Analysis: Ukraine steps up bid to reconquer lost territory
All is not quiet on the southeastern front. This week, reports suggested Ukraine may have launched its long-mooted counteroffensive against Russian forces encamped in the southern Kherson region, which abuts the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula. There are also rumored new pushes to take back territory in the eastern Donbas region as well as areas near Kharkiv in the north.
“We will oust them to our border,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech Monday. “It is time for the Russian military to flee.”
The fog of war makes it hard to discern whether Russian forces are losing ground. Authorities in Kyiv placed strict restrictions on access to journalists covering the war’s shifting fronts.
Read the full analysis here.
All is not quiet on the southeastern front. This week, reports suggested Ukraine may have launched its long-mooted counteroffensive against Russian forces encamped in the southern Kherson region, which abuts the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula. There are also rumored new pushes to take back territory in the eastern Donbas region as well as areas near Kharkiv in the north.
“We will oust them to our border,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech Monday. “It is time for the Russian military to flee.”
The fog of war makes it hard to discern whether Russian forces are losing ground. Authorities in Kyiv placed strict restrictions on access to journalists covering the war’s shifting fronts.
Read the full analysis here.
At edge of Russian onslaught, city of Bakhmut clings to freedom
BAKHMUT, Ukraine — For the last few civilians hanging on in this front-line city being pounded by advancing Russian artillery, a gaping new crater is both a mark of war and source of water. On Monday, within hours of the rocket strike that made the hole, residents were climbing down to fill bottles at the silty trickle from a shattered water main.
“This one doesn’t have a handle,” said one muddy man, handing a bottle up to a friend. “Put it in a bag to carry.”
In what could be its final weeks of freedom before it is engulfed by Moscow’s slowly advancing tide of occupation — Russian units are less than four miles from the city’s central plaza — Bakhmut is clinging to the last shreds of bearable life.
Read the full story here.
BAKHMUT, Ukraine — For the last few civilians hanging on in this front-line city being pounded by advancing Russian artillery, a gaping new crater is both a mark of war and source of water. On Monday, within hours of the rocket strike that made the hole, residents were climbing down to fill bottles at the silty trickle from a shattered water main.
“This one doesn’t have a handle,” said one muddy man, handing a bottle up to a friend. “Put it in a bag to carry.”
In what could be its final weeks of freedom before it is engulfed by Moscow’s slowly advancing tide of occupation — Russian units are less than four miles from the city’s central plaza — Bakhmut is clinging to the last shreds of bearable life.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Europe is urgently preparing for the possibility that Russia will shut off its gas supply entirely ahead of winter, a potential retaliation for its support of Ukraine.
- The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its connection to its last main external power line but was still supplying the national grid through a reserve line, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a news release Saturday. “One reactor is still operating and producing electricity both for cooling and other essential safety functions,” it said.
- Missiles hit the city of Kharkiv overnight into Sunday, striking a restaurant in the Kyivskiy district, local authorities said. A woman was killed, and two people were injured in strikes Saturday across the Kharkiv region, according to Oleh Synyehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration.
More live updates here.
- Europe is urgently preparing for the possibility that Russia will shut off its gas supply entirely ahead of winter, a potential retaliation for its support of Ukraine.
- The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its connection to its last main external power line but was still supplying the national grid through a reserve line, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a news release Saturday. “One reactor is still operating and producing electricity both for cooling and other essential safety functions,” it said.
- Missiles hit the city of Kharkiv overnight into Sunday, striking a restaurant in the Kyivskiy district, local authorities said. A woman was killed, and two people were injured in strikes Saturday across the Kharkiv region, according to Oleh Synyehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration.
More live updates here.
Earthquakes for Ukraine: Dutch gas drilling tests what countries will accept
GRONINGEN, Netherlands — Earthquakes in this velvety green patch of the Dutch countryside cracked homes, made businesses uninhabitable, even broke up marriages. After billions of euros’ worth of damage, and protests that included local farmers rolling into The Hague on tractors, the Dutch government finally agreed to phase out the natural gas drilling that had triggered more than 1,000 temblors since the 1980s.
But now, as Russia cuts gas flows and energy prices soar, Europe is resting a covetous eye on this corner of the Netherlands — where 12th-century churches, rustic farmhouses and storybook villages sit atop the continent’s mother lode, a gas field harboring the equivalent of three years of Russian imports.
The United States and Germany in particular have raised a fraught question: Could the Dutch keep drilling in Groningen for Europe’s greater good?
Read the full story here.
GRONINGEN, Netherlands — Earthquakes in this velvety green patch of the Dutch countryside cracked homes, made businesses uninhabitable, even broke up marriages. After billions of euros’ worth of damage, and protests that included local farmers rolling into The Hague on tractors, the Dutch government finally agreed to phase out the natural gas drilling that had triggered more than 1,000 temblors since the 1980s.
But now, as Russia cuts gas flows and energy prices soar, Europe is resting a covetous eye on this corner of the Netherlands — where 12th-century churches, rustic farmhouses and storybook villages sit atop the continent’s mother lode, a gas field harboring the equivalent of three years of Russian imports.
The United States and Germany in particular have raised a fraught question: Could the Dutch keep drilling in Groningen for Europe’s greater good?
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian farms feed Europe and China. Russia wants to end that.
Destroy a seed, erase a future.
On May 16, 2022, tens of thousands of rare seed samples were destroyed in the Russian shelling of Kharkiv’s Yuriev Institute, which houses Ukraine’s National Gene Bank.
The Yuriev Institute has a storied past — its predecessor was founded in 1908, a time when Eurasian grain was feeding the rapidly growing industrial workforce in Western Europe. Located in the university town of Kharkiv, the gene bank had been the home of over 160,000 varieties of plant and crop seeds.
The target was not a coincidence.
The damage inflicted on Ukraine’s National Gene Bank and the loss of valuable seeds were part of a deliberate Russian campaign to harm Ukrainian agriculture, this year and potentially for decades to come.
Read the full story here.
Destroy a seed, erase a future.
On May 16, 2022, tens of thousands of rare seed samples were destroyed in the Russian shelling of Kharkiv’s Yuriev Institute, which houses Ukraine’s National Gene Bank.
The Yuriev Institute has a storied past — its predecessor was founded in 1908, a time when Eurasian grain was feeding the rapidly growing industrial workforce in Western Europe. Located in the university town of Kharkiv, the gene bank had been the home of over 160,000 varieties of plant and crop seeds.
The target was not a coincidence.
The damage inflicted on Ukraine’s National Gene Bank and the loss of valuable seeds were part of a deliberate Russian campaign to harm Ukrainian agriculture, this year and potentially for decades to come.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- “The Ukrainian counteroffensive is making verifiable progress in the south and the east,” according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank. ISW analysts said “Ukrainian forces are advancing along several axes” to the west of the Kherson region and “have secured territory” in Donetsk.
- Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency left the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Monday, Russian state-owned news outlets reported, citing Russian nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom and an expert who traveled with the group. Two representatives of the U.N. nuclear safety agency will remain to monitor the plant, the outlets said.
- Ukraine says it has retaken two villages in the south. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media that a widely shared image of a soldier hoisting the Ukrainian flag atop a building was taken Sunday in the village of Vysokopillya in the Kherson region.
More live updates here.
- “The Ukrainian counteroffensive is making verifiable progress in the south and the east,” according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank. ISW analysts said “Ukrainian forces are advancing along several axes” to the west of the Kherson region and “have secured territory” in Donetsk.
- Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency left the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Monday, Russian state-owned news outlets reported, citing Russian nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom and an expert who traveled with the group. Two representatives of the U.N. nuclear safety agency will remain to monitor the plant, the outlets said.
- Ukraine says it has retaken two villages in the south. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media that a widely shared image of a soldier hoisting the Ukrainian flag atop a building was taken Sunday in the village of Vysokopillya in the Kherson region.
More live updates here.
Ukrainians line up to donate blood to save ‘soldiers who are fighting for us’
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — Hundreds of civilians and soldiers lined up Saturday in response to calls for blood donations in this southern front-line city holding off Russian forces.
“They said on TV that there was an urgent need for blood today,” said Svitlana Mymokhod, 58, an accountant who began cooking for local army units after the Russian invasion in late February.
When officials pleaded for B-negative donors, Mymokhod’s blood type, it led her to donate for the first time in 20 years, she said as she methodically squeezed a rubber ball while crimson tubes led from her arm.
“We need to give more blood to save the soldiers who are fighting for us.”
Read the full story here.
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — Hundreds of civilians and soldiers lined up Saturday in response to calls for blood donations in this southern front-line city holding off Russian forces.
“They said on TV that there was an urgent need for blood today,” said Svitlana Mymokhod, 58, an accountant who began cooking for local army units after the Russian invasion in late February.
When officials pleaded for B-negative donors, Mymokhod’s blood type, it led her to donate for the first time in 20 years, she said as she methodically squeezed a rubber ball while crimson tubes led from her arm.
“We need to give more blood to save the soldiers who are fighting for us.”
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- The International Atomic Energy Agency will detail its findings on the “safety, security and safeguards” at the Zaporizhzhia plant, controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine. Inspectors have left the site after an IAEA mission that overcame halting negotiations and the risk of artillery fire, with two representatives staying behind to monitor.
- The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its last direct connection to Ukraine’s energy grid after Russian shelling nearby caused a fire, the Ukrainian state company Energoatom said Monday. Russia also accused Ukraine of shelling around the plant. The Post could not confirm either side’s claims.
- The flow of gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume until Siemens Energy repairs equipment, the deputy CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom told Reuters.
- Russia is in the process of buying rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, the AP and Reuters reported, citing U.S. intelligence.
More live updates here.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency will detail its findings on the “safety, security and safeguards” at the Zaporizhzhia plant, controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine. Inspectors have left the site after an IAEA mission that overcame halting negotiations and the risk of artillery fire, with two representatives staying behind to monitor.
- The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost its last direct connection to Ukraine’s energy grid after Russian shelling nearby caused a fire, the Ukrainian state company Energoatom said Monday. Russia also accused Ukraine of shelling around the plant. The Post could not confirm either side’s claims.
- The flow of gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume until Siemens Energy repairs equipment, the deputy CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom told Reuters.
- Russia is in the process of buying rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, the AP and Reuters reported, citing U.S. intelligence.
More live updates here.
Ukraine’s war amputees heal through horse therapy
SUKHODIL, Ukraine — Danylo Ischenko dreams of walking beside his fiancee on their wedding day.
Bolivia, an English racehorse, is helping him get there.
Ischenko, 34, lost his leg to shrapnel from Russian shelling in a village near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine that changed his life in a fiery flash. The shards sliced into his left leg, which he lost 11 days later. The military sent Ischenko to a rehabilitation center in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
He was referred to a horse farm, where he met Bolivia.
Read the full story here.
SUKHODIL, Ukraine — Danylo Ischenko dreams of walking beside his fiancee on their wedding day.
Bolivia, an English racehorse, is helping him get there.
Ischenko, 34, lost his leg to shrapnel from Russian shelling in a village near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine that changed his life in a fiery flash. The shards sliced into his left leg, which he lost 11 days later. The military sent Ischenko to a rehabilitation center in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
He was referred to a horse farm, where he met Bolivia.
Read the full story here.