Here is the latest from Ukraine
Two people opened fire at a Russian military training ground near the Ukrainian border on Saturday, killing 11 and injuring 15, state media reported, in a sign of growing tensions among Moscow’s forces. The governor of the Belgorod region said early Sunday that no civilians were killed in the attack, but “many soldiers were killed and wounded,” describing it as a “terrorist act.”
Meanwhile, billionaire Elon Musk appears to have backpedaled — a day after threatening to cut funding to a satellite internet service that has provided vital communications for Ukraine’s military as it attempts to claw back Russian-held territory — suggesting that he would continue to fund the Starlink service. Musk’s company, SpaceX, has been in talks with the Pentagon about future financing.
Read the full story here.
Two people opened fire at a Russian military training ground near the Ukrainian border on Saturday, killing 11 and injuring 15, state media reported, in a sign of growing tensions among Moscow’s forces. The governor of the Belgorod region said early Sunday that no civilians were killed in the attack, but “many soldiers were killed and wounded,” describing it as a “terrorist act.”
Meanwhile, billionaire Elon Musk appears to have backpedaled — a day after threatening to cut funding to a satellite internet service that has provided vital communications for Ukraine’s military as it attempts to claw back Russian-held territory — suggesting that he would continue to fund the Starlink service. Musk’s company, SpaceX, has been in talks with the Pentagon about future financing.
Read the full story here.
Russia is grabbing men off the street to fight in Ukraine
Police and military officers swooped down on a Moscow business center this week unannounced. They were looking for men to fight in Ukraine — and they seized nearly every one they saw. Some musicians, rehearsing. A courier there to deliver a parcel. A man from a Moscow service agency, very drunk, in his mid-50s, with a walking disability.
“I have no idea why they took him,” said Alexei, who, like dozens of others in the office complex, was rounded up and taken to the nearest military enlistment office, part of a harsh new phase in the Russian drive.
In cities and towns across Russia, men of fighting age are going into hiding to avoid the officials who are seizing them and sending them to fight in Ukraine.
Police and military press-gangs in recent days have snatched men off the streets and outside Metro stations. They’ve lurked in apartment building lobbies to hand out military summonses. They’ve raided office blocks.
Read the full story here.
Police and military officers swooped down on a Moscow business center this week unannounced. They were looking for men to fight in Ukraine — and they seized nearly every one they saw. Some musicians, rehearsing. A courier there to deliver a parcel. A man from a Moscow service agency, very drunk, in his mid-50s, with a walking disability.
“I have no idea why they took him,” said Alexei, who, like dozens of others in the office complex, was rounded up and taken to the nearest military enlistment office, part of a harsh new phase in the Russian drive.
In cities and towns across Russia, men of fighting age are going into hiding to avoid the officials who are seizing them and sending them to fight in Ukraine.
Police and military press-gangs in recent days have snatched men off the streets and outside Metro stations. They’ve lurked in apartment building lobbies to hand out military summonses. They’ve raided office blocks.
Read the full story here.
Iran plans to send missiles, drones to Russia for Ukraine war, officials say
Iran is strengthening its commitment to supply arms for Russia’s assault on Ukraine, according to U.S. and allied security officials, secretly agreeing to send not only attack drones but also what some officials described as the first Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles intended for use against Ukrainian cities and troop positions.
The increased flow of weapons from Tehran could help offset what Biden administration officials say have been huge losses in Russian military equipment since Moscow invaded in February, and a rapidly dwindling supply of precision-guided munitions of the kind used in last week’s strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities.
Independent news outlets in recent days published photos of the remains of what appear to be Iranian-made drones used in strikes against Ukrainian targets, calling into question Iran’s repeated denials that it has supplied such weapons to its ally Russia.
Read the full story here.
Iran is strengthening its commitment to supply arms for Russia’s assault on Ukraine, according to U.S. and allied security officials, secretly agreeing to send not only attack drones but also what some officials described as the first Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles intended for use against Ukrainian cities and troop positions.
The increased flow of weapons from Tehran could help offset what Biden administration officials say have been huge losses in Russian military equipment since Moscow invaded in February, and a rapidly dwindling supply of precision-guided munitions of the kind used in last week’s strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities.
Independent news outlets in recent days published photos of the remains of what appear to be Iranian-made drones used in strikes against Ukrainian targets, calling into question Iran’s repeated denials that it has supplied such weapons to its ally Russia.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- Kyiv’s mayor reported explosions Monday morning in the central part of the capital. Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office of Ukraine, said kamikaze drones were attacking the city and repeated his appeals for air defense systems.
- On Sunday, President Zelensky urged Ukrainians to conserve electricity after blackouts were reported in some regions that Russia has shelled. Kremlin-backed forces control Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s occupied east.
- The E.U. Foreign Affairs Council is scheduled to meet Monday and discuss “Russian aggression against Ukraine.” The European Union should lead a tribunal to investigate alleged Russian war crimes, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said in a statement.
More live updates here.
- Kyiv’s mayor reported explosions Monday morning in the central part of the capital. Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office of Ukraine, said kamikaze drones were attacking the city and repeated his appeals for air defense systems.
- On Sunday, President Zelensky urged Ukrainians to conserve electricity after blackouts were reported in some regions that Russia has shelled. Kremlin-backed forces control Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s occupied east.
- The E.U. Foreign Affairs Council is scheduled to meet Monday and discuss “Russian aggression against Ukraine.” The European Union should lead a tribunal to investigate alleged Russian war crimes, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said in a statement.
More live updates here.
Russia strikes Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with kamikaze drones
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian kamikaze drones struck central Kyiv on Monday morning, appearing to target a downtown power station — continuing a trend of striking Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
After Kyiv went months without any strikes in the area, this is the second week in a row that the capital has been rocked with explosions. Last Monday, missiles landed near a downtown park, at a children’s playground and at an office building near a thermal station.
Exactly a week later, the first explosions started at 6:45 a.m. People could hear the loud buzzing sound of the Iranian-made Shahed drones — what Ukrainians have coined a “flying moped” — that Russia has been using. The second wave came about 90 minutes later.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the central Shevchenkivskyi district — the same location of last week’s major barrage of attacks — was struck, sharing a photo of a fragment of a drone on Telegram.
Read the full story here.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian kamikaze drones struck central Kyiv on Monday morning, appearing to target a downtown power station — continuing a trend of striking Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
After Kyiv went months without any strikes in the area, this is the second week in a row that the capital has been rocked with explosions. Last Monday, missiles landed near a downtown park, at a children’s playground and at an office building near a thermal station.
Exactly a week later, the first explosions started at 6:45 a.m. People could hear the loud buzzing sound of the Iranian-made Shahed drones — what Ukrainians have coined a “flying moped” — that Russia has been using. The second wave came about 90 minutes later.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the central Shevchenkivskyi district — the same location of last week’s major barrage of attacks — was struck, sharing a photo of a fragment of a drone on Telegram.
Read the full story here.
What are kamikaze drones? Here’s how Russia and Ukraine are using them.
Russia struck deep into Ukraine by hitting the capital, Kyiv, with kamikaze drones — small airborne devices that can hit a target at a distance and are nimble enough to avoid many air defenses.
Here’s what we know about the deadly aircraft and their role in the war.
Russia struck deep into Ukraine by hitting the capital, Kyiv, with kamikaze drones — small airborne devices that can hit a target at a distance and are nimble enough to avoid many air defenses.
Here’s what we know about the deadly aircraft and their role in the war.
Russia’s escalation won’t turn tide of the war, experts say
LONDON — Russia’s efforts to counter Ukrainian advances by pounding Kyiv and other cities with missiles and mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists represent a significant escalation in the seven-month-old war but are unlikely to shift the dynamics of a conflict now clearly tilting in favor of Ukraine, Western intelligence assessments and military experts say.
The missile strikes alone have little strategic value, although they are inflicting widespread human misery and have disrupted lives in cities that have been relatively untouched by the fighting, the assessments say.
Since the onslaught began on Monday, more than three dozen people have been killed and scores more wounded. Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure appears to be the main target, meaning that some residential areas have been plunged into darkness, leaving civilians confronting the possibility of facing winter without power.
Read the full story here.
LONDON — Russia’s efforts to counter Ukrainian advances by pounding Kyiv and other cities with missiles and mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists represent a significant escalation in the seven-month-old war but are unlikely to shift the dynamics of a conflict now clearly tilting in favor of Ukraine, Western intelligence assessments and military experts say.
The missile strikes alone have little strategic value, although they are inflicting widespread human misery and have disrupted lives in cities that have been relatively untouched by the fighting, the assessments say.
Since the onslaught began on Monday, more than three dozen people have been killed and scores more wounded. Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure appears to be the main target, meaning that some residential areas have been plunged into darkness, leaving civilians confronting the possibility of facing winter without power.
Read the full story here.
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Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a Monday morning attack on the Ukrainian capital with kamikaze drones, saying Russia “terrorizes the civilian population” after a residential building was hit. At least four deaths and multiple injuries have been reported.
- Strikes in central and northern Ukraine damaged the country’s energy grid, the state operator announced on Telegram, urging citizens to consume minimal amounts of electricity to avoid emergency shutdowns.
- The mayor of Moscow said he was ending the city’s military mobilization drive after a backlash, meaning that searches for men evading the draft would halt.
- The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council met Monday to discuss “Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
- The E.U. on Monday approved a plan to train thousands of Ukrainian troops in Europe.
More live updates here.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a Monday morning attack on the Ukrainian capital with kamikaze drones, saying Russia “terrorizes the civilian population” after a residential building was hit. At least four deaths and multiple injuries have been reported.
- Strikes in central and northern Ukraine damaged the country’s energy grid, the state operator announced on Telegram, urging citizens to consume minimal amounts of electricity to avoid emergency shutdowns.
- The mayor of Moscow said he was ending the city’s military mobilization drive after a backlash, meaning that searches for men evading the draft would halt.
- The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council met Monday to discuss “Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
- The E.U. on Monday approved a plan to train thousands of Ukrainian troops in Europe.
More live updates here.
Russian fighter jet crashes into apartment complex, killing at least 4
A Russian SU-34 aircraft crashed into a nine-story residential building near the southern Russian city of Krasnodar on Monday, sending up a fireball that engulfed a building and left at least four dead, according to Russian officials.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the fighter-bomber crashed after its engine burst into flames during a training flight from a military airfield. The plane crashed into the complex’s courtyard and set the building ablaze, Russian state-run media agency Tass.
In a photo shared on the Kooperativ Telegram Channel and distributed by the Associated Press, and verified by The Washington Post, a parachutist, presumed to be a member of the two-person crew, can be seen soaring over the site of the impact. Videos shared widely on social media and verified by The Post show plumes of smoke rising from the billowing flames.
Read the full story here.
A Russian SU-34 aircraft crashed into a nine-story residential building near the southern Russian city of Krasnodar on Monday, sending up a fireball that engulfed a building and left at least four dead, according to Russian officials.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the fighter-bomber crashed after its engine burst into flames during a training flight from a military airfield. The plane crashed into the complex’s courtyard and set the building ablaze, Russian state-run media agency Tass.
In a photo shared on the Kooperativ Telegram Channel and distributed by the Associated Press, and verified by The Washington Post, a parachutist, presumed to be a member of the two-person crew, can be seen soaring over the site of the impact. Videos shared widely on social media and verified by The Post show plumes of smoke rising from the billowing flames.
Read the full story here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine.
- About 70 percent of Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting until their country wins the war against Russia, according to a Gallup poll conducted in September amid strong Ukrainian counteroffensives retaking swaths of land in the country’s south and east.
- The death toll from a Russian fighter jet crash Monday near the Russian city of Krasnodar rose to 13 after more bodies were found in the rubble, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday.
- Monday’s kamikaze drone strikes in Kyiv killed at least four, including a pregnant woman, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. More were hospitalized, he said. The central Shevchenkivskyi district — a main target of last week’s barrage — was struck at least four times, he said.
- Protesters gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv following Monday’s attacks. Tehran is “complicit” in the recent deaths and injuries attributed to its drones, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
More live updates here.
- About 70 percent of Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting until their country wins the war against Russia, according to a Gallup poll conducted in September amid strong Ukrainian counteroffensives retaking swaths of land in the country’s south and east.
- The death toll from a Russian fighter jet crash Monday near the Russian city of Krasnodar rose to 13 after more bodies were found in the rubble, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday.
- Monday’s kamikaze drone strikes in Kyiv killed at least four, including a pregnant woman, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. More were hospitalized, he said. The central Shevchenkivskyi district — a main target of last week’s barrage — was struck at least four times, he said.
- Protesters gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv following Monday’s attacks. Tehran is “complicit” in the recent deaths and injuries attributed to its drones, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
More live updates here.
Searching for bodies with the Ukrainian captain collecting Russian corpses
TSYRKUNY, Ukraine — When there’s a Russian corpse that needs collecting, Capt. Anton gets the call. Sometimes, he’ll receive a text with coordinates of where the body is located. Other times, people offer to lead him to the site.
After single-handedly bagging more than 250 dead enemy soldiers, Anton has created something of a reputation in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Rather than spending time and energy searching for corpses, he can now work off referrals.
On one recent weekend, he followed a car of soldiers down a dirt road in Tsyrkuny, a village outside Kharkiv. At the edge of a field was a decayed body still in its military uniform. Anton hunched over it, snapping on gloves and sliding his hands into all of the dead soldier’s pockets, looking for the man’s documents. He carefully ran his fingers up and down the body before abruptly stopping at the boot.
“Everyone back away,” Anton warned.
Read the full story here.
TSYRKUNY, Ukraine — When there’s a Russian corpse that needs collecting, Capt. Anton gets the call. Sometimes, he’ll receive a text with coordinates of where the body is located. Other times, people offer to lead him to the site.
After single-handedly bagging more than 250 dead enemy soldiers, Anton has created something of a reputation in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Rather than spending time and energy searching for corpses, he can now work off referrals.
On one recent weekend, he followed a car of soldiers down a dirt road in Tsyrkuny, a village outside Kharkiv. At the edge of a field was a decayed body still in its military uniform. Anton hunched over it, snapping on gloves and sliding his hands into all of the dead soldier’s pockets, looking for the man’s documents. He carefully ran his fingers up and down the body before abruptly stopping at the boot.
“Everyone back away,” Anton warned.
Read the full story here.
Most Ukrainians want to keep fighting until Russia is driven out, poll finds
Seventy percent of Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting until their country wins the war against Russia, according to a Gallup poll conducted in early September, amid counteroffensives that retook swaths of land in the country’s south and east.
Nearly all who supported continuing the fight defined victory as retaking all territories seized by Russia since 2014, including Crimea, Gallup said.
The survey, published Tuesday, was conducted by telephone last month and precedes last week’s barrages against Kyiv and energy facilities across Ukraine, as well as deadly drone strikes this week in the capital.
Ukrainian officials are greeting the news as a sign that the country has the appetite — and stamina — to continue the fight into the colder winter months.
Read the full story here.
Seventy percent of Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting until their country wins the war against Russia, according to a Gallup poll conducted in early September, amid counteroffensives that retook swaths of land in the country’s south and east.
Nearly all who supported continuing the fight defined victory as retaking all territories seized by Russia since 2014, including Crimea, Gallup said.
The survey, published Tuesday, was conducted by telephone last month and precedes last week’s barrages against Kyiv and energy facilities across Ukraine, as well as deadly drone strikes this week in the capital.
Ukrainian officials are greeting the news as a sign that the country has the appetite — and stamina — to continue the fight into the colder winter months.
Read the full story here.
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Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- After a week of deadly strikes against civilians, Kyiv has accused Russia’s military of continuing attacks on its latest target: Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
- The Gallup poll shows strong support for fighting until victory in the capital, Kyiv, (83 percent) and western Ukraine (82 percent).
- The death toll from a Russian fighter-bomber crash in Russia rose to 13, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported Tuesday morning.
- A 55-year-old man died after Russian forces shelled a residential building in Mykolaiv, the city’s mayor said Tuesday morning.
- Monday’s kamikaze drone strikes in Kyiv killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
- The “heightened tempo” of Russia’s attacks since last week is probably intended to cause widespread damage to Ukraine’s energy network, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense.
More live updates here.
- After a week of deadly strikes against civilians, Kyiv has accused Russia’s military of continuing attacks on its latest target: Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
- The Gallup poll shows strong support for fighting until victory in the capital, Kyiv, (83 percent) and western Ukraine (82 percent).
- The death toll from a Russian fighter-bomber crash in Russia rose to 13, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported Tuesday morning.
- A 55-year-old man died after Russian forces shelled a residential building in Mykolaiv, the city’s mayor said Tuesday morning.
- Monday’s kamikaze drone strikes in Kyiv killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
- The “heightened tempo” of Russia’s attacks since last week is probably intended to cause widespread damage to Ukraine’s energy network, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Russia has renewed attacks against Ukraine’s already-battered energy system, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech late Tuesday
- Zelensky earlier in the day said that 30 percent of the country’s power stations had been destroyed by Russian attacks since Oct. 10, causing “massive blackouts.”
- The United States, Britain and France will raise the issue of Iran transferring weapons to Russia during a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, according to diplomats familiar with the situation.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister proposed severing diplomatic ties with Tehran over Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones.
- The GOP will likely oppose additional aid to Ukraine if it wins the House majority next month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) implied in an interview with Punchbowl News.
More live updates here.
- Russia has renewed attacks against Ukraine’s already-battered energy system, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech late Tuesday
- Zelensky earlier in the day said that 30 percent of the country’s power stations had been destroyed by Russian attacks since Oct. 10, causing “massive blackouts.”
- The United States, Britain and France will raise the issue of Iran transferring weapons to Russia during a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, according to diplomats familiar with the situation.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister proposed severing diplomatic ties with Tehran over Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones.
- The GOP will likely oppose additional aid to Ukraine if it wins the House majority next month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) implied in an interview with Punchbowl News.
More live updates here.
At war, Russia aims to claim Ukraine’s land — and its carbon emissions
Countries usually try to lower their carbon emissions, not increase them. But this year, Ukraine and Russia are locked in a battle over who gets to claim the greenhouse gases of Crimea and other Ukrainian territory the Kremlin has occupied by force.
It is the latest method by which Russia is trying to establish dominion over a nation its leaders are bombarding, as nations prepare to gather in Egypt next month for a fresh round of U.N. climate negotiations. Ukrainian policymakers, meanwhile, have been forced to expend effort on defending their territory as their own, including in U.N. emissions tallies.
“It’s not about the climate arguments — it’s about our territory. Russia is trying to use all venues to legitimize the illegal annexation,” said Alex Riabchyn, a former Ukraine deputy energy minister who has been part of the Ukrainian delegations to the U.N. climate conferences since 2015.
Read the full story here.
Countries usually try to lower their carbon emissions, not increase them. But this year, Ukraine and Russia are locked in a battle over who gets to claim the greenhouse gases of Crimea and other Ukrainian territory the Kremlin has occupied by force.
It is the latest method by which Russia is trying to establish dominion over a nation its leaders are bombarding, as nations prepare to gather in Egypt next month for a fresh round of U.N. climate negotiations. Ukrainian policymakers, meanwhile, have been forced to expend effort on defending their territory as their own, including in U.N. emissions tallies.
“It’s not about the climate arguments — it’s about our territory. Russia is trying to use all venues to legitimize the illegal annexation,” said Alex Riabchyn, a former Ukraine deputy energy minister who has been part of the Ukrainian delegations to the U.N. climate conferences since 2015.
Read the full story here.
Putin decrees ‘martial law’ in illegally annexed territories of Ukraine
RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed martial law Wednesday in Ukrainian territories that Moscow illegally claimed to annex last month, signaling an intensifying effort to achieve its war objectives. The decree opens another dark and uncertain chapter for thousands of Ukrainians living under Russian military occupation.
Martial law, which takes effect at midnight, imposes strict military controls over the occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and bestows broad powers of arrest and detention on Russia’s military and proxy authorities.
The martial law decree, issued as Russia loses ground in southern Ukraine, is based on the premise that Russian territory is under attack — although the four regions, like Crimea in 2014, were illegally annexed in a move overwhelmingly condemned in a United Nations vote last week.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed martial law Wednesday in Ukrainian territories that Moscow illegally claimed to annex last month, signaling an intensifying effort to achieve its war objectives. The decree opens another dark and uncertain chapter for thousands of Ukrainians living under Russian military occupation.
Martial law, which takes effect at midnight, imposes strict military controls over the occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and bestows broad powers of arrest and detention on Russia’s military and proxy authorities.
The martial law decree, issued as Russia loses ground in southern Ukraine, is based on the premise that Russian territory is under attack — although the four regions, like Crimea in 2014, were illegally annexed in a move overwhelmingly condemned in a United Nations vote last week.
Read the full story here.