had a "lasting commitment to supporting Ukraine as it defends its freedom against Russian aggression".

The White House also said Mr Biden had committed to helping Ukraine "maintain financial stability, build back critical infrastructure following Russian attacks, and support reform as Ukraine moves forward on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration".

The aid package approved by the House on Saturday includes more than $9bn (£7.28bn) of economic assistance in the form of "forgivable loans" - ones that do not need to be paid back.

www.bbc.com

Biden vows to 'quickly' supply new military aid to Ukraine

The US president says he will send "significant" support to Kyiv if senators pass a new aid deal on Tuesday.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
US President Joe Biden has signed a $95bn (£76bn) package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

"It's going to make America safer, it's going to make the world safer," he said after signing the bill into law.

The president said the US would "right away" send fresh weapons and equipment to Ukraine to help Kyiv fend off Russian advances.

His remarks came a day after the US Senate approved the foreign aid package after months of congressional gridlock.

Ukraine has recently stepped up its calls for Western assistance as Russia makes steady gains in its invasion.

Included in the package is $61bn in military aid for Ukraine. It passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote of 79-18.

Tuesday evening's approval came after the measure passed the US House of Representatives on Saturday.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "After more than six months of hard work and many twists and turns in the road, America sends a message to the entire world: we will not turn our back on you."

Reacting to the vote, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it "reinforces America's role as a beacon of democracy and leader of the free world".

The Senate passed a similar aid package in February, but a group of conservatives who oppose new Ukraine support had prevented it from coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.

Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber joined together to bypass this opposition.

They ultimately agreed to a package bill that included the foreign aid as well as legislation to confiscate Russian assets held by Western banks; new sanctions on Russia, Iran and China; and a provision that will force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell the popular social media service TikTok.

Source: Sky News
 
Ukraine wins bipartisan US support, strikes Russia from afar

As a long-delayed aid package was finally passed, Ukrainian drones and missiles scored successes against Russian military and energy targets.

For weeks, everyday Ukrainians have watched their cities bombarded and power stations incinerated because of a lack of anti-missile defences. Overall, Ukraine has acquired a renewed sense of hope for the longer term, even as a minority believe their occupied lands can be entirely liberated.

The United States House of Representatives overrode months of resistance from Republicans allied with presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Saturday to vote for a $95bn defence supplement.

One hundred and one Republicans sided with all 210 Democrats to deliver a majority of 311, versus 112 Republicans who voted against. The bill cleared the Senate on Tuesday, April 23 with an overwhelming majority of 79, including 31 Republicans.

The bipartisanship was important, demonstrating that Washington was not deadlocked on a matter of national security, nor in thrall to Trump or Russian narratives.

“It’s a dangerous time. Three of our primary adversaries, Russia and Iran and China are working together … their advance threatens the free world and it demands American leadership,” said US House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been the target of intense criticism this year for not moving on a vote sooner.

US President Joe Biden requested the aid last October; Ukrainian troops have struggled to defend their airspace and hold their front line in the face of severe shortages of air defence missiles and artillery rounds.

“The impact [or Russian strikes] on the electricity system of Ukraine is very high,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. “I cannot give you a precise figure because it is very appalling … It is one of the most important targets of the Russian attack. You know why: because electricity is needed for everything and for everybody.”

“Today we received the decision we were expecting: the package of American support. For which we fought so much. A very important package, which will be felt by our soldiers on the front lines, our cities and villages that suffer from Russian terror,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a statement.


One of the most important aspects of the new defence aid package is that it will for the first time include Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) with a range of 300km (186 miles). Ukraine has been requesting ATACMS for over a year.

Zelenskyy confirmed the news after speaking with Biden on Monday.

US Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Senator Mark Warner told CBS News that the missiles would be on their way to Ukraine “by the end of the week”. The new ATACMs put virtually all of Crimea within Ukraine’s striking range.

Zelenskyy also said the first US aid package since House approval of a supplemental spending package “will strengthen our anti-aircraft, long-range and artillery capabilities”.

Ukraine’s capabilities beyond a range of 150km (93 miles) have mostly been confined to slow-flying, easily intercepted drones of its own manufacture.

“Due to political strife inside Washington, they are looking for different modalities to continue providing aid to Ukraine,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “It is about provoking Ukraine into further hostilities down to the last Ukrainian, putting guaranteed money in the pockets of the US.”

Peskov was referring to the fact that of the $60.84bn allocated to Ukraine, $23bn was to replenish US stocks already drawn down for shipment to Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian National Security Council and a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, called it “a vote of joyful US b*******” on Telegram.

“I can’t help but wish the USA with all sincerity to dive into a new civil war themselves as quickly as possible,” Medvedev wrote. “Which, I hope, will be very different from the war between North and South in the 19th century and will be waged using aircraft, tanks, artillery, MLRS, all types of missiles and other weapons. And which will finally lead to the inglorious collapse of the vile evil empire of the 21st century – the United States of America.”

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova portrayed the vote as an attempt to bolster Biden ahead of the November presidential election.

“The agony of Zelenskyy and his inner circle is being dragged out, and ordinary Ukrainians are being forcibly driven to slaughter as cannon fodder,” she said in a statement. “Frenzied attempts to save Zelenskyy’s neo-Nazi regime are doomed.”

Her boss, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Sputnik News that Russia is not willing to engage in peace talks with Zelenskyy, and if talks were to take place, Russia would not agree to a ceasefire.

On April 16, independent reporters posted geolocated footage showing plumes of smoke rising from the Dzhankoy airfield in occupied Crimea. It wasn’t clear what had been struck or who had done it, but details emerged over several days of a highly successful Ukrainian remote operation.

The following day, images were posted of destroyed S-400 air defence missile launchers, and Zelenskyy confirmed the successful strike. On Thursday, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii posted nocturnal video of Ukrainian missiles striking the airbase, destroying what he said were four S-400 missile launchers, a missile control centre, three radars and airspace surveillance equipment.

“We’re doing everything possible to return to Crimea,” he said.

Ukraine has made a practice of striking Crimean military targets ever since it received ATACMs from the US, followed by Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles from France and the United Kingdom last year. With ranges of 80km (50 miles) and 150km (93 miles) respectively, they are the longest-range missiles Ukraine possesses.

The strategy is to make Crimea untenable for the Russian armed forces and all the evidence has shown that it is working. Russia has pulled back to Russian soil Sukhoi Su-34 and Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft that were based in Crimea until September 2022.

On Thursday, the UK’s defence ministry published satellite photos showing a Grigorovich-class guided missile frigate being loaded with missiles at Novorossiysk port. The port had previously lacked the infrastructure for vertical loading of such missiles, the UK said, meaning this was done exclusively at the Black Sea Fleet base at Sevastopol in Crimea. It provided further evidence of the redeployment of the fleet from Sevastopol after repeated strikes there.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia was moving its Kalibr missile-equipped ships from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea after repeated Ukrainian strikes.

Ukraine has followed a similar strategy at sea, striking Russian ships with naval surface drones. On Sunday, Ukraine’s special forces said they had damaged the Kommuna, the world’s oldest active military vessel, in service since 1915.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN SOUTHERN UKRAINE-1713948782
(Al Jazeera)
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said the Kommuna was targeted because it was the only Russian ship in the Black Sea capable of conducting salvage operations and submarine maintenance.

He said Russia had other ships of this type, but they were too large to bring overland to the Black Sea.

“The Russian occupiers continue to cover their combat units with supply ships from the Black Sea Fleet. This tactic is almost new for them,” said Pletenchuk.

On Sunday, the governors of the Russian regions of Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk reported that drones had damaged energy facilities, and Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 50 Ukrainian drones over eight regions.

Ukraine’s special operations divisions revealed they had pooled resources to strike at refineries and fuel depots.

Ukraine scored one more long-range success.

On Friday, it shot down for the first time a Russian long-range Tupolev Tu-22 bomber, as it returned to base having released X-22 missiles against Ukraine. The plane crashed in the Stavropol region of Russia.

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said the bomber had been downed at a range of 306km (190 miles). On the same day, Ukraine shot down two X-22 missiles for the first time.

“This is a turning point,” said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told Radio Svoboda that the strike had already demonstrated that Russian tactics would change.

“Another [Tu-22] plane following him was forced to turn around. And this means that a number of missiles have not yet been launched over Ukraine.”

Along with US aid, the US Congress voted to seize $8bn in Russian immobilised assets held in US banks and send them to Ukraine, but the rest of Ukraine’s allies have not followed suit.

A meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) on the Italian island of Capri on Friday merely promised to find a legal formula to use some $300bn in Russian immobilised assets held in Ukraine-friendly countries by June.

Its communique said, “We will continue our work and advise ahead of the Apulia Summit [in June] on all possible avenues and feasible options … consistent with our respective legal systems and international law.”

Ukraine has been demanding the money be used to help it win the war, or at least rebuild after the war, but EU members are especially cautious about repercussions to European assets held in Russia, and reputational damage to the bloc that might lead other international investors to withdraw their assets.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
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The US quietly shipped long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine

The United States in recent weeks secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for use in its battle to fight off Russian invaders, and Ukraine has now used them twice, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The missiles were contained in a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine that U.S. President Joe Biden approved on March 12, said the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official would not say how many of the missiles were sent.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, at a briefing for reporters, confirmed that a "significant number" of the missiles had been sent to Ukraine and said "we will send more."

He said Ukraine has committed to only use the weapons inside Ukraine, not in Russia.
Some of the missiles were contained in a $1 billion weapons package for Ukraine that President Joe Biden approved on Wednesday, Sullivan said.



 
Germany has designated the self-proclaimed separatist "Donetsk People's Republic," founded by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, a terrorist organization.

What are the legal implications?
 
Ukraine, Russia Exchange Fire, at Least 7 Dead

Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged drone and artillery fire on Thursday, leaving at least seven dead, regional officials on both sides of the frontline announced.

The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, ahead of events in Moscow on May 9, hailing the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.

A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in the southern Kherson region, officials said.

The Kremlin claimed to have annexed both regions in late 2022 even though Russian forces are still battling to gain full control over them.

"A man and a woman were killed as a result of a strike on a civilian car. Their four young children were orphaned," the Russian-installed head of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, wrote on social media.

He said the children would be taken into care and provided with psychological assistance.

The Russian head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said separately that two more people were killed by Ukrainian fire in the village of Dnipryany.

The two frontline regions saw intense bouts of fighting in 2022 and the summer of 2023, when Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that failed to meet expectations in Zaporizhzhia.

The brunt of the fighting has since moved to the eastern Donetsk region, which is also claimed by Moscow as Russian territory.

The Ukrainian head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said three people had been killed in separate bouts of shelling in the villages of Udachne, where two people were killed, and in Kurakhivka, where one person was killed.

"The final consequences of the shelling have yet to be determined," he said.


www.themoscowtimes.com

Russian Law Enforcement Says Thwarted Fake Bomb Threat - The Moscow Times

Russian security and law enforcement authorities said Thursday they have thwarted a fake bomb threat allegedly organized by a private security firm.
www.themoscowtimes.com www.themoscowtimes.com
 
Blinken says China helping fuel Russian threat to Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned Washington will act if China does not stop supplying Russia with items used in its assault on Ukraine.

Speaking to the BBC in Beijing, the US's top diplomat said he had made clear to his counterparts they were "helping fuel the biggest threat" to European security since the Cold War.

He did not say what measures the US was prepared to take.

But Mr Blinken was also keen to stress progress had been made in some areas.

He praised Beijing for making efforts in stopping supplies of the drug fentanyl reaching the US.

China remains the principal source of fentanyl for the US, which the White House has said is causing a public health crisis across the country.

Mr Blinken also stressed he felt Beijing can play a "constructive" role in the Middle East, pointing towards China using "its relationship with Iran to urge" against further escalation in its confrontation with Israel.

The visit - the second in 10 months made by Mr Blinken - forms part of a significant increase in dialogue and diplomacy between these rival powers as they attempt to put relations on an even keel after a period of immense tension last year.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained by China's claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea, and US export bans on advanced tech. They were further damaged by a row over a spy balloon last February.

In recent days, the US passed a law that would force Chinese-owned TikTok to sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in America - something Mr Blinken earlier revealed had not come up in his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping.

Mr Xi - who met Mr Blinken on Friday afternoon in Beijing's Great Hall of the People - agreed the two sides had "made some positive progress" since he met his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in November.

He added the countries should "be partners, not rivals", saying that if the US took "a positive view of China's development", relations could "truly stabilise, get better and move forward".

Mr Blinken told the BBC that one of the key routes for "better relations" between China and both the US and Europe would be for Beijing "or some of its enterprises" to stop providing "critical components" that help Russia make more munitions. The components include items such as "machine tools, micro-electronics, and optics".

"It's helping Russia perpetuate its aggression against Ukraine, but it's also creating a growing threat to Europe because of Russia's aggression," he explained, adding it was "helping to fuel the biggest threat to [Europe's] insecurity since the end of the Cold War".

"We've taken action already against Chinese entities that are engaged in this," he said. "And what I make clear today is that if China won't act, we will."

Mr Blinken - who hinted at sanctions as a possible route - was keen to stress that China was not directly supplying Russia with weapons.

In his interview with the BBC, Mr Blinken said it remained important to see if the two countries could "build greater cooperation in areas where we have mutual interest", including artificial intelligence and military communications.


BBC
 
US announces $6 billion long-term military aid package for Ukraine

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Friday a $6 billion long-term military aid package for Ukraine — the largest to date — which will allow the US to purchase new equipment produced by the American defense industry for the Ukrainian military.

“This is the largest security assistance package that we’ve committed to date. It will include critical interceptors for Ukraine’s patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, more counter drone systems and support equipment, significant amounts of artillery ammunition, and air to ground munitions and maintenance and sustainment support,” Austin said during a press conference on Friday.

The announcement comes just days after the US announced a $1 billion package that would quickly provide equipment to Ukraine from US stocks, following President Joe Biden’s signing of a much delayed $95 billion supplemental aid package on Wednesday.

Biden said moments after signing the legislation that shipments of aid to Ukraine would begin within hours. Equipment under the $6 billion package announced Friday, however, will take much longer to arrive.

Unlike drawdown packages which pull military equipment directly from US stocks, Friday’s aid announcement falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with industry to procure the equipment. The USAI is intended to provide Ukraine with a long-term supply of weapons and equipment.

Austin said Friday that the timeline for delivery would depend on what systems are purchased, but that the Pentagon is “going to move as fast as we can to get them the capability as fast as industry can produce.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, speaking alongside Austin on Friday, said that the USAI package would provide Ukraine with “more flexibility.”

“They’ve had to actually ration conserve munitions over time,” Brown said. “And so with this package, and the follow-on factors because of the supplemental, gives them a bit more flexibility to be able to operate and use that capability effectively against the Russian threat.”

Austin and Brown’s press conference followed the virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on Friday morning, held two years to the day since the very first meeting in Germany.

Ahead of the meeting’s start, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the group of allies, thanking them for their support but also urging them to send more assistance, particularly with air defense.


CNN
 
Pentagon to 'rush' Patriot missiles to Ukraine in $6bn package

The Pentagon says it will "rush" Patriot air defence missiles and artillery ammunition to Ukraine as part of its new military aid package.

The US will utilise $6bn (£4.8bn) for this purpose, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed on Friday.

However, Patriot systems for launching the missiles will not be sent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Patriots were "urgently" needed to face a growing Russian air threat and "can and should save lives right now".

A source confirmed to the BBC that the $6bn was part of a $60bn aid package signed into law by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, which also includes $1bn in more immediate aid.

Mr Austin told a news conference that the US was committing to its largest security assistance package to date and would "move immediately" to get the supplies to Ukraine.

These would include air defence munitions, counter-drone systems and artillery ammunition but not Patriot missile systems.

"It's not just Patriots that they [the Ukrainians] need, they need other types of systems and interceptors as well," Mr Austin said. "I would caution us all in terms of making Patriot the silver bullet."

He added that he was confident that more of the missile systems would be made available for Kyiv soon. Conversations were ongoing with European partners, he said, to deliver additional capabilities.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, said the assistance should eliminate the Ukrainians' need to ration shells on the frontline.

Some of the latest funding would also go to building up Ukraine's own defence industry, so that it can start manufacturing more of the ammunition it desperately needs.

Mr Austin said Russia had already increased domestic production of artillery ammunition and other weapons - as well as being propped up by supplies from Iran and North Korea.

"Understand what's at stake for Ukraine, for Europe, and for the United States," he said. "If Putin prevails in Ukraine - Europe would face a security threat it hasn't seen in a lifetime. Russia will not stop in Ukraine."

Asked whether the US aid would protect Ukrainian forces, Mr Austin said that the commitment was "material, real, and substantial" although "not instantaneous".

"It's going to take some time to get it in there and distribute. The Ukrainians were able to hold - with this capability, they can do a lot better."

The defence secretary's words came as Ukraine warned on Friday that Russia was ramping up attacks on its railways ahead of a fresh offensive.

A Ukrainian security source told the AFP news agency that Moscow wanted to damage Ukrainian railway infrastructure to "paralyse deliveries and movement of military cargo".

Ukraine said Russia had carried out another massive air attack on Friday night. Authorities in Kharkiv said one person had been killed and a hospital damaged. Energy facilities in three regions were attacked, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

While across the border, a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery in the Russian region of Krasnodar appeared to have caused a large explosion, though local authorities denied significant damage. Authorities said they had shot down some 68 Ukrainian drones over Russia.

Ukraine only has a handful of Patriots to complement other Western missile defence systems and existing stocks of Soviet-era surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), such as the S-300.

They are the most capable and expensive air defence systems that Ukraine has. Each Patriot battery costs around $1bn (£800m), and each missile costs nearly $4m.

Germany has already promised an extra Patriot system - and its defence and foreign ministers appealed to their European counterparts earlier this month to respond urgently.

Greece has stocks of Patriots and S-300s but said none could be spared.

"We explained why we cannot do it," Greek Prime Minister Kyrios Mitsotakis told Skai TV.

His said his country's air defences were "critical systems for the protection of Greek air space".

According to reports, Spain will supply some Patriot missiles but not a full system.

Recent months have seen Kyiv step up its calls for Western assistance as its stocks of ammunition are depleted and Russia makes steady gains.

Ukrainian officials have blamed delays in military aid from the US and other Western allies for the loss of lives and territory.

BBC
 
Situation on frontline has worsened, Ukraine army chief says

Ukraine's commander-in-chief has said the situation on the frontline has worsened in the face of multiple Russian attacks.

Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from positions in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia is trying to take advantage of its superiority in manpower and artillery before Ukrainian forces get much-needed supplies of new US weapons.

The US last week agreed a $61bn (£49bn) package of military aid for Ukraine.

But new US weapons are yet to make their way to the frontlines, where Ukrainian troops have been struggling for months with a shortage of ammunition, troops and air defences.


www.bbc.com

Situation on frontline has worsened, Ukraine army chief says

Oleksandr Syrskyi says Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from positions in eastern Donetsk.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 

Zelensky: Russia taking advantage of slow arms delivery​


Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is taking advantage of the slow delivery of Western weapons to go on the offensive.

His comments come after the US agreed a $61bn (£49bn) package of military aid for Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky said some of the aid had started to arrive, but added that it needed to be delivered faster.

He was speaking alongside Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, who said "it's not too late for Ukraine to prevail".

The comments come after authorities in the Black Sea port of Odesa said a Russian missile attack had killed four people and injured 28.

Odesa's regional governor Oleh Kiper said three women and one man had died, and the injured included a five-year-old and a 16-year-old. Civilian houses and infrastructure had been damaged, he said.

Earlier on Monday, Russia said it had taken a second village in two days in the course of its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

At a joint press conference in Kyiv, President Zelensky said: "The Russian army is now trying to take advantage of a situation when we are waiting for supplies from our partners, especially from the United States of America.

"And that is exactly why the speed of deliveries means stabilising the front."

He specifically singled out Ukraine's need for artillery shells and air defence systems.

"Our partners have all of these things and they should be working now here in Ukraine destroying the Russian terrorist ambitions.

"Russia's army is preparing for further offensive actions," said Mr Zelensky.

Mr Stoltenberg agreed that Kyiv needed weapons, saying that "Ukraine has been outgunned for months, forced to ration its ammunition".

The Nato chief said the six-month delay in US military aid had resulted in "serious consequences on the battlefield".

But Mr Stoltenberg added that he was optimistic that when the arms were delivered it would help turn the tide.

"Our allies are looking into what more they can do and I expect new announcements soon. So we are working hard to meet Ukraine's urgent needs," said the Nato chief.

Russia said it had captured the village of Semenivka, which lies north of Avdiivka which Moscow took in February. On Sunday, Russia said the nearby village of Novobakhmutivka had fallen to its forces.

Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has said the situation on the frontline has worsened in the face of multiple Russian attacks, and that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from positions in the eastern Donetsk region.

Earlier this month, the US finally approved billions of dollars in new military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia's invasion, putting an end to six months of congressional deadlock and raising Kyiv's hopes that its dwindling supplies would be restocked.

Ukrainian forces have suffered from a shortage of ammunition and air defence systems in recent months. Officials have blamed delays in military aid from the US and other Western allies for the loss of lives and territory.

Source: BBC
 
He doesn't seem interested in ending this war. The only thing he's interested in is getting more weapons.
 
Ukraine's 'Harry Potter castle' hit in deadly Russian strike

Four people have been killed and 32 injured in a Russian missile attack on what locals call the "Harry Potter castle" in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, local officials say.

The building is the residence of prominent former MP Serhiy Kivalov, who was wounded in the strike, according to Ukrainian media.

It houses the Odesa Law Academy, which is run by Mr Kivalov.


BBC
 
Russia shoots down six US-made ATACMS missiles

Russia said on Tuesday that its air defense systems had shot down six US-produced Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) launched by Ukraine over the last 24 hours.

Washington secretly shipped the long-range missiles to Kyiv as part of a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine that US President Joe Biden approved on March 12, a US official said last week.

Whether to send the ATACMS missiles with a range up to 300 km was a subject of debate within the Biden administration for months. Mid-range ATACMS were supplied last September.

The Russian defense ministry did not say where the missiles had been shot down.

“Ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, six ATACMS tactical missiles manufactured by the United States and two guided ‘Hammer’ aircraft bombs manufactured by France were shot down by air defenses,” the ministry said.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea, said ATACMS missiles were shot down over the peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.


 
Russian missile kills three in Ukrainian port of Odesa

A Russian missile attack killed three people and injured three others in the Ukrainian port of Odesa early on Wednesday, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.

Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack damaged civilian infrastructure.

He said the strike was carried out by a ballistic missile, but provided no further details.

Kiper and Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov had reported a series of loud explosions.


Reuters
 
US sanctions suppliers in Russia, China over Ukraine war

US officials on Wednesday announced fresh sanctions aimed at crippling Russia’s military and industrial capabilities, punishing companies in China and elsewhere that help Moscow acquire weapons for its war in Ukraine.

In a sweeping package announced by the US Treasury Department, Washington targeted nearly 300 entities in Russia, China and other countries accused of supporting President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

“Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

“Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it.”

The latest wave of sanctions came a week after US President Joe Biden signed a much-delayed bill to provide new funding for Ukraine as Kyiv’s military struggles to hold back Russian advances.

“Even as we’re throwing sand in the gears of Russia’s war machine, President (Joe) Biden’s recently-passed National Security Supplemental is providing badly-needed military, economic, and humanitarian support to bolster Ukraine’s courageous resistance,” Yellen said.

“Combined, our support for Ukraine and our relentless targeting of Russia’s military capacity is giving Ukraine a critical leg-up on the battlefield.”

As part of the measures, the State Department blacklisted additional individuals and companies involved in Moscow’s energy, mining and metals sectors.

The sanctions also targeted individuals connected to the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny who died in a Siberian prison in February, the statement said.

The almost 300 targets hit included dozens of actors accused of enabling Russia to acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad, the Treasury said.

Some of those targeted were based in countries such as China that have faced increasing pressure from Washington over support for Russia during its 15-month invasion of Ukraine.

“The United States, along with many international partners, is particularly concerned about entities based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and other third countries that provide critical inputs to Russia’s military-industrial base,” the Treasury statement said.

“This support enables Russia to continue its war against Ukraine and poses a significant threat to international security.”


 

NATO Member Outlines Two Conditions for Deploying Troops to Ukraine​


Ukraine's Western backers in NATO and Europe will have to consider committing troops to the war-torn country under two conditions, French President Emmanuel Macron has said, as conflict within the alliance about the possibility of sending troops rumbles on.

"If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request—which is not the case today—we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question," Macron told The Economist in an interview published on Thursday, referring to the possibility of sending ground troops.

Ukraine's supporters, although supplying billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv, have balked at the idea of sending troops, a move that could draw NATO more directly into a confrontation with Russia.

Macron debuted the potential for NATO troops in Ukraine in late February, saying that although there was "no consensus" on combat personnel, "nothing should be excluded" when it came to supporting Ukraine. It "is not unthinkable" to deploy NATO troops to Ukraine, added Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.

Macron's comments shook other NATO leaders, with several quickly downplaying the potential for NATO troops on the frontlines. Shortly after Macron's remarks, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, "There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states."

"Boots on the ground is not an option for Germany," added German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius.

U.S. President Joe Biden said early on in the more than two-year-old war that U.S. "forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine." In March 2024, the President said Kyiv was "not asking for American soldiers."

"In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine, and I'm determined to keep it that way," he said during his State of the Union speech.

Responding to Macron's comments, the Kremlin warned a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO would be unavoidable if alliance troops fought alongside Ukraine in the country.

"The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media in February.

The French leader said he "absolutely" stood by his previous statement, adding: "I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out."

France "deployed several thousand troops" to the Sahel region of Africa to combat terrorism at the request of sovereign states, Macron said.

"I think to rule it out a priori is not to learn the lessons of the past two years," he continued, referencing the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

www.newsweek.com

NATO member outlines two conditions for deploying troops to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked panic in some NATO member states by refusing to rule out alliance troops in Ukraine earlier this year.
www.newsweek.com www.newsweek.com
 
Russia troops accused of ‘executing’ surrendering Ukraine soldiers: Report

Russian forces appear to have executed Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to surrender or had already surrendered since December 2023, an international rights group has said in a new report.

The actions should be investigated as war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in the report published on Thursday.

The group probed five incidents of what it called the “apparent summary executions” of at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to surrender, and possibly six more who were surrendering or who had surrendered between December 2023 and February 2024.

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its forces have committed many heinous war crimes,” said Belkis Wille, a senior researcher at HRW.

“The summary execution – or murder – of surrendering and injured Ukrainian soldiers, gunned down in cold blood, expressly forbidden under international humanitarian law, is also included in that shameful legacy.”

The rights watchdog said it relied on analysis of drone footage and videos on social media, interviews with Ukrainian soldiers, and media reports, but added that it could not confirm the locations of some of the incidents.

It noted that the “apparent executions do not appear to be isolated instances”.


www.aljazeera.com

Russia troops accused of ‘executing’ surrendering Ukraine soldiers: Report

Human Rights Watch investigates ‘apparent summary executions’ and says actions could amount to war crimes.
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Kyiv can use British weapons inside Russia - Cameron​


UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory.

During a visit to Kyiv, he said the UK would provide £3bn ($3.75bn) per year for as long as necessary.

"Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Lord Cameron said.

Russia condemned what it called "another very dangerous statement".

"This is a direct escalation of tension around the Ukrainian conflict, which would potentially pose a threat to European security," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The US has reportedly urged Ukraine to halt its strikes on oil refineries in Russia, fearing it could provoke an escalation in the conflict.

Mr Peskov also took aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, who said this week that the West would "legitimately" have to consider whether to send ground troops to Ukraine "if the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request".

Mr Macron's remarks to The Economist were a "very dangerous trend", said the Kremlin spokesman. However, the French leader made clear in his interview that if Russia won in Ukraine, there would be no security in Europe.

Russian forces have seized several villages in eastern Ukraine during recent advances, taking advantage of Ukraine's shortages of weapons and manpower.

Ukrainian intelligence officials also believe Russia is gearing up for a summer offensive in the north-eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy.

The commander of the national guard, Oleksandr Pivnenko, warned recently that Russia was preparing "unpleasant surprises" and quietly recruiting 30,000 people a month.

A Russian strike on Kharkiv on Friday killed an elderly woman in her home, and a tram carrying passengers also came under fire, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Ukraine's military says Russia's immediate target is the strategic hilltop town of Chasiv Yar, 15km (9 miles) west of the devastated city of Bakhmut.

Officials believe the eastern town could enable Russian forces to attack major eastern cities such as Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. The military has suggested Moscow is keen to seize Chasiv Yar before Russians mark victory in World War Two on 9 May.

However, a Ukrainian military spokesman has denied that Russian troops have broken through to the Siverskyi Donetsk-Donbas canal on the outskirts of the town.

Russia claimed on Friday that its forces had captured three villages in Ukraine's east in the past two weeks. Military spokesman Lt Col Nazar Voloshyn said the invading force had gained a foothold in the village of Ocheretyne but Ukrainian soldiers were working to drive them out.

Lord Cameron, who met President Volodymr Zelensky in Kyiv, said it was Russia that had launched an attack into Ukraine and Ukraine "absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia".

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said his remarks were tantamount to admitting the West was involved in a "hybrid war" against Moscow.

The UK has provided billions of pounds in military support for Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, ranging from tanks and precision-guided missiles to air-defence systems.

A year ago the UK confirmed it had begun supplying long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles with a range of more than 250km (155 miles).

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said he had appealed to Lord Cameron to help restore the country's energy infrastructure which has been badly damaged by repeated Russian missile strikes.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Kyiv can use British weapons inside Russia, says UK's David Cameron

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron says it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British arms.
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Kyiv can use British weapons inside Russia - Cameron

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory.

During a visit to Kyiv, he said the UK would provide £3bn ($3.75bn) per year for as long as necessary.

"Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Lord Cameron said.

Russia condemned what it called "another very dangerous statement".

"This is a direct escalation of tension around the Ukrainian conflict, which would potentially pose a threat to European security," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Lord Cameron did not directly endorse the idea of British weapons being used to strike targets inside Russia.

But until now, the UK has generally let it be understood - without spelling it out - that weapons such as the long range Storm Shadow missile should only be used inside sovereign Ukrainian territory. There have been several examples of its successful use in Russian-occupied Crimea, including against elements of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

However, coming on the heels of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to give Ukraine £3bn ($3.76bn) in military assistance every year for the foreseeable future, it seems Lord Cameron wanted to emphasise that it is up to Ukraine to decide what it does with it.


www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Kyiv can use British weapons inside Russia, says UK's David Cameron

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron says it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British arms.
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At least two people died after Russia launched attacks several attacks on Kharkiv, including a 49-year-old civilian in Slobozhanske, a village just northeast of the city.

Four others were wounded in the Kharkiv attack, including a 13-year-old hurt by falling debris. A two-storey civilian building was damaged and set ablaze, officials say.


Al Jazeera
 

Putin orders tactical nuclear weapon drills to deter West: Defense ministry​


Russia said on Monday it would hold a military exercise that will include practice for the use of tactical nuclear weapons after what the defense ministry said were provocative threats from Western officials.

The ministry said the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin and would test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions.

The military drills will include practice for the preparation and deployment for use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the defense ministry said. Missile formations in the Southern Military District and naval forces will take part.

“During the exercise, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the ministry said.

The exercise is aimed at ensuring Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty “in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation,” it said.

It did not name the officials. But Russia has repeatedly said that remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about a possible French intervention in Ukraine are extremely dangerous.

Later on Monday, the Kremlin said that the drills are a response to statements from the West about sending troops to Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited comments by Macron on possibly sending soldiers to Ukraine, as well as statements from the British and US Senate representatives.

Military and other special services are verifying reports about deployment of France’s foreign legion in Ukraine, Peskov added.

Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of confrontation between nuclear powers by supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons in its fight against the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Nuclear powers routinely check their nuclear weapons but rarely publicly link such exercises to specific perceived threats.

Nuclear risks

Since the war began, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks - warnings which the United States says it has to take seriously though US officials say they have seen no change in Russia’s nuclear posture.

Putin has faced calls inside Russia from some hardliners to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which Russia would use a nuclear weapon, though Putin said last year he saw no need to change the doctrine.

Broadly, the doctrine says such a weapon would be used in response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or the use of conventional weapons against Russia “when the very existence of the state is put under threat.”

Putin warned the West in March that a direct conflict between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three but said hardly anyone wanted such a scenario.

Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding more than 10,600 of the world’s 12,100 nuclear warheads. China has the third largest nuclear arsenal, followed by France and Britain.

Putin casts the war as part of a centuries-old battle with the West which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what Moscow considers to be Russia’s historical sphere of influence.

Ukraine and its Western backers say the war is an imperial-style land grab by a corrupt dictatorship. Western leaders have vowed to work for a defeat of Russian forces in Ukraine, while ruling out any deployment of NATO personnel there.

 
Ukrainian Olympian dies on front line

Weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko, who represented Ukraine at the Rio 2016 Olympics, has died during the conflict with Russia.

Two-time European champion Pielieshenko, 30, joined the armed forces soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

"War takes the best of us... heroes do not die," said weightlifting coach and Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation (UWF) board member Viktor Slobodianiuk.

Pielieshenko died on the front line, the UWF added.

He was ranked fourth at the Rio Games in the 85kg category and won gold at the European championships in 2016 and 2017.



BBC
 
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) says it has foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.

Two Ukrainian government protection unit colonels have been arrested.

The SBU said they were part of a network of agents belonging to the Russian state security service (FSB).

They had reportedly been searching for willing "executors" among Mr Zelensky's bodyguards to kidnap and kill him.

Ever since Russian paratroopers attempted to land in Kyiv and assassinate President Zelensky in the early hours and days of the full-scale invasion, plots to assassinate him have been commonplace.

The Ukrainian leader said at the start of the invasion he was Russia's "number one target".

But this alleged plot stands out from the rest. It involves serving colonels, whose job it was to keep officials and institutions safe, allegedly hired as moles.

Other targets included military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov and SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the agency added.

The group had reportedly planned to kill Mr Budanov before Orthodox Easter, which this year fell on 5 May.

According to the SBU, the plotters had aimed to use a mole to get information about his location, which they would then have attacked with rockets, drones and anti-tank grenades.

One of the officers who was later arrested had already bought drones and anti-personnel mines, the SBU said.

The operation turned into a failure of the Russian special services, Mr Malyuk said.

"But we must not forget - the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated," he added.

The two Ukrainian officials are being held on suspicion of treason and of preparing a terrorist act.

The SBU said three FSB employees oversaw the organisation and the attack.

One of them, named as Dmytro Perlin, had been recruiting "moles" since before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Another FSB employee, Oleksiy Kornev, reportedly held "conspiratorial" meetings "in neighbouring European states" before the invasion with one of the Ukrainian colonels arrested.

In a released interrogation with one of the suspects, they can be heard describing how they were paid thousands of dollars directly by parcels or indirectly through their relatives. It is not clear whether he was speaking under duress or not.

Investigators insist they monitored the men throughout. We are unlikely to know how close they came to carrying out their alleged plan.

The plot may read like a thriller but it is also a reminder of the risks Ukraine's wartime leader faces.

Last month, a Polish man was arrested and charged with planning to co-operate with Russian intelligence services to aid a possible assassination of Mr Zelensky.

At the weekend Ukraine's president appeared on the Russian interior ministry's wanted list on unspecified charges.

The foreign ministry in Kyiv condemned the move as showing "the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda", and pointed out that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin's arrest.

Source: BBC
 

India arrests four for duping young men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine​


A federal investigation agency of India says four people linked to a network of human traffickers have been arrested on the charge of luring young men to Russia with the promise of lucrative jobs or university admissions only to force them to fight in the war in Ukraine.

The four Indian nationals arrested were a translator, a person facilitating visa processing and the booking of airline tickets as well as two “main recruiters” for the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said late on Tuesday.

About 35 Indian men were duped in this manner, the agency had said in March.

The investigation “is continuing against other accused persons who are part of this international network of human traffickers”, the CBI said announcing the arrests, which come two months after raids across 13 locations in India as investigators detained several people for questioning.

The families of two Indian men who were killed in the war say they had gone to Russia expecting to work as “helpers” in the army.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) says each case has been “strongly taken up” with Russia. The MEA had earlier said it was also working to secure discharges for about 20 Indian nationals in the Russian army.

Several Indian recruits told Al Jazeera they were lured into joining up by promises of high salaries and Russian passports before being shipped to the front lines.

The soldiers said they had been promised non-combatant roles but were trained to use assault rifles and other weapons before being sent to Ukraine.

Unemployment remains high in India despite rapid economic growth and huge numbers seek work abroad each year, including thousands who had sought employment in Israel after labour shortages after it started a war on Gaza last October.

Russia’s army held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, and it has since made gains on the front lines as Kyiv struggles with ammunition and manpower shortages.

India has refused to condemn Russia over the war, calling instead for dialogue and diplomacy to end the conflict. The two countries have enjoyed a close relationship for decades, trading in items from fighter jets to tea.

India has also increased its purchase of cheap Russian oil since the war, with Moscow emerging as its top oil supplier in the last financial year for the second year in a row.

www.aljazeera.com

India arrests four for duping young men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine

Arrests come two months after investigators conducted raids across 13 locations in India and detained several people.
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Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine’s power plants

People in several regions of Ukraine have been experiencing power blackouts after the latest wave of Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said there had been missile and drone attacks on critical energy facilities in seven regions.

BBC Verify has been tracking Russian strikes on energy targets in the past months and industry experts have said Russia has been shifting its strategy - increasingly targeting power plants to try to disrupt energy supplies to Ukrainians.

In posts on social media, Mr Zelensky said more than 50 missiles and 20 drones had been fired by Russia on Tuesday, hitting facilities in the Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

Ukraine's national electricity company, Ukrenergo, said there were new blackouts in nine regions and warned of possible power cuts across the country on Wednesday evening as a result of the new damage and ongoing fighting.



www.bbc.com

Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine’s power plants

BBC Verify has been tracking Russia's attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
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Ukraine Strikes More Russian Oil Facilities in a Bid to Disrupt Military Logistics

Ukrainian drones struck two oil depots and a refinery across Russia in a 24-hour period, including one deep in Russian territory, officials on both sides said Thursday, as Kyiv presses a campaign aimed at hampering the country’s military operations and putting strain on its most important industry.

Radiy Khabirov, the head of Russia’s Bashkiria region, near Kazakhstan, said a drone hit the Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery, one of the country’s largest, around midday on Thursday, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The facility is more than 700 miles from the Ukrainian border, in a sign that Ukraine is increasingly capable of striking further into Russia.

An official from Ukraine’s special services, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, said Ukraine was behind the assault. The official said Ukraine was also responsible for two other drone strikes overnight that hit oil depots in Russia’s Krasnodar region, southeast of Ukraine.

The strikes follow some 20 similar attacks since the beginning of the year. Military analysts say they are an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt the Russian military’s logistical routes and combat operations by targeting the facilities that supply fuel for its tanks, ships and planes.

Ukrainian officials also hope the strikes can undermine the Russian energy complex, which is at the core of the country’s economy and war effort — accounting for about a third of Russia’s federal budget revenue — although it is too early to say whether they can have any serious impact.

The United States government has publicly urged Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian oil refineries out of concern that they could affect global oil markets.



www.nytimes.com

Ukraine Strikes More Russian Oil Facilities in a Bid to Disrupt Military Logistics

Analysts say Ukraine is trying to disrupt the Russian military’s logistical routes and combat operations by targeting the facilities that supply fuel for its tanks, ships and fighter jets.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 

Russia launches ground offensive into Kharkiv region - Ukraine​


Russian forces have launched an armoured ground attack on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region early this morning, advancing one kilometre near the border town of Vovchansk in an effort to create a buffer zone, a senior military source said.

The assault opens a new front in the war more than two years since Russia's full-scale invasion.

Fighting in the border areas of the Kharkiv region continued and Ukraine has sent more forces to the area as reinforcements, the defence ministry said.

"At approximately 5am, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armoured vehicles," the ministry said.

"As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue."

A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said that Russian forces were aiming to push the Ukrainian armed forces as far back as ten kilometres from the Russian border and that Kyiv's forces were trying to hold them back.

www.rte.ie

Russia launches Kharkiv ground offensive - Ukraine

Russian forces have launched an armoured ground attack on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region early this morning, advancing one kilometre near the border town of Vovchansk in an effort to create a buffer zone, a senior military source said.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
 
Russia's Kharkiv mission started, but I think it will not be very easy to take control of Kharkiv.
 
Ukraine says it repelled Russian bid to cross border

Ukraine says it has repelled a Russian armoured attack in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, after Moscow's forces launched an incursion across the border and sought to break through defensive lines.

Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Russian reconnaissance groups had tried to penetrate the border, adding that "not a single metre has been lost".

"Russia has launched a new wave of counteroffensive operations in the Kharkiv sector," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Also on Friday, a huge fire broke out at an oil storage depot in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region after what Russian-installed officials said was a Ukrainian strike. Three people were killed in the attack, they added.

Ukrainian commanders have been expecting a summer offensive for some time, possibly even a bid to capture the regional capital, Kharkiv. But officials are adamant Russia does not have the resources to do so.

Russia had the capability to aggravate the situation in border areas but not the ability to capture Ukraine's second city, said the head of Ukraine's centre for countering disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko.

Ukrainian reports suggested Russia was trying to create a 10km buffer zone for its Belgorod region, after a series of Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

Friday's small incursions over the Russian border form a familiar yet disturbing axis for Ukrainian forces.

The defence ministry in Kyiv said the attack started with the heavy bombing of the town of Vovchansk "using guided aerial bombs" with the support of artillery. Then, small Russian “scouting groups” moved in across the border, reportedly in several places.

The local head in Vovchansk, 75km (45 miles) north-east of Kharkiv, said the town had come under heavy attack from the early hours of Friday and civilians were being evacuated. Some 3,000 people live in Vovchansk and at least one person was killed and five more injured in the barrage, according to Kharkiv's regional leader.

"At approximately 05:00, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armoured vehicles. As of now, these attacks have been repulsed, fighting of varying intensity continues," the defence ministry said.

President Zelensky said the Russians had been engaged "with our troops, brigades and artillery", but added that a fierce battle was under way.

Civilians were being evacuated from the Vovchansk district while reserve troops move in, officials added.

In the occupied Luhansk region, Russian officials reported that Ukrainian forces had attacked the city of Rovenky, killing three people and injuring seven.

The Russian-installed health ministry said four of those injured were in a serious condition.

"Because of the shelling, the oil depot was engulfed by flames and nearby houses were damaged," Russian-installed Governor Leonid Pasechnik wrote on Telegram.

It was the second such attack this week. On Wednesday, an attack on another oil depot in the region injured five people.

Ukrainian bloggers and Telegram channels reported Friday's attack and posted pictures of a large blaze.

However, there has been no comment from Ukrainian officials.

On Friday, the US announced a new $400m (£319m; €371m) military aid package for Ukraine.

It will be Washington's third instalment of aid to the country after months of political deadlock and delays - adding to the previous package worth a total of $7bn sent in late April.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the "urgently needed" aid would include air defence munitions, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicles.

On Friday, the White House gave its assessment of the situation, with National Security Spokesman John Kirby telling reporters the US thinks Russia "will make further advances in the coming weeks to try and establish a buffer zone along the Ukrainian border".

However, he said that Washington was confident in Ukraine's ability to withstand such attacks, and would be "working around the clock" to ensure the country had all the necessary tools and weapons to do so.

Moscow has been looking to capitalise on the delayed arrival of US ammunition and weaponry by continuing to push in the eastern Donetsk region.

The return of heavy fighting in the north-east further illustrates Russia's growing confidence and ambitions.

The deputy chief of Ukraine's military intelligence, Maj Gen Vadyn Skibitsky, told The Economist last week that Russia was gearing up for an assault on both Kharkiv and the northern region of Sumy. That warning was repeated by the commander of Ukrainian ground forces, Lt Gen Oleksandr Pavliuk.

Tens of thousands of Russian forces are said to have gathered on the border.

You could be forgiven for seeing a repeat of 2022, when Russia failed to capture Kharkiv and Sumy in the early weeks of its full-scale invasion. Russian forces did occupy the border town of Vovchansk for several months, until they were pushed out in September 2022.

Outwardly at least, officials and generals do not think either of the two regional capitals could fall.

Russia was unable to conquer either city when it had a larger, better-trained force than it does now. Ukrainian sources estimate around 90% of that original 150,000 army are either dead or wounded.

Military commentator Oleksandr Kovalenko has pointed out that Russia needed some 80,000 troops to capture the small eastern city of Avdiivka last February, after months of bombardment. Big cities such as Sumy and Kharkiv were on a completely different scale, he said.

Secondly, Russia has talked about creating a buffer zone between its Belgorod region and Ukraine.

That is because Ukrainian troops have continued to launch artillery strike on Russian territory, to the nervousness of some Western allies.

BBC
 
FearlessRoar said:
Russia's Kharkiv mission started, but I think it will not be very easy to take control of Kharkiv.
Click to expand...

Fierce fighting rages in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, governor says​


Fierce fighting was raging on Saturday for control of several Ukrainian villages near the Russian border as the Russian military sought to press home its attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Kharkiv's governor said.

"As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks," Oleh Syniehubov told a media briefing.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces had taken five border villages in the Kharkiv region.

However, Syniehubov said clashes were ongoing in all five villages located within a three-to-five kilometers zone from the Russian border.

Ukrainian military said reinforcements were sent to the region to help stabilise positions and limit Russia's advances after it launched its new offensive on Friday.

Syniehubov said regional authorities had evacuated more than 2,500 people from the frontier area and that process continued.

Top Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they do not believe Russia has the capacity to launch a successful operation to capture the city of Kharkiv, home to 1.3 million people.

 

With a surprise cross-border attack, Russia ruthlessly exposes Ukraine’s weaknesses​

The town of Vovchansk in the northern Kharkiv region, liberated from Russian occupation more than 18 months ago, awoke Friday to intense shelling and aerial bombardment. Russia has found another way of stretching Ukraine’s already thin blue line.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials said that Russian efforts to advance towards the town had been thwarted, but the Russians have since tried to cut road links with Vovchansk.

The Russians launched battalion-strength attacks along a 60-kilometer stretch of the border on Friday, claiming to occupy several villages in what is known as the ‘gray zone’ along the frontier, after focusing much of their offensive capabilities this year on a grinding advance in Donetsk in the east that has seen incremental but significant progress.

As of Saturday, it appeared the Russians still held a handful of Ukrainian border villages, with intense aerial bombardment continuing in the Vovchansk area.

The cross-border attack is yet another example of what’s going wrong for the Ukrainians this year. Their forces are thinly stretched, with much less artillery than the Russians, grossly inadequate air defenses and above all a lack of soldiers. Their plight has been worsened by dry weather, allowing Russian mechanized units to move more easily.

Russia mounts surprise assault on northern Ukraine in most serious cross-border offensive in two years
The deputy head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, told the Economist last week: “Our problem is very simple: we have no weapons. They always knew April and May would be a difficult time for us.”

Ukrainian intelligence estimates that despite immense losses since the full-scale invasion began, Russia has more than half-a-million men now inside Ukraine or at its borders. It is also “generating a division of reserves” in central Russia, according to Skibitsky.

The northern border assault follows the creation of a new Russian military grouping called Sever [North]. George Barros at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington told CNN that Sever is an “operationally significant group.”

“Russia sought to generate 60,000-100,000 troops for its group to attack Kharkiv and we assess it’s closer to 50,000,” Barros says, but “it still has a lot of combat power.”

It’s from this new force that units of armored infantry tried to cross the border. The available evidence suggests they were expected and suffered significant losses. But if more elite units join (there are reports that elements from other divisions may do so) Russia’s ambitions could grow.

Source: CNN
 

Ukrainian strike on apartment block kills 15, Russia says​


least 15 people were killed and 20 injured on Sunday when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.

In one of the deadliest attacks to date on the region of Belgorod, Ukraine launched what Russian officials said was a massive missile attack, involving Tochka ballistic missiles and Adler and RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems.

Footage from the scene showed at least 10 storeys of the building collapsing. Later, as emergency services scoured the rubble for survivors, the roof collapsed and people ran for their lives, dust and rubble falling behind them.

Russia's defence ministry said the attack, which it called a "terrorist attack on residential areas", took place at 0840 GMT and involved at least 12 missiles.

"Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged an apartment building in the city of Belgorod," the ministry said.

Russia's emergency ministry said early on Monday that 15 people were killed. Russian news agencies said that 20 people injured and least once child was among the missing. Rocket sirens went off as emergency workers searched the rubble.

Both Ukraine and Russia say they do not target civilians, which Russia launched at its smaller neighbour in February of 2022. The war has killed thousands, displaced millions and turned Ukrainian cities into rubble.

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the attack, which it said was "barbaric". Russia's foreign ministry said the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure was criminal.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says that targeting Russia's military, transport and energy infrastructure undermines Moscow's war effort and is an answer to the countless deadly attacks by Russia.

 

Russia says troops enter border town near Kharkiv​


Russia has said its forces have entered the north-eastern border town of Vovchansk, near Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv.

Ukraine's military said it had "pushed the enemy back" from the northern outskirts of the town, adding it had "tactical successes" in several areas.

Russia has intensified its attacks on the region following Friday's surprise incursions across the border, seizing at least nine villages and settlements in one of the most significant ground attacks since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Thousands of civilians have fled towards Kharkiv.

There are concerns among Ukrainian commanders about what could happen if Russian troops get within artillery-range of the city.

Ukraine's army has said that Russia has deployed "significant forces" - up to five battalions - in its latest offensive and has acknowledged Moscow's troops have had some "tactical success".

But in an evening statement, the army said Russia had lost more than 100 soldiers since the start of the day, adding that Ukrainian forces were restoring old positions.

It said fighting was ongoing in 12 areas and had spread to the settlement of Staritsa, to the west of Vochansk.

Earlier, it had said reserve forces were being moved to the Kharkiv region to reinforce its defences.

Vovchansk, located 74km (45 miles) from Kharkiv, has been heavily bombed in recent days and officials in the surrounding region say Russia is now targeting settlements with glide bombs.

While it is a significant town in the region, Vovchansk is not of specific military importance, though its capture would be a blow to Ukrainian morale.

Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Russia was deliberately trying to stretch the front line by attacking in small groups in new directions.

He told local TV that Ukrainian forces were holding Russian troops back but warned that fighting could spread to new settlements, according to Reuters.

On Telegram he described the situation as "quite complicated" with Russia continuing to advance.

Work is continuing to evacuate residents in the region, with nearly 6,000 people having already been evacuated, he said, adding that 30 settlements had been struck by mortar or artillery shelling.

Some 200-300 people remain in Vovchansk itself, he added.

While it is thought this Russian cross-border incursion is unlikely to result in Kharkiv being captured, their gradual approach on this new, north-eastern front line only increases the anxiety for those living there.

Residents fleeing towns and villages close to the fighting have been arriving in their hundreds at an aid hub in Kharkiv city.

They are being given food, and registering for shelter after leaving their homes.

Veniamin, an 87-year-old resident of Vovchansk told the BBC he had left the besieged town by bicycle on Sunday – cycling 15km to safety.

He said as well as heavy shelling "machine gun fire could be heard from both sides".

"I had to run because it was impossible to be there,” he said, adding the town had been cut off from electricity and water supplies.

Liuda, another resident of Vovchansk, fled the town with her family, who lived in a village nearby.

"We escaped when we heard machine guns, the fire was coming close," she said.

Liuda had remained in Vovchansk when the Russians first invaded in early 2022.

"We survived and got used to it," she said.

Life improved when Ukrainian forces returned later that year, but she said this new Russian offensive "was very scary".

Nadia, her husband and mother had fled the village of Liptsy – near to where Russian forces have also made another incursion across the border.

They packed their belongings, including two dogs, into an old rusting Lada car and made the journey to Kharkiv.

Her husband had wanted to stay “because everything we had would be lost” if they left.

However, she said they were told by the local administration to leave or risk being stranded.

Nadia said: "We lived under occupation in 2022, I don’t want to be under occupation again."

Kostyantyn Tymchenko, who has also left Vovchansk, said he was shocked by how close the fighting was.

"On the one side [of the Vovcha River] are [Russians], on the other - ours," he said.

"Tanks are constantly approaching, shooting back and then leaving. I thought it would be okay. I was shocked. I wish I had known in advance."

Away from Kharkiv, two people were killed by shelling in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the Moscow-installed mayor has claimed.

And at least three people were killed by a strike on an industrial zone in Krasnodon, known as Sorokyne in Ukrainian, a Russian-held part of eastern Ukraine, the Moscow-backed local governor said.

Separately, a Ukrainian security source said Ukrainian forces had struck an oil terminal and electrical substation in western Russia.

Russia also said it had shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over several regions in annexed Crimea.

Source: BBC
 
Blinken in Ukraine to offer 'strong reassurance' as US weapons reach front line

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Ukraine as weapons from a new American aid package begin arriving at the front line.

His visit comes as the country struggles to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second biggest city of Kharkiv.

America's top diplomat is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials.

Mr Blinken will deliver a message of reassurance, US officials say.

The secretary of state's arrival on Tuesday marks three weeks since the US Congress finally agreed a new $61bn (£49bn) aid package for Ukraine.

The breakthrough followed more than a year of partisan paralysis in Washington with some Republicans adamantly opposed to the funding.

Ahead of Mr Blinken's arrival in Kyiv, a senior US official said the American-funded weapons now arriving at the front line included air defence interceptors, artillery and ATACMS long-range precision guided missiles.

"We have already started to flow in artillery [and] long-range ATACMS that can range any part of Ukraine, and also other air defence capabilities that are meant to meet the most pressing needs, particularly with an eye towards Russia's activities right now in Kharkiv," the official said.

Mr Blinken arrived by sleeper train, rolling into Kyiv after a nine-hour journey from the Polish border.

He touched down on Monday in the south-eastern Polish town of Rzeszów, whose airport is now a major logistical hub bringing defence supplies and humanitarian aid into Ukraine.

The airfield's perimeter bristles with US Patriot missile defence batteries - a stark reminder of America's role in shoring up defences at Nato's frontier, more than two years into the war in Ukraine.

Mr Blinken will deliver a message of "strong reassurance" to the Ukrainians "in a difficult moment", a US official said. This will include talks on helping the country take back the military "initiative", said the official.

Ukraine was facing not only a "grinding battle on the eastern front", the official added, but also the latest cross-border attack towards Kharkiv.

Asked by the BBC whether the delay in weapons supply by Congress could have contributed to Moscow's decision to carry out the assault, the official said they would not "draw any direct correlation", but added "the Ukrainians have certainly been in a more difficult position because they waited a long time for this assistance".

Washington hopes a surge of US-supplied arms will enable Ukraine to move towards an "active defence" against the Russians and become "increasingly more confident holding their positions, pushing back as they get more assistance".

BBC
 
Putil just fired his long standing Defence minister Sergei Shoigu replacing him with an economist. Another loyalist of course but one who hasn't been connected with the military previously. Seems to be a sign that they're digging in for the medium term at least. Russia needs to plan to turn it's economy into a war economy for the next few years and who better to facilitate that than an economist.

Russia’s Putin to remove Sergei Shoigu as defence minister
 

Russia must pay for Ukraine rebuild, Blinken says​


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin must pay to rebuild what he has destroyed in Ukraine.

Speaking in Kyiv, Mr Blinken said Washington has the power to seize Russian assets in the US and will use them to help rebuild Ukraine.

He also said that Ukraine is getting "closer to Nato".

Earlier, the top US diplomat told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid is "now on its way".

"What Putin destroyed, Russia should - must - pay to rebuild. It's what international law demands. And it's what the Ukrainian people deserve," Mr Blinken said during his speech at Kyiv Polytechnic University.

"Our Congress has given us the power to seize Russian assets in the US, and we intend to use it," he said.

He added that the G7 group - the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US - can unlock billions of dollars, "and send a powerful message to Putin that time is not on his side".

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Russian state assets in the EU estimated to be worth almost €211bn (£181bn) have been frozen.

Mr Blinken landed in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday after a nine-hour journey via sleeper train from the Polish border.

His visit comes as the country struggles to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second biggest city of Kharkiv.

Mr Blinken's arrival also marks three weeks since the US Congress finally agreed a new $61bn (£49bn) aid package for Ukraine.

"We are bringing Ukraine closer to and then into Nato," Mr Blinken said in his speech.

"We will make sure Ukraine's bridge to Nato is strong."

Mr Blinken sought to reassure Ukrainians with a direct-to-camera message: "You are not alone. We are with you today and we will stay by your side".

He noted that his visit came at a "critical moment" - amid a fresh Russian offensive which he said had been aided by North Korea, Iran and China.

He also touched upon new legislation to help mobilise troops to fight invading Russian forces. The measure is aimed at boosting numbers in the military, which is under severe pressure as Russia continues its advances in the east.

Mr Blinken described Ukraine's recent mobilisation reforms as "a difficult decision but a necessary one", lauding all those who have stepped up to serve their country.

During Mr Blinken's meeting with President Zelensky, he paid tribute to Ukraine's "extraordinary resilience" and to the Ukrainian president's "strength and leadership".

He acknowledged that it was a "challenging time" but that the US assistance was "on the way", which he said would make a crucial difference on the battlefield.

Source: BBC
 

Maybe Russian agencies are behind it​

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slovakia's prime minister injured in shooting​


Media reports say Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital. The incident took place in the town of Handlova, some 150 kilometers northeast of the capital, according to the news television station TA3. A suspect has been detained, it said.

www.newsday.com

Slovakia's prime minister injured in shooting

Media reports say Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital.
www.newsday.com
 

Ukraine war: Blinken says US 'rushing' weapons to the front lines​


The US is "rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles [and] air defences" to Ukraine's front line, Anthony Blinken has said.

During a trip to Ukraine, the US secretary of state announced that $2bn would be spent to speed up delivery.

His comments came as Russian advances forced Ukrainian to retreat from several villages in the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all his foreign trips to concentrate on the new incursion.

Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday, Mr Blinken said weapons would be rushed to the front lines to "protect soldier, to protect citizens".

He said that the air defence systems, for which Ukraine has repeatedly pleaded for, was "a matter of both the urgency and priority".

Speaking at the same news conference, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the weapons needed to get to the front lines quickly.

"Everything must happen fast, weapons must come fast so that we can disrupt Russia's offensive plans in Ukraine and prevent its aggressive plans against the rest of Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community," he said.

Last month, the US finally approved a $61bn (£49bn) military aid package, after months of political wrangling. But weeks on, barely any of it has arrived despite Ukraine's pleas for help.

The state department said the $2bn being spent is drawn from security funding recently passed by Congress and previously approved funds.

On Wednesday, Mr Blinken also mentioned the Israel-Gaza war, saying that Israel needs "a clear, concrete plan" for the future of Gaza, to avoid "anarchy and a vacuum that's likely to be filled by chaos".

The US has been "very clear" that it does "not support an Israeli reoccupation", he said, not does the US support Hamas being in control in Gaza.

During his visit, Mr Blinken also toured a grain export facility and a company that makes prosthetic limbs.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Blinken says US 'rushing' weapons to the front lines

Blinken announces $2bn to speed up deliveries to the battlefield in face of Russian advances.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Ukraine has pulled back its troops from several villages in the border region of Kharkiv following continued pressure from Russian forces.

Soldiers had come under heavy fire and moved to "more advantageous positions" in two areas of the north-eastern region, a military spokesman said.

Throughout the course of the two-year war, Ukraine has typically used this type of language to signify a retreat.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all upcoming foreign trips as troops struggle to contain the new cross-border incursion, with several towns and villages coming under heavy fire.

His press secretary, Sergiy Nykyforov, said the president had "instructed that all international events scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates coordinated".

Moscow has claimed its forces have now taken control of two more settlements in the region - Lukyantski and Hlyboke - and the village of Robotyne, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

But Ukraine says its military still controls most of Roboytne, news website Ukrayinska Pravda reports, citing a spokesman for an army brigade fighting there.

"They [Russian troops] are actually only on the outskirts," Serhiy Skibchyk told the website.

"Inside the village, there are still our positions."

Robotyne was one of only a handful of settlements Kyiv retook in its summer counter-offensive last year.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military said the decision to move troops from the Lukyantsi and Vovchansk areas was taken to "preserve the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses".

The capture of Vovchansk, though not of specific militarily significance, would represent a blow to Ukrainian morale.

The military spokesman said that the situation "remains difficult" but insisted that its forces were "not allowing the Russian occupiers to gain a foothold".

In a statement on Wednesday at 13:30 local time, the military said there had been three clashes in the Kharkiv region, and Russian forces were attacking in the direction of Lyptsi, roughly midway between Kharkiv city and the Russian border.

The statement added two strikes hit the villages of Lyptsi and Mala Danylivka - while Ukrainian forces "repelled" an offensive in Vovchansk.

Ukraine's head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, had earlier said troops had stabilised the front line.

Source: BBC
 
Ukraine troops pull back in Kharkiv after Russia offensive

Ukraine has pulled back its troops from several villages in the border region of Kharkiv following continued pressure from Russian forces.

Soldiers had come under heavy fire and moved to "more advantageous positions" in two areas of the north-eastern region, a military spokesman said.

Throughout the course of the two-year war, Ukraine has typically used this type of language to signify a retreat.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all upcoming foreign trips as troops struggle to contain the new cross-border incursion, with several towns and villages coming under heavy fire.

His press secretary, Sergiy Nykyforov, said the president had "instructed that all international events scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates coordinated".

Moscow has claimed its forces have now taken control of two more settlements in the region - Lukyantski and Hlyboke - and the village of Robotyne, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

But Ukraine says its military still controls most of Robotyne, news website Ukrayinska Pravda reports, citing a spokesman for an army brigade fighting there.

"They [Russian troops] are actually only on the outskirts," Serhiy Skibchyk told the website.

"Inside the village, there are still our positions."

Robotyne was one of only a handful of settlements Kyiv retook in its summer counter-offensive last year.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military said the decision to move troops from the Lukyantsi and Vovchansk areas was taken to "preserve the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses".

The capture of Vovchansk, though not of specific militarily significance, would represent a blow to Ukrainian morale.

The military spokesman said that the situation "remains difficult" but insisted that its forces were "not allowing the Russian occupiers to gain a foothold".

In a statement on Wednesday at 13:30 local time (11:30 BST/10:30 GMT), the military said there had been three clashes in the Kharkiv region, and Russian forces were attacking in the direction of Lyptsi, roughly midway between Kharkiv city and the Russian border.

The statement added two strikes hit the villages of Lyptsi and Mala Danylivka - while Ukrainian forces "repelled" an offensive in Vovchansk.

Later on Wednesday, Ukraine's general staff said heavy enemy fire from Russian forces had prompted the Ukrainian military to reposition some of its troops in the Kupiansk direction, which is some 118 km (73 miles) south-west of Kharkiv city.

It added that it had repelled 20 attacks in that area.

Ukraine's head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, earlier said troops had stabilised the front line.


www.bbc.com

Ukraine troops pull back in Kharkiv after Russia offensive

Ukraine says it has moved troops to "advantageous positions" as Russia intensifies its attacks on the region.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Kharkiv: Ukraine's second city 'under missile attack', mayor says

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, is "under missile attack", its mayor has said.

Ihor Terekhov made his comment not long after regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said at least five Russian drones had struck the northeastern city late on Thursday.

Mr Terekhov said the city's Osnovyanskyi district had been hit, triggering a fire.

It is unclear whether there have been casualties.

Fabrice Deprez, a journalist reporting from Ukraine, said on X he had "lost count of the number of explosions shaking Kharkiv right now - a dozen or more in the past hour".

An air raid alert lasted more than 16-and-a-half hours, public broadcaster Suspilne said - the longest alert since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Residents are advised to stay in shelters.



SKY News
 
Ukraine's defense lines stretched as Russian troops advance

We travel at speed towards the village of Lyptsi – now under siege.

Russian forces have penetrated this border area north of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

We are being escorted by members of Ukraine’s National Guard, among the latest reinforcements to try to halt this most recent Russian advance. They’ve gone from a fierce battle in the east to another further north – without rest.

The heavy thuds of artillery grow louder when we arrive at their position, just a mile from the front line.

We run past a smouldering fire towards a bunker, where we are told to take cover.

In the dank, gloomy basement, a group of soldiers are watching a drone feed. They’re directing Ukrainian artillery fire towards a tree line.

Andrii tells me the situation: “It’s dynamic and tense and hard to predict."

We’ve been told we can’t stay for long. Even underground you can hear the explosions.

I ask Andrii whether he and his men’s arrival on this front is making a difference.

“Relatively, but it’s always hard to get involved in someone else’s defence lines because there’s no proper interaction, with other units,” he replies.

But he understands the importance of their task and why the Russians have opened this new front.

“They want to pull our forces from defence lines in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was just a question of time. The Russians always use mean tactics," he says.

It’s getting dark outside and they’re now using a thermal image camera on a drone to watch Russian movements. “Our pilot has just found out the movement of the enemy group near to our positions,” Andrii tells me.

We’re told to leave quickly.

At a field hospital well behind the front line, Ukrainian medics are treating yet another casualty.

Viktor has lost some of his fingers in a mortar explosion. He’s lying on a bed, conscious, wrapped in a foil blanket as he receives treatment from a nurse.

But Viktor is more worried about the men he’s left behind. “I can’t live without my guys,” he says, “they’re my friends, my second family." He says he wants to get back to them as soon as he is patched up.

The Russians too have been taking heavy casualties. But there are more of them.

Viktor says they were fighting off wave after wave of attacks. “There are a lot of them,” he says.

Russia’s believed to have massed a force of more than 30,000 just over the border.

Ukraine has not just been outnumbered on this front, it’s also been outgunned.

“The Russians have everything, whatever they want," says Viktor, “and we have nothing to fight with. But we do what we can."

Delays in US military support have made their job more difficult. Ammunition has had to be rationed over the past few months.

On average Russia has been able to fire 10 times as many artillery shells. The hope is the deficit will narrow with the arrival of more US weapons and ammunition.

At an artillery position, hidden in a tree-line outside Vovchansk, men of Ukraine’s 57th Brigade have been firing 50 to 100 rounds a day to defend the town.

When we arrive, they’re waiting for a fresh delivery of ammunition for their Russian-made self-propelled gun. Another 20 rounds are soon delivered by a small van. It’ll keep them going for a few more hours.

This unit too had been fighting further east before the call came to defend Kharkiv.

Ukraine’s defence lines are being stretched and thinned out.

Another brigade nearby has arrived from Robotyne in the south, where Russian forces are also advancing.

The small gains made in Ukraine’s 2023 offensive are slowly but surely disappearing.

This time last year Ukraine was hoping to take back its land. Now it's simply hoping it can hold the line.

Ukrainian reinforcements are making a difference in repelling this latest Russian assault. But at what cost elsewhere on the 800-mile (1,287 km) front?

It’ll be hard to dislodge all the Russian forces who have now gained a significant foothold in the Kharkiv region.

Mykhailo, the Ukrainian artillery commander at the position, tells me: “We are losing Vovchansk and we are also losing the villages around Vovchansk."

And there is a feeling that this could have been avoided if defences had been better prepared.

“We could have used logs and concrete to build defences. Now we’ll [have] to use shells and people to take back this land,” he tells me.

BBC
 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia could increase its attacks in Ukraine's north east following its recent gains near the city of Kharkiv.

Russian troops have been trying to push forward as Ukraine’s outgunned forces attempt to shore up a weakened front line.

Mr Zelensky admitted that there were issues with military staffing and morale, saying a number of existing brigades were empty.

He also told the AFP news agency the country's air fleet was lacking and renewed calls for allies to send more air defence and fighter jets.

"Today we have about 25% of what we need to defend Ukraine," Mr Zelensky said of Ukraine's air capabilities.

"So that Russia does not have air superiority, our fleet should have 120 to 130 modern aircraft."

The US recently approved a new $61bn (£48bn) aid package for Ukraine, which includes military support.

Russian forces recently began a summer offensive, grabbing a number of villages on Ukraine's north-eastern frontier near Kharkiv - the country's second largest city.

Kharkiv's regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on Saturday that nearly 10,000 people have been forced to leave in just over a week.

"The situation is controlled by defenders of Ukraine," he added.

Polish Prime Minster Donald Tusk, meanwhile, has announced the country will spend over €2.3bn (£1.9bn) to fortify its eastern border against "potential enemies".

The border includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

"There are a serious number of brigades, existing brigades, which, a large number of them, are empty. We need to do this so that the guys have a normal rotation. Then their morale will be improved."

A new mobilisation law aimed at addressing this came into force on Saturday.

Under the new rules, the age that people can be conscripted into the war has been lowered from 27 to 25 in an effort to boost recruit numbers.

The flood of volunteers Ukraine saw following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 has now dried up. Most of those who wanted to fight are either dead, injured or still stuck at the front waiting to be relieved by new recruits.

In February, Mr Zelensky announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during Russia's full-scale invasion.

Typically, Ukrainian officials do not make casualty figures public, and other estimates are much higher.

BBC Russian, in a joint project with the Mediazona website, has established the deaths of more than 50,000 Russian soldiers. But it estimates the total number to be greater than that.

Source:BBC
 
Russia's glide bombs devastating Ukraine's cities on the cheap

Russia is increasingly using "glide bombs" - cheap but highly destructive ordnance - to advance its offensive in Ukraine.

More than 200 of them are thought to have been used in just a week to pound Ukraine’s northern town of Vovchansk during Russia’s current cross-border advance near Kharkiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 3,000 such bombs were dropped on the country in March alone.

Vovchansk police chief Oleksii Kharkivsky has seen the impact of glide bombs up close.

“There are no words to describe the aftermath of a glide bomb attack," he says. "You arrive to see people who are lying there, torn apart.”

The mass use of glide bombs by Russia is a relatively recent development, one that has proven devastating for Ukrainian forces in recent months.

Glide bombs are built by adding fold-out wings and satellite navigation to old Soviet bombs. They are cheap but destructive.

A recent report by the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) said they were decisive in February’s capture of the once heavily fortified key eastern town of Avdiivka.

Russian forces are now using glide bombs to attack the northern city of Kharkiv. Ukraine has so far struggled to counter them.

The Vovchansk police chief has been helping to evacuate front-line border villages in the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have recently been advancing.

Parked up in his police car, he tells us the scale of attacks has increased dramatically.

“Over the past six months, we were hit by glide bombs quite often, maybe five to 10 bombs per week… but this month we’ve had far more than ever," he said.

Russia is able to stockpile glide bombs in high quantities because they are quite easily produced.

“The explosive part is essentially a conventional freefall iron bomb, of which Russia has hundreds of thousands in storage from the Soviet period,” says Prof Justin Bronk, airpower and military technology specialist at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).

“They are fitted with pop-out wings which, after the bomb is dropped, will flick out to allow it to glide much longer distances.”

Their attached satellite guidance system allows targeting of a stationary position with relatively high accuracy.

According to Prof Bronk, the mechanism of the bombs gives the Russians much of the functionality of a multi-million dollar missile, but for a fraction of the cost.

He says that glide kits - which are mass-produced and pretty mechanically simple - are added to Soviet bombs, of which the Russians have a plentiful supply - meaning the cost per weapon can be "somewhere in the region of $20,000 to $30,000 (£15,700-£23,600)".

The concept is not new. The Germans deployed the Fritz-X during World War Two. In the 1990s the US military developed the Joint Attack Direct Munition, or JDAM, which added steerable tail fins and GPS guidance to traditional free-fall bombs. They have been used extensively since, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The destruction that the glide bombs create is extraordinary. The ordnance thought to be most commonly used for glide bombs is the FAB-1500, which weighs 1.5 tonnes.

For comparison, a Russian 152mm shell contains about 6.5kg of explosive material. Even the smallest glide bomb, the FAB-500, contains more than 200kg.

They turn even well-fortified Ukrainian positions into vulnerable targets.

Because glide bombs create far greater explosive power, they are more likely to cause cave-ins or fatalities even in quite well-fortified positions, Prof Bronk explains. The powerful blasts also have severe effects on the human body.

Glide bombs "are making Ukraine's defensive strategy more difficult because the Russians can just continually bombard fixed positions until they're gone", Prof Bronk says.

Ukrainian security analyst Mariia Zolkina tells the BBC that the use of glide bombs is a worrying development, and that the bombs are creating a "new era" for the military situation on the ground.

"They allow Russia to wipe out Ukrainian defensive lines without using their infantry," Ms Zolkina says. "They have a completely different effect to artillery fire or even missile strikes.”

George Barros from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says that while Ukraine’s situation is difficult, another worrying development could be just around the corner.

He notes there is evidence that a factory about 400km (250 miles) east of Moscow is setting up a production line capable of churning out glide bombs weighing more than three tonnes.

If glide bombs of that size were to start being routinely dropped on Ukrainian positions, the impact would be vast - both on fortifications and the morale of the people trying to hold them.

So what can be done to counter glide bombs?

Prof Bronk says that intercepting the bombs mid-flight is not a viable solution because of the sheer number the Russians have at their disposal. "You would blow through all the available air defence ammunition too quickly," he says.

The only solution, bar a ground incursion, is to target the planes that drop them, either in flight or on the ground.

But that comes with significant risks.

The US Patriot surface-to-air missile launcher system can shoot the fighter-bombers down - but only if it is positioned near the front lines. This carries the risk of being spotted by Russian drones and hit with ballistic missiles, Prof Bronk says - something that happened to two launchers earlier this year.

This leaves the option of using long-range missiles or drones to target Russian air bases.

It is a method Ukraine has been employing. In April, Kyiv claimed to have used a barrage of drones to destroy at least six military aircraft and badly damage eight others at an airfield in Russia’s southern Rostov region.

This solution, however, is not without its problems. The US - the biggest provider of Ukrainian military aid - prohibits Kyiv from using any of its weapons systems on internationally recognised Russian territory. While this does not include Crimea or occupied Ukraine, it does mean that airfields inside Russia are off-limits.

So, for now, it seems there is no easy answer for Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for more air defence missiles and the supply of modern fighter jets.

But for now, Mariia Zolkina says morale has been affected by the increased use of glide bombs.

“The military do not feel safe because their fortifications can’t protect them, while civilians living in Kharkiv, people used to living under shelling, can’t escape a bomb which can destroy a seven-storey building.”

BBC
 
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