Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Wagner forces have been particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, Kirby said Thursday, adding that 40,000 of the estimated 50,000 Wagner forces fighting in Ukraine are convicts directly recruited from Russian prisons.
- The House of Representatives will on Friday vote on a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes $44.9 billion in emergency military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The package was approved by the Senate on Thursday.
- Zelensky met with President of Poland Andrzej Duda for two hours on his way back from his trip to the United States.
- Putin publicly called his invasion of Ukraine a “war” for the first time on Thursday.
Follow our live updates here.
- Wagner forces have been particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, Kirby said Thursday, adding that 40,000 of the estimated 50,000 Wagner forces fighting in Ukraine are convicts directly recruited from Russian prisons.
- The House of Representatives will on Friday vote on a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes $44.9 billion in emergency military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The package was approved by the Senate on Thursday.
- Zelensky met with President of Poland Andrzej Duda for two hours on his way back from his trip to the United States.
- Putin publicly called his invasion of Ukraine a “war” for the first time on Thursday.
Follow our live updates here.
She fled Russian occupation by boat. Minutes later, she was shot.
KHERSON, Ukraine — For weeks, Dmytro Matiukha had urged his in-laws to leave their cottage on the east bank of the Dnieper River.
The shelling was getting worse on the Russian-occupied island where they lived, and the couple had lost power in their home. So over the weekend, when Ukrainian officials encouraged residents to flee across the river to the liberated city of Kherson, Matiukha’s in-laws decided to make the trip.
Matiukha told them to be careful, he recalled, and waited in his car to pick them up on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the river. But just minutes after they left on Sunday, Matiukha received a call from his father-in-law.
“Mom was hit,” said Vladyslav Svitlov, 76. “What do I do?”
Read the full story here.
KHERSON, Ukraine — For weeks, Dmytro Matiukha had urged his in-laws to leave their cottage on the east bank of the Dnieper River.
The shelling was getting worse on the Russian-occupied island where they lived, and the couple had lost power in their home. So over the weekend, when Ukrainian officials encouraged residents to flee across the river to the liberated city of Kherson, Matiukha’s in-laws decided to make the trip.
Matiukha told them to be careful, he recalled, and waited in his car to pick them up on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the river. But just minutes after they left on Sunday, Matiukha received a call from his father-in-law.
“Mom was hit,” said Vladyslav Svitlov, 76. “What do I do?”
Read the full story here.
Wagner mercenaries buy North Korean missiles for use in Ukraine war
North Korea has sold, and delivered, infantry rockets and missiles directly to Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, a private army controlled by a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin’s that is playing an increasingly critical role in the war in Ukraine, the Biden administration said Thursday.
Wagner forces have been particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, where the front line has barely moved in months of heavy fighting and where they are suffering heavy casualties, said John Kirby, the communications coordinator for the National Security Council.
Read the full story here.
North Korea has sold, and delivered, infantry rockets and missiles directly to Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, a private army controlled by a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin’s that is playing an increasingly critical role in the war in Ukraine, the Biden administration said Thursday.
Wagner forces have been particularly active in and around the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, where the front line has barely moved in months of heavy fighting and where they are suffering heavy casualties, said John Kirby, the communications coordinator for the National Security Council.
Read the full story here.
Shelters, backpacks and FM radios: Kyiv prepares for nuclear war
To varying degrees, residents of Kyiv are contemplating the once unthinkable possibility that their city could be targeted by a nuclear bomb. Ominous references by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is prepared to use “all necessary means” to win in Ukraine and frequent chatter on Russian TV talk shows advocating the use of nuclear weapons have given grounds for the concerns.
Military experts assess the risk of a nuclear strike as small, and Pentagon officials have said they see no evidence Russia is making preparations to carry one out. The threat may have receded further after Putin told Russian journalists on Wednesday that Russia had not “gone mad” on the issue of nuclear weapons and was aware of the serious implications of their use.
Read the full story here.
To varying degrees, residents of Kyiv are contemplating the once unthinkable possibility that their city could be targeted by a nuclear bomb. Ominous references by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is prepared to use “all necessary means” to win in Ukraine and frequent chatter on Russian TV talk shows advocating the use of nuclear weapons have given grounds for the concerns.
Military experts assess the risk of a nuclear strike as small, and Pentagon officials have said they see no evidence Russia is making preparations to carry one out. The threat may have receded further after Putin told Russian journalists on Wednesday that Russia had not “gone mad” on the issue of nuclear weapons and was aware of the serious implications of their use.
Read the full story here.
Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine
The administration marked the historic visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by announcing the transfer of a Patriot missile battery, the most sophisticated air defense system in the U.S. arsenal.
But the initial war supply operation clearly wasn’t built for the long haul. In interviews over the last several months, more than two dozen senior U.S., European and Ukrainian government and military officials and experts, some speaking on the condition of anonymity about the strategically and diplomatically sensitive effort, revealed new details about how a U.S.-led consortium of democracies has gone about keeping Ukraine afloat in the war.
Read the full story here.
The administration marked the historic visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by announcing the transfer of a Patriot missile battery, the most sophisticated air defense system in the U.S. arsenal.
But the initial war supply operation clearly wasn’t built for the long haul. In interviews over the last several months, more than two dozen senior U.S., European and Ukrainian government and military officials and experts, some speaking on the condition of anonymity about the strategically and diplomatically sensitive effort, revealed new details about how a U.S.-led consortium of democracies has gone about keeping Ukraine afloat in the war.
Read the full story here.
Facing blackouts and Iranian-made drones, Ukrainian Jews urge Israel to help
KYIV, Ukraine — When Russia invaded Ukraine, the homeland of his parents and grandparents, David felt obligated to leave Israel and fight against President Vladimir Putin, the man he views as a modern Hitler.
After praying on a recent Shabbat in Kyiv’s oldest synagogue, David, 56, said he was proud to have spent most of the past nine months on the front lines, where he took fire from artillery and drones while fighting in Ukraine’s eastern offensive in Kharkiv.
But he fumed when asked about Israel, his home for more than two decades, and about its limited support for Ukraine — a stance that seems increasingly odd given the deepening alliance between Russia and Iran, whose leaders have repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction and are supporting Moscow’s war effort by supplying drones and missiles.
Read the full story here.
KYIV, Ukraine — When Russia invaded Ukraine, the homeland of his parents and grandparents, David felt obligated to leave Israel and fight against President Vladimir Putin, the man he views as a modern Hitler.
After praying on a recent Shabbat in Kyiv’s oldest synagogue, David, 56, said he was proud to have spent most of the past nine months on the front lines, where he took fire from artillery and drones while fighting in Ukraine’s eastern offensive in Kharkiv.
But he fumed when asked about Israel, his home for more than two decades, and about its limited support for Ukraine — a stance that seems increasingly odd given the deepening alliance between Russia and Iran, whose leaders have repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction and are supporting Moscow’s war effort by supplying drones and missiles.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainians struggle to find and reclaim children taken by Russia
It is a potential war crime to remove children during conflict or to change their nationality, but Russia has been secretive about how many Ukrainian children have families or relatives who want them returned home. Maria Lvova-Belova — Putin’s children’s rights commissioner who openly advocates stripping children of their Ukrainian identities and teaching them to love Russia — has insisted that none have Ukrainian families, while Ukraine officials say all belong in Ukraine.
Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine’s top children’s rights official said last month that 10,764 Ukrainian children had been reported by relatives, family or friends to have been deported by Russia without their parents.
Read the full story here.
It is a potential war crime to remove children during conflict or to change their nationality, but Russia has been secretive about how many Ukrainian children have families or relatives who want them returned home. Maria Lvova-Belova — Putin’s children’s rights commissioner who openly advocates stripping children of their Ukrainian identities and teaching them to love Russia — has insisted that none have Ukrainian families, while Ukraine officials say all belong in Ukraine.
Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine’s top children’s rights official said last month that 10,764 Ukrainian children had been reported by relatives, family or friends to have been deported by Russia without their parents.
Read the full story here.
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Putin declares ‘war’ – aloud – forsaking his special euphemistic operation
RIGA, Latvia — After nearly 10 months of war, but referring to the brutal invasion of Ukraine instead as “a special military operation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday finally called it a “war” for the first time, setting off an uproar among antiwar Russians who have been prosecuted for merely challenging the Kremlin-approved euphemism.
“Our goal is not to spin this flywheel of a military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin said during a televised news conference following a government meeting on Thursday. “This is what we are striving for.”
Exactly what Putin has been striving for has been a subject of much consternation and debate, especially in Ukraine, where thousands have been killed and cities have been flattened, and in Western capitals that have sent billions in weapons and economic aid to Kyiv to help the country withstand Russia’s aggression.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — After nearly 10 months of war, but referring to the brutal invasion of Ukraine instead as “a special military operation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday finally called it a “war” for the first time, setting off an uproar among antiwar Russians who have been prosecuted for merely challenging the Kremlin-approved euphemism.
“Our goal is not to spin this flywheel of a military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin said during a televised news conference following a government meeting on Thursday. “This is what we are striving for.”
Exactly what Putin has been striving for has been a subject of much consternation and debate, especially in Ukraine, where thousands have been killed and cities have been flattened, and in Western capitals that have sent billions in weapons and economic aid to Kyiv to help the country withstand Russia’s aggression.
Read the full story here.
In patriotism push, Russians send handmade gifts to troops in Ukraine
Russian volunteers are crafting girdles from dog hair to help keep soldiers fighting against Ukraine warm. Children as young as six are tasked in school to sew balaclavas and make amulets believed to protect soldiers. Elderly “knitting battalions” are churning out chunky socks to send to the front.
In Magnitogorsk, a city near the Ural Mountains, Sergei Loza’s bakery collects wild hops to make whole-meal sourdough rusks for soldiers based on his grandmother’s recipe. Technical school students from Voronezh, in southwestern Russia, have made trench candles and welded chunky metal camp stoves.
Schoolchildren from across Russia’s vast expanse make letters and drawings in support of the military.
Read the full story here.
Russian volunteers are crafting girdles from dog hair to help keep soldiers fighting against Ukraine warm. Children as young as six are tasked in school to sew balaclavas and make amulets believed to protect soldiers. Elderly “knitting battalions” are churning out chunky socks to send to the front.
In Magnitogorsk, a city near the Ural Mountains, Sergei Loza’s bakery collects wild hops to make whole-meal sourdough rusks for soldiers based on his grandmother’s recipe. Technical school students from Voronezh, in southwestern Russia, have made trench candles and welded chunky metal camp stoves.
Schoolchildren from across Russia’s vast expanse make letters and drawings in support of the military.
Read the full story here.