Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Thursday morning for her third visit since the start of the war. She is set to meet with Zelensky to discuss E.U. trade policies benefiting Ukraine, including the suspension of import duties on Ukrainian exports to the European Union and aid for the reconstruction of Ukrainian schools.
- Amid a sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive, Putin did not give “any indication” during a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week that his invasion of Ukraine may have been a mistake, Scholz said Wednesday.
- Zelensky was in a car crash Wednesday but did not sustain major injuries, press secretary Sergii Nykyforov said in a statement on Facebook. Nykyforov said the crash will be investigated.
- Zelensky made a surprise visit Wednesday to Izyum, a strategic city in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which he said was mostly recaptured from Russian control.
More live updates here.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Thursday morning for her third visit since the start of the war. She is set to meet with Zelensky to discuss E.U. trade policies benefiting Ukraine, including the suspension of import duties on Ukrainian exports to the European Union and aid for the reconstruction of Ukrainian schools.
- Amid a sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive, Putin did not give “any indication” during a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week that his invasion of Ukraine may have been a mistake, Scholz said Wednesday.
- Zelensky was in a car crash Wednesday but did not sustain major injuries, press secretary Sergii Nykyforov said in a statement on Facebook. Nykyforov said the crash will be investigated.
- Zelensky made a surprise visit Wednesday to Izyum, a strategic city in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which he said was mostly recaptured from Russian control.
More live updates here.
Republican senators push for faster spending of Ukraine funds
Republican senators are urging the Biden administration to move more quickly to spend funds authorized to blunt the global toll of the war in Ukraine, singling out the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid as a major bottleneck.
Nine senators, including the ranking Republicans on the chamber’s Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, urged the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to spend humanitarian aid funds totaling $7 billion allocated in two aid packages related to the war in Ukraine.
Seeking to assist Kyiv following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion and mitigate the global effects of the war, Congress has passed several large packages, including funds for defense, trade and humanitarian activities, in part directed at helping refugees and stanching widespread food insecurity.
Read the full story here.
Republican senators are urging the Biden administration to move more quickly to spend funds authorized to blunt the global toll of the war in Ukraine, singling out the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid as a major bottleneck.
Nine senators, including the ranking Republicans on the chamber’s Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, urged the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to spend humanitarian aid funds totaling $7 billion allocated in two aid packages related to the war in Ukraine.
Seeking to assist Kyiv following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion and mitigate the global effects of the war, Congress has passed several large packages, including funds for defense, trade and humanitarian activities, in part directed at helping refugees and stanching widespread food insecurity.
Read the full story here.
Xi and Putin meet and pledge to ‘inject stability’ in the world
Amid the global economic uncertainty triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Thursday to “inject stability into a turbulent world.”
In a rare admission, Putin said he was aware of China’s “questions and concerns” about the war, but assured Xi he would address them all in their first face-to-face meeting since the Feb. 24 invasion.
Meeting on the sidelines of a summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Xi said that China is willing to work with Russia to “demonstrate the responsibility of a major country to play a leading role and inject stability into a turbulent world,” according to Chinese state TV.
Xi also said China would support Russia’s core interests — which include Ukraine — as the two countries test the boundaries of their friendship disrupted by Russia’s setbacks in the invasion.
Read the full story here.
Amid the global economic uncertainty triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Thursday to “inject stability into a turbulent world.”
In a rare admission, Putin said he was aware of China’s “questions and concerns” about the war, but assured Xi he would address them all in their first face-to-face meeting since the Feb. 24 invasion.
Meeting on the sidelines of a summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Xi said that China is willing to work with Russia to “demonstrate the responsibility of a major country to play a leading role and inject stability into a turbulent world,” according to Chinese state TV.
Xi also said China would support Russia’s core interests — which include Ukraine — as the two countries test the boundaries of their friendship disrupted by Russia’s setbacks in the invasion.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
-Russia is warning the United States not to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, saying such an act would make Washington a “direct party to the conflict” and breach a “red line.”
- Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine was hit by Russian shelling overnight.
- Zelensky and von der Leyen discussed trade policy and Ukraine’s bid for membership in the European Union. The visit is her third since the start of the war nearly seven months ago.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with President Xi Jinping of China in Uzbekistan, where they are attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group.
- The United States announced further sanctions on Russian officials.
- Ukraine recorded its first case of monkeypox.
More live updates here.
-Russia is warning the United States not to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, saying such an act would make Washington a “direct party to the conflict” and breach a “red line.”
- Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine was hit by Russian shelling overnight.
- Zelensky and von der Leyen discussed trade policy and Ukraine’s bid for membership in the European Union. The visit is her third since the start of the war nearly seven months ago.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with President Xi Jinping of China in Uzbekistan, where they are attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group.
- The United States announced further sanctions on Russian officials.
- Ukraine recorded its first case of monkeypox.
More live updates here.
Short of soldiers to send to war, Russia’s mercenaries recruit in prisons
To address Russia’s shortage of soldiers to send to war in Ukraine, the Wagner mercenary group seems to be making an offer that it hopes convicted criminals can’t refuse: a get out of jail card.
“After six months [at war] you receive a pardon, and there is no option for you to return to prison,” a man dressed in tan-colored fatigues said, addressing a crowd of Russian inmates standing underneath a poster that read “Choose life.” “Those who arrive [at the front line] and say on Day 1 it’s not for them get shot,” the man added.
The recording pitch, captured on video, surfaced Monday night on Russian Telegram channels, and the man in fatigues making the offer appears to be Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the billionaire nicknamed “Putin’s chef” who is also the reputed financier of Wagner private military company.
Read the full story here.
To address Russia’s shortage of soldiers to send to war in Ukraine, the Wagner mercenary group seems to be making an offer that it hopes convicted criminals can’t refuse: a get out of jail card.
“After six months [at war] you receive a pardon, and there is no option for you to return to prison,” a man dressed in tan-colored fatigues said, addressing a crowd of Russian inmates standing underneath a poster that read “Choose life.” “Those who arrive [at the front line] and say on Day 1 it’s not for them get shot,” the man added.
The recording pitch, captured on video, surfaced Monday night on Russian Telegram channels, and the man in fatigues making the offer appears to be Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the billionaire nicknamed “Putin’s chef” who is also the reputed financier of Wagner private military company.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the discovery of the mass grave in Izyum during his nightly address Thursday, saying that an investigation is underway. A top police official for the Kharkiv region told Sky News that more than 400 bodies were discovered at the burial site.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency called on Russia to “immediately cease all actions against, and at” the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in a resolution passed by its Board of Governors on Thursday.
- The war in Ukraine is testing Russia and China’s “no limits” partnership. Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that China had “questions and concerns” about the situation in Ukraine, in remarks before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan.
- Despite startling gains by Ukrainian forces against Russia, the Biden administration anticipates months of intense fighting with wins and losses for each side.
More live updates here.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the discovery of the mass grave in Izyum during his nightly address Thursday, saying that an investigation is underway. A top police official for the Kharkiv region told Sky News that more than 400 bodies were discovered at the burial site.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency called on Russia to “immediately cease all actions against, and at” the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in a resolution passed by its Board of Governors on Thursday.
- The war in Ukraine is testing Russia and China’s “no limits” partnership. Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that China had “questions and concerns” about the situation in Ukraine, in remarks before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan.
- Despite startling gains by Ukrainian forces against Russia, the Biden administration anticipates months of intense fighting with wins and losses for each side.
More live updates here.
Analysis: As Ukraine advances, Putin backs further into a corner
The war in Ukraine may be entering a decisive new phase. The past week saw the stunning success of Ukrainian counteroffensive into the environs of the northeast city of Kharkiv, routing Russian forces across a vast stretch of territory extending as far as the Russian border. In addition to considerable casualties, Russian troops lost significant amounts of materiel, including dozens of tanks and armored vehicles. A resident of one liberated town described the Russian retreat to my colleagues as so hasty that “their pants were flying off.”
Not since the initial stages of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor — when dogged Ukrainian defenders repulsed Russian columns moving on the capital Kyiv — has there been this level of optimism surrounding Ukraine’s capacity for victory. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to the retaken city of Izyum and hailed his compatriots on the front lines.
Read the full analysis here.
The war in Ukraine may be entering a decisive new phase. The past week saw the stunning success of Ukrainian counteroffensive into the environs of the northeast city of Kharkiv, routing Russian forces across a vast stretch of territory extending as far as the Russian border. In addition to considerable casualties, Russian troops lost significant amounts of materiel, including dozens of tanks and armored vehicles. A resident of one liberated town described the Russian retreat to my colleagues as so hasty that “their pants were flying off.”
Not since the initial stages of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor — when dogged Ukrainian defenders repulsed Russian columns moving on the capital Kyiv — has there been this level of optimism surrounding Ukraine’s capacity for victory. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to the retaken city of Izyum and hailed his compatriots on the front lines.
Read the full analysis here.
U.S. expects months of intense fighting in Ukraine-Russia war
Despite Ukrainian forces’ startling gains in the war against Russia, the Biden administration anticipates months of intense fighting with wins and losses for each side, spurring U.S. plans for an open-ended campaign with no prospect for a negotiated end in sight.
The surprise success by Ukrainian forces in areas of the country occupied by Russian troops during the weekend generated euphoria among Ukrainians sapped by months of fighting. It also fueled hopes among many of Kyiv’s foreign backers that its scrappy military might be able to expel Russia’s larger, better-armed force.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising his country’s blue-and-yellow flag Wednesday over the liberated city of Izyum, promised it would be “definitely impossible to occupy our people, the Ukrainian people.”
Read the full story here.
Despite Ukrainian forces’ startling gains in the war against Russia, the Biden administration anticipates months of intense fighting with wins and losses for each side, spurring U.S. plans for an open-ended campaign with no prospect for a negotiated end in sight.
The surprise success by Ukrainian forces in areas of the country occupied by Russian troops during the weekend generated euphoria among Ukrainians sapped by months of fighting. It also fueled hopes among many of Kyiv’s foreign backers that its scrappy military might be able to expel Russia’s larger, better-armed force.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising his country’s blue-and-yellow flag Wednesday over the liberated city of Izyum, promised it would be “definitely impossible to occupy our people, the Ukrainian people.”
Read the full story here.
On war, Putin says Russia will ‘do our best to stop this as soon as possible’
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russia would strive to stop the war in Ukraine “as soon as possible” but then blamed Ukraine for refusing to negotiate, though Putin ordered the invasion and his troops are still occupying a large swatch of Ukrainian territory.
Putin’s remarks came during an appearance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where they are attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Russia has suffered steep military setbacks in recent days as a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russian occupying troops out of the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Read more here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russia would strive to stop the war in Ukraine “as soon as possible” but then blamed Ukraine for refusing to negotiate, though Putin ordered the invasion and his troops are still occupying a large swatch of Ukrainian territory.
Putin’s remarks came during an appearance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where they are attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Russia has suffered steep military setbacks in recent days as a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russian occupying troops out of the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Read more here.
For Putin and Xi, Ukraine war creates wrinkle in ‘no limits’ friendship
Vladimir Putin is waging a reckless war in an uncertain bid to recreate a superpower of the past. Xi Jinping is cautiously, carefully steering China to its certain destiny as a superpower of the future.
As the two presidents met in Uzbekistan on Thursday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, the subtle undertones of the meeting revealed as much about this, and other key differences between the two strongman leaders and their respective nations, as it did about the commonalities that bind them in their self-declared “no-limits” friendship.
Read more here.
Vladimir Putin is waging a reckless war in an uncertain bid to recreate a superpower of the past. Xi Jinping is cautiously, carefully steering China to its certain destiny as a superpower of the future.
As the two presidents met in Uzbekistan on Thursday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, the subtle undertones of the meeting revealed as much about this, and other key differences between the two strongman leaders and their respective nations, as it did about the commonalities that bind them in their self-declared “no-limits” friendship.
Read more here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukrainian authorities and United Nations monitors are investigating a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izyum.
- The bodies discovered in Izyum will be handed over to experts for identification, Ukraine’s commissioner for missing persons said in a statement on Telegram on Friday, adding that the number of dead may exceed those killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha at the beginning of the war.
- Reports of graves in Izyum are “horrifying” and “repugnant,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would strive to stop the war “as soon as possible” — but then blamed Ukraine for refusing to negotiate.
- The U.N. nuclear watchdog urged Russia to “immediately cease all actions” at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
More live updates here.
- Ukrainian authorities and United Nations monitors are investigating a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izyum.
- The bodies discovered in Izyum will be handed over to experts for identification, Ukraine’s commissioner for missing persons said in a statement on Telegram on Friday, adding that the number of dead may exceed those killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha at the beginning of the war.
- Reports of graves in Izyum are “horrifying” and “repugnant,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would strive to stop the war “as soon as possible” — but then blamed Ukraine for refusing to negotiate.
- The U.N. nuclear watchdog urged Russia to “immediately cease all actions” at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
More live updates here.
The letters left behind by demoralized Russian soldiers as they fled
IZYUM, Ukraine — About 10 days before Ukrainian forces retook the city of Izyum last weekend, Russian troops stationed here were so demoralized that they drafted letters begging their superiors to dismiss them from their roles.
The 10 handwritten letters, dated Aug. 30, were left behind in a two-story residential house where Russians were squatting and later found by Ukrainian soldiers who provided the letters to The Washington Post for review.
They paint a portrait of dejected troops desperate for rest and concerned about their health and morale after months of fighting.
Read the full story here.
IZYUM, Ukraine — About 10 days before Ukrainian forces retook the city of Izyum last weekend, Russian troops stationed here were so demoralized that they drafted letters begging their superiors to dismiss them from their roles.
The 10 handwritten letters, dated Aug. 30, were left behind in a two-story residential house where Russians were squatting and later found by Ukrainian soldiers who provided the letters to The Washington Post for review.
They paint a portrait of dejected troops desperate for rest and concerned about their health and morale after months of fighting.
Read the full story here.
What is the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary entity in Ukraine?
Mercenaries working for a Kremlin-linked network of private security contractors have taken up arms in Ukraine on Russia’s behalf, U.S. and British officials say, and appear to also be recruiting from inside Russian prisons.
The network, known as the Wagner Group, first worked in Ukraine in 2014 during Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Since then, its fighters have turned up on battlefields from Syria to Mali.
In Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, about 1,000 Wagner mercenaries have been concentrated largely in the country’s east, where Pentagon officials say Russia has refocused its war effort after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv.
Germany’s foreign intelligence service claimed in April to have intercepted communications that could link the Wagner Group to indiscriminate killings of Ukrainian civilians.
Read the full story here.
Mercenaries working for a Kremlin-linked network of private security contractors have taken up arms in Ukraine on Russia’s behalf, U.S. and British officials say, and appear to also be recruiting from inside Russian prisons.
The network, known as the Wagner Group, first worked in Ukraine in 2014 during Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Since then, its fighters have turned up on battlefields from Syria to Mali.
In Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, about 1,000 Wagner mercenaries have been concentrated largely in the country’s east, where Pentagon officials say Russia has refocused its war effort after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv.
Germany’s foreign intelligence service claimed in April to have intercepted communications that could link the Wagner Group to indiscriminate killings of Ukrainian civilians.
Read the full story here.
Torture, killings, abductions: Russian retreat from Izyum reveals horrors
Russian forces terrorized residents throughout their six-month occupation of Izyum, a strategic hub in northeast Ukraine, with witnesses and victims this week recounting the torture, killings and forced disappearances that soldiers carried out. And as they bore witness, the Ukrainian officials now back in control of the city worked to unearth evidence of those potential war crimes.
Investigators on Friday started to exhume the bodies of more than 400 civilians buried in a makeshift cemetery and as many as 17 Ukrainian soldiers buried in a mass grave at the same site. The area, located in a forest just outside Izyum, had been used as a Russian military position.
Read the full story here.
Russian forces terrorized residents throughout their six-month occupation of Izyum, a strategic hub in northeast Ukraine, with witnesses and victims this week recounting the torture, killings and forced disappearances that soldiers carried out. And as they bore witness, the Ukrainian officials now back in control of the city worked to unearth evidence of those potential war crimes.
Investigators on Friday started to exhume the bodies of more than 400 civilians buried in a makeshift cemetery and as many as 17 Ukrainian soldiers buried in a mass grave at the same site. The area, located in a forest just outside Izyum, had been used as a Russian military position.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian strikes into Russia’s border towns compound Putin’s troubles
After a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the northeast of the country, the messy war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started is now being fought directly on his doorstep, with artillery strikes hitting military targets in Russia and Russian officials in cities and towns along the border ordering hasty evacuations.
On Saturday, a new round of strikes hit the Belgorod region in Western Russia, killing at least one person and wounding two.
On Friday, Ukraine reportedly struck the base of the Russian 3rd Motorized Rifle Division near Valuyki, just nine miles north of the Russia—Ukraine border. Russian officials did not acknowledge that a military target was hit but said one civilian died, and the local electrical grid experienced a temporary disruption.
Russia blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv did not claim responsibility for striking targets in Russian territory.
Read the full story here.
After a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the northeast of the country, the messy war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started is now being fought directly on his doorstep, with artillery strikes hitting military targets in Russia and Russian officials in cities and towns along the border ordering hasty evacuations.
On Saturday, a new round of strikes hit the Belgorod region in Western Russia, killing at least one person and wounding two.
On Friday, Ukraine reportedly struck the base of the Russian 3rd Motorized Rifle Division near Valuyki, just nine miles north of the Russia—Ukraine border. Russian officials did not acknowledge that a military target was hit but said one civilian died, and the local electrical grid experienced a temporary disruption.
Russia blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv did not claim responsibility for striking targets in Russian territory.
Read the full story here.
Beloved dancer’s death on Ukraine battlefield underscores cost of war
The recent Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces has been hailed as a stunning success, offering a jolt of optimism in a grueling nearly seven-month-old war. But the battlefield death earlier this week of beloved Ukrainian ballet star Oleksandr Shapoval, a father of two remembered as “a pure and bright soul,” crystallizes the dreadful cost of the nation’s military victories.
Shapoval’s case is particularly poignant, because after a 28-year career onstage, and with no military training, he volunteered in April to help defend his country.
As a member of the National Opera of Ukraine, he had danced the part of gallant romantics and dashing adventurers, and he’d earned the prestigious title Honored Artist of Ukraine. Shapoval retired in 2021 and was teaching at the Kyiv State Choreographic College when the Russians invaded in February.
Read the full story here.
The recent Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces has been hailed as a stunning success, offering a jolt of optimism in a grueling nearly seven-month-old war. But the battlefield death earlier this week of beloved Ukrainian ballet star Oleksandr Shapoval, a father of two remembered as “a pure and bright soul,” crystallizes the dreadful cost of the nation’s military victories.
Shapoval’s case is particularly poignant, because after a 28-year career onstage, and with no military training, he volunteered in April to help defend his country.
As a member of the National Opera of Ukraine, he had danced the part of gallant romantics and dashing adventurers, and he’d earned the prestigious title Honored Artist of Ukraine. Shapoval retired in 2021 and was teaching at the Kyiv State Choreographic College when the Russians invaded in February.
Read the full story here.