Kremlin sharply critical of Ukraine’s call for travel ban on Russians
The Kremlin on Tuesday condemned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to ban all Russian travelers from visiting Western countries to stop Russia from annexing any more Ukrainian territory.
“The only possible attitude we can have is extremely negative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday, after Zelensky told The Washington Post that all Russians including tourists, business executives, students and others should be denied visas to travel to the West.
Zelensky said that “the most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land.” Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy,” he added.
Read the full story here.
The Kremlin on Tuesday condemned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to ban all Russian travelers from visiting Western countries to stop Russia from annexing any more Ukrainian territory.
“The only possible attitude we can have is extremely negative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday, after Zelensky told The Washington Post that all Russians including tourists, business executives, students and others should be denied visas to travel to the West.
Zelensky said that “the most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land.” Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy,” he added.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- Russian officials reported several large explosions in occupied Crimea on Tuesday afternoon, with videos showing a huge blast near a military airfield in the city of Novofedorivka.
- Ukrainian troops are “moving very successfully” toward Izyum in the northeast, putting further pressure on Russian troops, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a YouTube video.
- Between 70,000 and 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded during the conflict, Colin Kahl, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, said at a briefing Monday.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is accusing Russia of “nuclear blackmail” after recent attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant that the United Nations has warned could lead to catastrophic consequences.
- Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the “demilitarization of the Russian Federation is an integral part of ensuring global security.”
More live updates here.
- Russian officials reported several large explosions in occupied Crimea on Tuesday afternoon, with videos showing a huge blast near a military airfield in the city of Novofedorivka.
- Ukrainian troops are “moving very successfully” toward Izyum in the northeast, putting further pressure on Russian troops, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a YouTube video.
- Between 70,000 and 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded during the conflict, Colin Kahl, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, said at a briefing Monday.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is accusing Russia of “nuclear blackmail” after recent attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant that the United Nations has warned could lead to catastrophic consequences.
- Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the “demilitarization of the Russian Federation is an integral part of ensuring global security.”
More live updates here.
Crimea airfield blast was work of Ukrainian special forces, official says
A Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that an airfield explosion in occupied Crimea was the work of Ukrainian special forces.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, did not disclose details on how the Tuesday attack was carried out. However, the attack marks a dramatic escalation in the nearly six-month-old war, demonstrating an ability by Ukrainian forces to strike at Russia far from front lines.
The explosions rocked a Russian air base Tuesday, close to an area of beach resorts in occupied Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have been known to infiltrate enemy-held territory and coordinate with sympathetic locals on the ground. Guerrilla activity has been especially prevalent in the occupied southern Kherson region, just north of Crimea.
Read the full story here.
A Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that an airfield explosion in occupied Crimea was the work of Ukrainian special forces.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, did not disclose details on how the Tuesday attack was carried out. However, the attack marks a dramatic escalation in the nearly six-month-old war, demonstrating an ability by Ukrainian forces to strike at Russia far from front lines.
The explosions rocked a Russian air base Tuesday, close to an area of beach resorts in occupied Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have been known to infiltrate enemy-held territory and coordinate with sympathetic locals on the ground. Guerrilla activity has been especially prevalent in the occupied southern Kherson region, just north of Crimea.
Read the full story here.
In the Ukraine war, a battle for the nation’s mineral and energy wealth
Below the surface of this Donbas coalfield, a dwindling number of miners are still working, extracting a fuel that is emblematic of one of Ukraine’s biggest challenges. The Kremlin is robbing this nation of the building blocks of its economy — its natural resources.
Moscow’s sloppy war has yielded at least one big reward: expanded control over some of the most mineral-rich lands in Europe. Ukraine harbors some of the world’s largest reserves of titanium and iron ore, fields of untapped lithium, as well as massive deposits of coal. Collectively, they are worth tens of trillions of dollars.
The lion’s share of those coal deposits are concentrated in the east, where Moscow has made the most inroads. That’s put them in Russian hands, along with significant amounts of other valuable energy and mineral deposits used for everything from aircraft parts to smartphones, according to an analysis.
Read the full story here.
Below the surface of this Donbas coalfield, a dwindling number of miners are still working, extracting a fuel that is emblematic of one of Ukraine’s biggest challenges. The Kremlin is robbing this nation of the building blocks of its economy — its natural resources.
Moscow’s sloppy war has yielded at least one big reward: expanded control over some of the most mineral-rich lands in Europe. Ukraine harbors some of the world’s largest reserves of titanium and iron ore, fields of untapped lithium, as well as massive deposits of coal. Collectively, they are worth tens of trillions of dollars.
The lion’s share of those coal deposits are concentrated in the east, where Moscow has made the most inroads. That’s put them in Russian hands, along with significant amounts of other valuable energy and mineral deposits used for everything from aircraft parts to smartphones, according to an analysis.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- Tuesday’s airfield explosion in Crimea was the work of Ukrainian special forces, a Ukrainian official told The Post.
- A Ukrainian attack in Crimea would mark a dramatic escalation in the war.
- Overnight Russian strikes in Dnipropetrovsk killed at least 13 people and destroyed more than 20 buildings in the Nikopol district in central Ukraine, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
- Russia has “almost certainly established a major new ground forces formation,” dubbed the 3rd Army Corps, to fight in Ukraine, made up of volunteer male troops up to 50 years old and incentivized with cash bonuses, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday in a daily intelligence update.
- In the northern town of Bucha, 15 bodies were buried Tuesday after they were found four months after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
- A senior Ukrainian commander said he has plans to liberate the Kherson region by the end of the year.
More live updates here.
- Tuesday’s airfield explosion in Crimea was the work of Ukrainian special forces, a Ukrainian official told The Post.
- A Ukrainian attack in Crimea would mark a dramatic escalation in the war.
- Overnight Russian strikes in Dnipropetrovsk killed at least 13 people and destroyed more than 20 buildings in the Nikopol district in central Ukraine, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
- Russia has “almost certainly established a major new ground forces formation,” dubbed the 3rd Army Corps, to fight in Ukraine, made up of volunteer male troops up to 50 years old and incentivized with cash bonuses, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday in a daily intelligence update.
- In the northern town of Bucha, 15 bodies were buried Tuesday after they were found four months after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
- A senior Ukrainian commander said he has plans to liberate the Kherson region by the end of the year.
More live updates here.
Russia confirms prisoner swap talks as U.S. hopes for Griner, Whelan release
Russia confirmed Thursday for the first time that negotiations between Washington and Moscow on a prisoner exchange are underway, after the United States proposed a deal to release WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American prisoner, Paul Whelan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said talks are underway via a channel set up by President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Geneva in June last year.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev said Thursday that negotiations about an exchange began after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed last week that Russia was willing to talk.
“Instructions were given to authorized structures to carry out negotiations,” Nechayev said. “They are being conducted by competent authorities,” he told journalists in Moscow on Thursday, state media reported.
Read the full story here.
Russia confirmed Thursday for the first time that negotiations between Washington and Moscow on a prisoner exchange are underway, after the United States proposed a deal to release WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American prisoner, Paul Whelan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said talks are underway via a channel set up by President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Geneva in June last year.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev said Thursday that negotiations about an exchange began after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed last week that Russia was willing to talk.
“Instructions were given to authorized structures to carry out negotiations,” Nechayev said. “They are being conducted by competent authorities,” he told journalists in Moscow on Thursday, state media reported.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- Satellite images appeared to show charred aircraft after blasts at a Russian base in Crimea, and the U.N. Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
- Russia and the United States are negotiating a prisoner exchange, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said, confirming that talks are ongoing, without elaborating.
- Russia requested a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday over the Zaporizhzhia plant.
- Ukraine plans to evacuate two-thirds of residents from the areas under its control in Donetsk before winter.
- Ukraine’s Defense Ministry mocked Russians over the blasts in Crimea, although Kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility.
- Two separate explosions at the Crimean base suggest a potential attack rather than an accident in Tuesday’s incident, according to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
More live updates here.
- Satellite images appeared to show charred aircraft after blasts at a Russian base in Crimea, and the U.N. Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
- Russia and the United States are negotiating a prisoner exchange, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said, confirming that talks are ongoing, without elaborating.
- Russia requested a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday over the Zaporizhzhia plant.
- Ukraine plans to evacuate two-thirds of residents from the areas under its control in Donetsk before winter.
- Ukraine’s Defense Ministry mocked Russians over the blasts in Crimea, although Kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility.
- Two separate explosions at the Crimean base suggest a potential attack rather than an accident in Tuesday’s incident, according to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
More live updates here.
McDonald’s to reopen in Ukraine to create a small sense of ‘normalcy’
More than a month after Ukraine’s foreign minister urged McDonald’s to jump-start its operations in the battle-scarred country, the fast-food giant announced that it will begin to reopen some of its 109 restaurants, despite the ongoing war and serious disruptions to the company’s supply chain.
In a company memo, Paul Pomroy, corporate senior vice president of international operated markets, said McDonald’s would reopen restaurants in Kyiv, the capital, and in western Ukraine, where “other businesses have safely reopened.”
“Over the next few months, we will begin working with suppliers to get product to restaurants, making the physical properties ready to serve customers, bringing restaurant teams and employees back on-site, and implementing enhanced procedures and protocols to support the safety of our people and customers,” Pomroy wrote in the memo.
Read the full story here.
More than a month after Ukraine’s foreign minister urged McDonald’s to jump-start its operations in the battle-scarred country, the fast-food giant announced that it will begin to reopen some of its 109 restaurants, despite the ongoing war and serious disruptions to the company’s supply chain.
In a company memo, Paul Pomroy, corporate senior vice president of international operated markets, said McDonald’s would reopen restaurants in Kyiv, the capital, and in western Ukraine, where “other businesses have safely reopened.”
“Over the next few months, we will begin working with suppliers to get product to restaurants, making the physical properties ready to serve customers, bringing restaurant teams and employees back on-site, and implementing enhanced procedures and protocols to support the safety of our people and customers,” Pomroy wrote in the memo.
Read the full story here.
On the Kherson front lines, little sign of a Ukrainian offensive
MYKOLAIV REGION, Ukraine — On the front line in southeast Ukraine, there is little sign that a major counteroffensive is brewing.
For weeks, Western intelligence and military analysts have predicted that a Ukrainian campaign to retake the strategic port city of Kherson and surrounding territory is imminent. But in trenches less than a mile from Russia’s positions in the area, Ukrainian soldiers hunker down from an escalating onslaught of artillery, with little ability to advance.
“It’s to our left side, our right side, over our heads,” said Yuri, a 45-year-old soldier with the Ukrainian military’s 63rd Mechanized Brigade said of the incoming fire, which has intensified over the past week. At night, Russian forces make reconnaissance missions that probe the tenuously held farmland. “It’s a more tense situation,” he said.
Read the full story here.
MYKOLAIV REGION, Ukraine — On the front line in southeast Ukraine, there is little sign that a major counteroffensive is brewing.
For weeks, Western intelligence and military analysts have predicted that a Ukrainian campaign to retake the strategic port city of Kherson and surrounding territory is imminent. But in trenches less than a mile from Russia’s positions in the area, Ukrainian soldiers hunker down from an escalating onslaught of artillery, with little ability to advance.
“It’s to our left side, our right side, over our heads,” said Yuri, a 45-year-old soldier with the Ukrainian military’s 63rd Mechanized Brigade said of the incoming fire, which has intensified over the past week. At night, Russian forces make reconnaissance missions that probe the tenuously held farmland. “It’s a more tense situation,” he said.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- The United Nations appealed for a demilitarized zone to protect a nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, and a ship will carry Ukrainian grain to hunger-hit countries in the Horn of Africa.
- Russia’s U.N. envoy said the IAEA may visit the nuclear plant soon but shifted the blame on others for preventing access to the facility, which sits in a part of Ukraine that Russian forces control.
- The Brave Commander, a cargo vessel chartered by the United Nations, will export more than 23,000 metric tons of grain to Ethiopia through the port of Djibouti.
- Two more ships left Black Sea ports Friday under the deal, one of them carrying 3,000 metric tons of wheat, according to the Defense Ministry in Turkey, which helped broker the deal with U.N. help.
- A Russian journalist who protested the Ukraine war has been put under house arrest until Oct. 9.
More live updates here.
- The United Nations appealed for a demilitarized zone to protect a nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, and a ship will carry Ukrainian grain to hunger-hit countries in the Horn of Africa.
- Russia’s U.N. envoy said the IAEA may visit the nuclear plant soon but shifted the blame on others for preventing access to the facility, which sits in a part of Ukraine that Russian forces control.
- The Brave Commander, a cargo vessel chartered by the United Nations, will export more than 23,000 metric tons of grain to Ethiopia through the port of Djibouti.
- Two more ships left Black Sea ports Friday under the deal, one of them carrying 3,000 metric tons of wheat, according to the Defense Ministry in Turkey, which helped broker the deal with U.N. help.
- A Russian journalist who protested the Ukraine war has been put under house arrest until Oct. 9.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- The Kremlin has condemned calls to ban Russian travelers after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Washington Post he wants all Russians to be denied visas to Western countries in a bid to deter Moscow from annexing Ukrainian territory. In a nightly address, the Ukrainian president again told E.U. leaders to impose a ban, which would affect tourists, business executives, students and others.
- Russian strikes pounded the city of Nikopol overnight, a regional official said. He said there were no casualties, while reporting damage to homes and a kindergarten in a region near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
- The Pentagon said it does not know what weapons were used in an attack on a Russian air base in Crimea this week. A military official told reporters the U.S. found that equipment which was damaged in the explosions includes “a number of Russian aircraft, fighters, fighter bombers [and] surveillance aircraft.”
More live updates here.
- The Kremlin has condemned calls to ban Russian travelers after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Washington Post he wants all Russians to be denied visas to Western countries in a bid to deter Moscow from annexing Ukrainian territory. In a nightly address, the Ukrainian president again told E.U. leaders to impose a ban, which would affect tourists, business executives, students and others.
- Russian strikes pounded the city of Nikopol overnight, a regional official said. He said there were no casualties, while reporting damage to homes and a kindergarten in a region near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
- The Pentagon said it does not know what weapons were used in an attack on a Russian air base in Crimea this week. A military official told reporters the U.S. found that equipment which was damaged in the explosions includes “a number of Russian aircraft, fighters, fighter bombers [and] surveillance aircraft.”
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Russian forces in the Kherson area are retreating to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River after Ukrainian forces destroyed the bridge over Nova Kakhovka Dam, according to the Mykolayiv regional governor, Vitaliy Kim.
- The Kremlin has condemned calls to ban all Russian travelers after Zelensky told The Washington Post he wants Western countries to deny visas to Russians in a bid to deter Moscow from annexing Ukrainian territory.
- Russian strikes hit the city of Nikopol, a regional official said overnight. He reported damage to homes and a kindergarten in the region near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
More live updates here.
- Russian forces in the Kherson area are retreating to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River after Ukrainian forces destroyed the bridge over Nova Kakhovka Dam, according to the Mykolayiv regional governor, Vitaliy Kim.
- The Kremlin has condemned calls to ban all Russian travelers after Zelensky told The Washington Post he wants Western countries to deny visas to Russians in a bid to deter Moscow from annexing Ukrainian territory.
- Russian strikes hit the city of Nikopol, a regional official said overnight. He reported damage to homes and a kindergarten in the region near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukrainian forces will target Russian soldiers who shoot at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant or shoot from the facility, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of additional shelling in the area. He said the Russian soldiers are becoming a “special target.”
- Zelensky said Russian forces are “trying to intimidate” residents near the plant, and he added that soldiers are hiding behind the plant to fire at the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets. Both faced additional attacks overnight, according to the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, who reported damage but no casualties.
- A state-owned TV network run by the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Ukrainian shelling at a hydropower plant damaged three of the six turbines there, which they said could affect the cooling of nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia. The reports could not be independently verified.
More live updates here.
- Ukrainian forces will target Russian soldiers who shoot at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant or shoot from the facility, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of additional shelling in the area. He said the Russian soldiers are becoming a “special target.”
- Zelensky said Russian forces are “trying to intimidate” residents near the plant, and he added that soldiers are hiding behind the plant to fire at the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets. Both faced additional attacks overnight, according to the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, who reported damage but no casualties.
- A state-owned TV network run by the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Ukrainian shelling at a hydropower plant damaged three of the six turbines there, which they said could affect the cooling of nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia. The reports could not be independently verified.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Forty-two countries are calling on Russia to withdraw troops from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, according to a statement by the European Union dated Friday and posted Sunday. The statement says Russia’s military aggression at and near the plant poses a threat to nuclear safety.
- The latest round of shelling near the plant killed one employee and injured two others, Ukraine’s nuclear power regulator said on Telegram. The city of Enerhodar was hit at least six times, the regulator said, further shaking the enclave where many nuclear power plant employees live.
- Ukrainian troops struck a Wagner Group base in Popasna on Sunday, the regional governor said early Monday. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said in a Telegram post that members of the mercenary group died in the attack but that the death count was still being clarified.
More live updates here.
- Forty-two countries are calling on Russia to withdraw troops from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, according to a statement by the European Union dated Friday and posted Sunday. The statement says Russia’s military aggression at and near the plant poses a threat to nuclear safety.
- The latest round of shelling near the plant killed one employee and injured two others, Ukraine’s nuclear power regulator said on Telegram. The city of Enerhodar was hit at least six times, the regulator said, further shaking the enclave where many nuclear power plant employees live.
- Ukrainian troops struck a Wagner Group base in Popasna on Sunday, the regional governor said early Monday. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said in a Telegram post that members of the mercenary group died in the attack but that the death count was still being clarified.
More live updates here.