In race to arm Ukraine, U.S. faces cracks in its manufacturing might
The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, one of a network of facilities involved in producing the U.S. Army’s 155-mm artillery round, is ground zero for the Biden administration’s scramble to accelerate the supply of weapons that Ukraine needs if its military is to prevail in the war with Russia.
The Pentagon’s plan for scaling up production of the shells over the next two years marks a breakthrough in the effort to quench Ukraine’s thirst for weapons. But the conflict has laid bare deep-seated problems that the United States must surmount to effectively manufacture the arms required not just to aid its allies but also for America’s self-defense should conflict erupt with Russia, China or another major power.
Read the full story here.
The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, one of a network of facilities involved in producing the U.S. Army’s 155-mm artillery round, is ground zero for the Biden administration’s scramble to accelerate the supply of weapons that Ukraine needs if its military is to prevail in the war with Russia.
The Pentagon’s plan for scaling up production of the shells over the next two years marks a breakthrough in the effort to quench Ukraine’s thirst for weapons. But the conflict has laid bare deep-seated problems that the United States must surmount to effectively manufacture the arms required not just to aid its allies but also for America’s self-defense should conflict erupt with Russia, China or another major power.
Read the full story here.
To see Russia’s secret antiwar art: Meet at a bus stop. At dark. Phones off.
ST. PETERSBURG — The meeting place to visit the exhibition is an anonymous bus stop opposite a snowy park in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg at nightfall. There are no tickets and no website promoting the show — a secret, underground display of antiwar protest art.
A few people gather. A thin artist nods subtly and tells us to turn off our cellphones to avoid tracking by security agents.
Amid President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on human rights activists, lawyers and journalists, Russian antiwar artists are going underground, reprising the covert exhibitions of Soviet times, meeting in secret and passing on details by word of mouth.
For some, going underground is liberating. For others it is a painful choice, as the regime stifles public dissent and portrays the war as an existential battle for Russia’s survival that only traitors oppose.
Read the full story here.
ST. PETERSBURG — The meeting place to visit the exhibition is an anonymous bus stop opposite a snowy park in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg at nightfall. There are no tickets and no website promoting the show — a secret, underground display of antiwar protest art.
A few people gather. A thin artist nods subtly and tells us to turn off our cellphones to avoid tracking by security agents.
Amid President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on human rights activists, lawyers and journalists, Russian antiwar artists are going underground, reprising the covert exhibitions of Soviet times, meeting in secret and passing on details by word of mouth.
For some, going underground is liberating. For others it is a painful choice, as the regime stifles public dissent and portrays the war as an existential battle for Russia’s survival that only traitors oppose.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukrainian forces are “doing everything possible” to fend off a new Russian push to break through defense lines, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview published by an Italian newspaper that Ukrainian troops were “exceeding” their goals to reduce Russia’s “capable personnel as much as possible” and to bog them down in “wearisome battles.”
- Energy workers were restoring power after Thursday’s missile barrage hit critical infrastructure. Electricity utility Energoatom said on Telegram that electricity had been restored in Kyiv on Saturday.
- Kyiv has ordered the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave a monastery where its headquarters is located. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said on Telegram that the church — which recently declared independence from the pro-war Moscow Patriarch — “violated the terms of the agreement regarding the use of state property.”
More live updates here.
- Ukrainian forces are “doing everything possible” to fend off a new Russian push to break through defense lines, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview published by an Italian newspaper that Ukrainian troops were “exceeding” their goals to reduce Russia’s “capable personnel as much as possible” and to bog them down in “wearisome battles.”
- Energy workers were restoring power after Thursday’s missile barrage hit critical infrastructure. Electricity utility Energoatom said on Telegram that electricity had been restored in Kyiv on Saturday.
- Kyiv has ordered the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave a monastery where its headquarters is located. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said on Telegram that the church — which recently declared independence from the pro-war Moscow Patriarch — “violated the terms of the agreement regarding the use of state property.”
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
—The head of Ukraine’s armed forces renewed Kyiv’s call for better air defenses during a telephone call with the Pentagon’s top general, Mark A. Milley, after Russia fired a deadly barrage of hypersonic missiles.
—On the front lines in Bakhmut, Russian fighters have taken control of most of the eastern part of the besieged city in recent days, British defense officials said, while Ukrainian forces are holding their ground on the west.
—Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is apparently embarking on a new recruitment drive aimed at transforming it into a “hard line ideological elite parallel military organization,” according to analysts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates.
—The head of Ukraine’s armed forces renewed Kyiv’s call for better air defenses during a telephone call with the Pentagon’s top general, Mark A. Milley, after Russia fired a deadly barrage of hypersonic missiles.
—On the front lines in Bakhmut, Russian fighters have taken control of most of the eastern part of the besieged city in recent days, British defense officials said, while Ukrainian forces are holding their ground on the west.
—Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is apparently embarking on a new recruitment drive aimed at transforming it into a “hard line ideological elite parallel military organization,” according to analysts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates.
In the middle of war, Ukraine is building a wind farm
Towering wind turbines don’t immediately stand out as unusual on a continent where such machines are becoming part of the landscape. But these were built on sites peppered with bomb shelters, and under the wail of air raid sirens.
The Ukrainian energy company DTEK on Friday hit a milestone in the war-torn nation’s audacious bid to remake its energy economy and become a clean power hub for Europe. It announced a dozen turbines had been built and brought online under some of the most challenging conditions anywhere in the world, just 60 miles from the front lines of the war with Russia.
The project in the Mykolaiv region is now helping generate electricity for the area’s beleaguered residents and the broader power grid. The plan is for it to ultimately grow to several dozen turbines, creating enough energy to power as many as a half-million homes.
Read the full story here.
Towering wind turbines don’t immediately stand out as unusual on a continent where such machines are becoming part of the landscape. But these were built on sites peppered with bomb shelters, and under the wail of air raid sirens.
The Ukrainian energy company DTEK on Friday hit a milestone in the war-torn nation’s audacious bid to remake its energy economy and become a clean power hub for Europe. It announced a dozen turbines had been built and brought online under some of the most challenging conditions anywhere in the world, just 60 miles from the front lines of the war with Russia.
The project in the Mykolaiv region is now helping generate electricity for the area’s beleaguered residents and the broader power grid. The plan is for it to ultimately grow to several dozen turbines, creating enough energy to power as many as a half-million homes.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Zelensky said his forces are continuing to inflict heavy losses on attacking Russian fighters in Bakhmut, as Kremlin-backed mercenaries concede the fight is growing more difficult as they approach the city center.
- Russia’s military leadership could be letting Wagner Group bear the brunt of casualties in the battle for Bakhmut to weaken Prigozhin’s political influence within Russia, according to analysts.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces killed more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen in the Donetsk region in the past day. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
- Power was restored to affected areas in Ukraine on Sunday after a hypersonic missile attack last week left regions without electricity, Zelensky said.
- Police in Moldova said they infiltrated a group of Russian-backed “diversionists,” upending their plot to cause mass unrest during demonstrations against the country’s new pro-Western government.
More live updates here.
- President Zelensky said his forces are continuing to inflict heavy losses on attacking Russian fighters in Bakhmut, as Kremlin-backed mercenaries concede the fight is growing more difficult as they approach the city center.
- Russia’s military leadership could be letting Wagner Group bear the brunt of casualties in the battle for Bakhmut to weaken Prigozhin’s political influence within Russia, according to analysts.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces killed more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen in the Donetsk region in the past day. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
- Power was restored to affected areas in Ukraine on Sunday after a hypersonic missile attack last week left regions without electricity, Zelensky said.
- Police in Moldova said they infiltrated a group of Russian-backed “diversionists,” upending their plot to cause mass unrest during demonstrations against the country’s new pro-Western government.
More live updates here.
Ukraine war’s environmental toll will devastate lives for decades
KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine — Gregoriy Sidorenko watched in disbelief as the Russian cruise missile slammed into storage tank number four at the oil depot here, sparking a massive fire that would last roughly 16 hours.
More than 1 million gallons of oil from eight incinerated tanks seeped into the soil, raising concerns about potential contamination at a nearby drinking water reservoir in this industrial city south of Kyiv.
Since the war began more than a year ago, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded on the battlefield. But the Russian invasion has created a lower-profile killer as well — one that could haunt Ukrainians for years, if not decades, scientists say. The war has scarred Ukraine’s natural environment — polluting its rivers, contaminating its soil, eviscerating its forests — a circumstance that experts fear could lead to a long-term increase in cancers and other illnesses.
Read the full story here.
KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine — Gregoriy Sidorenko watched in disbelief as the Russian cruise missile slammed into storage tank number four at the oil depot here, sparking a massive fire that would last roughly 16 hours.
More than 1 million gallons of oil from eight incinerated tanks seeped into the soil, raising concerns about potential contamination at a nearby drinking water reservoir in this industrial city south of Kyiv.
Since the war began more than a year ago, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded on the battlefield. But the Russian invasion has created a lower-profile killer as well — one that could haunt Ukrainians for years, if not decades, scientists say. The war has scarred Ukraine’s natural environment — polluting its rivers, contaminating its soil, eviscerating its forests — a circumstance that experts fear could lead to a long-term increase in cancers and other illnesses.
Read the full story here.
Defending Ukraine’s ‘highway of life’ — the last road out of Bakhmut
KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine — Russia has committed hordes of soldiers and mercenaries to capturing Bakhmut. Those fighters have pushed Ukrainian troops to the city’s western edge and, like an alligator’s maw, are closing in from the south and north, aiming to encircle and annihilate them.
The maneuver has cut off virtually all roads — except Highway T0504, a two-lane hardball that connects to Bakhmut’s southwestern edge and is so vital that troops have branded it “the highway of life.”
“It’s the only road left in which we can evacuate the wounded, evacuate the dead,” said Maj. Oleksandr Pantsernyi, the commander of the 24th Separate Assault Battalion, one of the units responsible for defending the corridor. Just as important is the road’s role in sustaining the fight, he said, by enabling the movement of ammunition, water and fresh troops east.
Read the full story here.
KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine — Russia has committed hordes of soldiers and mercenaries to capturing Bakhmut. Those fighters have pushed Ukrainian troops to the city’s western edge and, like an alligator’s maw, are closing in from the south and north, aiming to encircle and annihilate them.
The maneuver has cut off virtually all roads — except Highway T0504, a two-lane hardball that connects to Bakhmut’s southwestern edge and is so vital that troops have branded it “the highway of life.”
“It’s the only road left in which we can evacuate the wounded, evacuate the dead,” said Maj. Oleksandr Pantsernyi, the commander of the 24th Separate Assault Battalion, one of the units responsible for defending the corridor. Just as important is the road’s role in sustaining the fight, he said, by enabling the movement of ammunition, water and fresh troops east.
Read the full story here.