Street fighting and fires: The scene as fighting pummels Sievierodonetsk.
From the high ground across the river from the contested city of Sievierodonetsk, the precariousness of the Ukrainian position is clear.
The city is burning. As smoke rises, the boom of artillery thunders unceasingly. The clatter of small-arms fire from urban street battles echoes in the distance. Ukrainian soldiers still in control of Lysychansk, the twin city of Sievierodonetsk, scramble from bunkers to basements, seeking cover as mortars, artillery and rockets pound their position.
This is what a war of attrition looks like — both sides inflicting as much pain as they can while trying to hold their resolve. And in recent days Ukrainian officials have said that while there may be a need to withdraw from certain positions, the battle over the twin cities could prove pivotal in the war for the eastern region known as Donbas.
“In many ways, the fate of our Donbas is being decided there,” President Zelensky said. Read more
@nytimes
From the high ground across the river from the contested city of Sievierodonetsk, the precariousness of the Ukrainian position is clear.
The city is burning. As smoke rises, the boom of artillery thunders unceasingly. The clatter of small-arms fire from urban street battles echoes in the distance. Ukrainian soldiers still in control of Lysychansk, the twin city of Sievierodonetsk, scramble from bunkers to basements, seeking cover as mortars, artillery and rockets pound their position.
This is what a war of attrition looks like — both sides inflicting as much pain as they can while trying to hold their resolve. And in recent days Ukrainian officials have said that while there may be a need to withdraw from certain positions, the battle over the twin cities could prove pivotal in the war for the eastern region known as Donbas.
“In many ways, the fate of our Donbas is being decided there,” President Zelensky said. Read more
@nytimes
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Russia Opens 1,100 Cases Against Ukrainian P.O.W.s, Raising Fears of Show Trials
Russian investigators on Thursday said they had opened more than 1,100 cases into “crimes against peace” committed by the Ukrainian government, paving the way for what could turn into a mass show trial of hundreds of Ukrainian service members.
From the start, Russia has justified its invasion of Ukraine with a false claim that the government in Kyiv is controlled by far-right, pro-Nazi groups that have perpetrated “humiliation and genocide” against the Ukrainian people.
Announcing the invasion in February, President Vladimir Putin claimed the purpose of the offensive was to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians.” Read more
@nytimes
Russian investigators on Thursday said they had opened more than 1,100 cases into “crimes against peace” committed by the Ukrainian government, paving the way for what could turn into a mass show trial of hundreds of Ukrainian service members.
From the start, Russia has justified its invasion of Ukraine with a false claim that the government in Kyiv is controlled by far-right, pro-Nazi groups that have perpetrated “humiliation and genocide” against the Ukrainian people.
Announcing the invasion in February, President Vladimir Putin claimed the purpose of the offensive was to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians.” Read more
@nytimes
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Putin the Great? Russia’s President Likens Himself to Famous Czar.
Among President Putin’s motives for invading Ukraine, his view of himself as being on a historic mission to rebuild the Russian Empire has always loomed large. Mr. Putin went further, comparing himself directly to Peter the Great.
It was a new, if carefully staged, glimpse into Mr. Putin’s sense of his own grandeur.
Mr. Putin on Thursday marked the 350th anniversary of Peter’s birth by visiting a new multimedia exhibit about the czar in Moscow. He then held a town-hall-style meeting with young Russian entrepreneurs and opened it by reflecting on Peter’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war with Sweden.
Mr. Putin described the land Peter conquered as rightfully Russian.
“He was returning it and strengthening it,” Mr. Putin said, leaning back in his armchair. “Well, apparently, it has also fallen to us to return and to strengthen.” Read more
@nytimes
Among President Putin’s motives for invading Ukraine, his view of himself as being on a historic mission to rebuild the Russian Empire has always loomed large. Mr. Putin went further, comparing himself directly to Peter the Great.
It was a new, if carefully staged, glimpse into Mr. Putin’s sense of his own grandeur.
Mr. Putin on Thursday marked the 350th anniversary of Peter’s birth by visiting a new multimedia exhibit about the czar in Moscow. He then held a town-hall-style meeting with young Russian entrepreneurs and opened it by reflecting on Peter’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war with Sweden.
Mr. Putin described the land Peter conquered as rightfully Russian.
“He was returning it and strengthening it,” Mr. Putin said, leaning back in his armchair. “Well, apparently, it has also fallen to us to return and to strengthen.” Read more
@nytimes
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3 Foreign Fighters in Ukraine’s Army Sentenced to Death in Russian-Held Territory
Two Britons and a Moroccan who had fought for the Ukrainian armed forces were sentenced to death Thursday by a court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine after being accused of being mercenaries, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
The death sentences were the latest ominous step in a trial that has alarmed human rights advocates and Western governments, raising questions about the protections afforded to thousands of foreign-born fighters serving in Ukraine, some of whom have been taken prisoner on the battlefield.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, wrote on Twitter that the court verdict was a “sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.” One British member of Parliament called the proceedings a “Soviet-era-style show trial.” Read more
@nytimes
Two Britons and a Moroccan who had fought for the Ukrainian armed forces were sentenced to death Thursday by a court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine after being accused of being mercenaries, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
The death sentences were the latest ominous step in a trial that has alarmed human rights advocates and Western governments, raising questions about the protections afforded to thousands of foreign-born fighters serving in Ukraine, some of whom have been taken prisoner on the battlefield.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, wrote on Twitter that the court verdict was a “sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.” One British member of Parliament called the proceedings a “Soviet-era-style show trial.” Read more
@nytimes
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‘Dead Cities’ Become the Flashpoint for the Fierce War in the East
Just to move about town, Ukrainian soldiers accelerate to breakneck speeds in their SUVs, screech around corners, zip into courtyards, then pile out and run for cover.
“They see us and they open fire,” Colonel Yuriy Vashchuk said of the need to move quickly or become a vulnerable target for Russian artillery. “There’s no place in this town that is safe.”
He was careering around on the high ground of Lysychansk, across the river from Sievierodonetsk, the site of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine’s East. To be prepared, he placed a hand grenade in the cup holder between the front seats of his vehicle. A box of pistol ammunition slid back and forth on the dashboard as he drove.
Signs of Ukraine’s tenuous military positions are everywhere: On the hills overlooking Sievierodonetsk, smoke from a dozen or so fires testify to weeks of seesaw urban combat. Read more
@nytimes
Just to move about town, Ukrainian soldiers accelerate to breakneck speeds in their SUVs, screech around corners, zip into courtyards, then pile out and run for cover.
“They see us and they open fire,” Colonel Yuriy Vashchuk said of the need to move quickly or become a vulnerable target for Russian artillery. “There’s no place in this town that is safe.”
He was careering around on the high ground of Lysychansk, across the river from Sievierodonetsk, the site of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine’s East. To be prepared, he placed a hand grenade in the cup holder between the front seats of his vehicle. A box of pistol ammunition slid back and forth on the dashboard as he drove.
Signs of Ukraine’s tenuous military positions are everywhere: On the hills overlooking Sievierodonetsk, smoke from a dozen or so fires testify to weeks of seesaw urban combat. Read more
@nytimes
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Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military and its government renewed their pleas for more Western arms as fierce fighting continued in the city of Sievierodonetsk, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has said is pivotal to the fight for the eastern region of Donbas.
While the U.S. and other countries have sent Ukraine many weapons and promised more, officials say they are not coming fast enough to hold off Russian forces.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelensky, told the BBC that between 100 and 200 Ukrainian military personnel were now dying each day. Mr. Zelensky said last week that the army was losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day.
In other developments:
- There are now at least 4.8 million refugees from Ukraine across Europe, the U.N.’s refugee agency reported on Thursday. The war has caused “one of the largest human displacement crises in the world today,” the agency said. Read more
@nytimes
Ukraine’s military and its government renewed their pleas for more Western arms as fierce fighting continued in the city of Sievierodonetsk, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has said is pivotal to the fight for the eastern region of Donbas.
While the U.S. and other countries have sent Ukraine many weapons and promised more, officials say they are not coming fast enough to hold off Russian forces.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelensky, told the BBC that between 100 and 200 Ukrainian military personnel were now dying each day. Mr. Zelensky said last week that the army was losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day.
In other developments:
- There are now at least 4.8 million refugees from Ukraine across Europe, the U.N.’s refugee agency reported on Thursday. The war has caused “one of the largest human displacement crises in the world today,” the agency said. Read more
@nytimes
Nytimes
Ukraine reiterates pleas for more weapons from the West. (Gift Article)
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‘We Are Still in Shock’: A Month Trapped in a Basement by Russian Forces
More than two months after the residents of Yahidne kicked down the bolted basement door where the Russian army had held them hostage, the village is being rebuilt but the memories remain fresh — and deeply painful.
On March 3, eight days after the full-scale invasion began, Russian forces swept into Yahidne, a village on the main road north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. For nearly a month, until March 31, when Ukrainian troops liberated the town, more than 300 people, 77 of them children, were imprisoned in several rooms in the dank basement of the village school — a human shield for the Russian troops based there. Ten of the captives died. Among those held inside were a baby and a 93-year-old, Ukrainian prosecutors said.
“This is our concentration camp,” said Oleh Turash, 54, one of those imprisoned, who helped bury the people who perished there. Read more
@nytimes
More than two months after the residents of Yahidne kicked down the bolted basement door where the Russian army had held them hostage, the village is being rebuilt but the memories remain fresh — and deeply painful.
On March 3, eight days after the full-scale invasion began, Russian forces swept into Yahidne, a village on the main road north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. For nearly a month, until March 31, when Ukrainian troops liberated the town, more than 300 people, 77 of them children, were imprisoned in several rooms in the dank basement of the village school — a human shield for the Russian troops based there. Ten of the captives died. Among those held inside were a baby and a 93-year-old, Ukrainian prosecutors said.
“This is our concentration camp,” said Oleh Turash, 54, one of those imprisoned, who helped bury the people who perished there. Read more
@nytimes
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Russia defends death sentences for 3 foreign fighters in Ukraine as outrage grows in the West.
As Western governments condemned the death sentences given to two Britons and a Moroccan by a court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine, Moscow defended the decision, saying the men were mercenaries who did not have the right to be treated as prisoners of war.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, speaking during a news conference in Yerevan, Armenia, said the “crimes” the men were convicted of had been committed in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, adding that he would not “hinder the operation of the judiciary and law enforcement authorities” in the territory.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, asserted on Friday that the Britons sentenced to death were not defined as combatants under international law and, as such, were not entitled to prisoner of war status — a contention vehemently rejected by experts in international law and the British government. Read more
@nytimes
As Western governments condemned the death sentences given to two Britons and a Moroccan by a court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine, Moscow defended the decision, saying the men were mercenaries who did not have the right to be treated as prisoners of war.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, speaking during a news conference in Yerevan, Armenia, said the “crimes” the men were convicted of had been committed in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, adding that he would not “hinder the operation of the judiciary and law enforcement authorities” in the territory.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, asserted on Friday that the Britons sentenced to death were not defined as combatants under international law and, as such, were not entitled to prisoner of war status — a contention vehemently rejected by experts in international law and the British government. Read more
@nytimes
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Shortage of Artillery Ammo Saps Ukrainian Frontline Morale
Nearly four months after Russia invaded, the Ukrainian military is running low on ammunition for its Soviet-era artillery and has not received enough supplies from its allies to keep the Russians at bay, Ukrainian officials and artillery officers in the field say.
The shortage has put Ukrainian troops at a growing disadvantage in the artillery-driven war of attrition in the country’s east, with Russia’s batteries now firing several times as many rounds as Ukraine’s. While the West is sending in weapons, they are not arriving fast enough or in sufficient numbers to make up for Ukraine’s dwindling arsenal.
The Western weapons, heavy, long-range artillery pieces and multiple-launch rocket systems, are more accurate and highly mobile, but it takes time to deploy them and train soldiers to use them. In the meantime, Ukraine is running out of ammunition for the older weapons. Read more
@nytimes
Nearly four months after Russia invaded, the Ukrainian military is running low on ammunition for its Soviet-era artillery and has not received enough supplies from its allies to keep the Russians at bay, Ukrainian officials and artillery officers in the field say.
The shortage has put Ukrainian troops at a growing disadvantage in the artillery-driven war of attrition in the country’s east, with Russia’s batteries now firing several times as many rounds as Ukraine’s. While the West is sending in weapons, they are not arriving fast enough or in sufficient numbers to make up for Ukraine’s dwindling arsenal.
The Western weapons, heavy, long-range artillery pieces and multiple-launch rocket systems, are more accurate and highly mobile, but it takes time to deploy them and train soldiers to use them. In the meantime, Ukraine is running out of ammunition for the older weapons. Read more
@nytimes
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McDonald’s Is Back, Moscow Style, as Russian Economy Stumbles On
Yevgeny Shumilkin is going back to work on Sunday. To prepare, he pulled the familiar “M” off what had been his McDonald’s shirt and covered the “M” on his McDonald’s jacket with a Russian flag patch.
“It will be the same buns,” promised Mr. Shumilkin, who maintains the equipment at a restaurant in Moscow. “Just under a different name.”
McDonald’s restaurants are reopening in Russia this weekend, but without the Golden Arches. After the American fast-food giant pulled out this spring to protest President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a Siberian oil mogul bought its 840 Russian stores. Because almost all the ingredients came from inside the country, he said, the restaurants could keep on serving much of the same food.
The gambit might just work — underscoring the Russian economy’s surprising resilience in the face of the one of the most intense barrages of sanctions ever meted out by the West. Read more
@nytimes
Yevgeny Shumilkin is going back to work on Sunday. To prepare, he pulled the familiar “M” off what had been his McDonald’s shirt and covered the “M” on his McDonald’s jacket with a Russian flag patch.
“It will be the same buns,” promised Mr. Shumilkin, who maintains the equipment at a restaurant in Moscow. “Just under a different name.”
McDonald’s restaurants are reopening in Russia this weekend, but without the Golden Arches. After the American fast-food giant pulled out this spring to protest President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a Siberian oil mogul bought its 840 Russian stores. Because almost all the ingredients came from inside the country, he said, the restaurants could keep on serving much of the same food.
The gambit might just work — underscoring the Russian economy’s surprising resilience in the face of the one of the most intense barrages of sanctions ever meted out by the West. Read more
@nytimes
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Russia is resorting to less-precise weapons that cause major damage, intelligence agencies say.
While Ukraine is badly outgunned and has been making desperate pleas for the West to speed up the delivery of heavy weapons, Russia also appears to be running low on precision missiles — but unlike the Ukrainians, the Russians can turn to other powerful weapons systems.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that a shortage of precision weapons had led the Russians to resort to inefficient weapons systems that are less precise but can still cause major damage, including significant civilian casualties. Since April, Russian bombers appear to have hit land-based targets with dozens of 1960s-era six-ton missiles designed to destroy aircraft carriers, the ministry said.
The assessment came amid reports by Ukrainian military intelligence in recent days that some Russian units in the Donbas region are composed of “forcibly mobilized personnel” and are refusing to participate in combat there. Read more
@nytimes
While Ukraine is badly outgunned and has been making desperate pleas for the West to speed up the delivery of heavy weapons, Russia also appears to be running low on precision missiles — but unlike the Ukrainians, the Russians can turn to other powerful weapons systems.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that a shortage of precision weapons had led the Russians to resort to inefficient weapons systems that are less precise but can still cause major damage, including significant civilian casualties. Since April, Russian bombers appear to have hit land-based targets with dozens of 1960s-era six-ton missiles designed to destroy aircraft carriers, the ministry said.
The assessment came amid reports by Ukrainian military intelligence in recent days that some Russian units in the Donbas region are composed of “forcibly mobilized personnel” and are refusing to participate in combat there. Read more
@nytimes
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Moscow issues passports in parts of occupied Ukraine, pressing on with ‘Russification.’
The Kremlin began formally issuing Russian passports to Ukrainians living under occupation on Saturday, even as Moscow’s forces confront a growing insurgency in areas they control in southern Ukraine and struggle to provide essential services like medical care.
The move to hand out Russian identification papers is just one facet of Russia’s attempts to solidify Moscow’s control in the south, including making the ruble the legal currency and cutting off Ukrainian cellphone networks. The Ukrainian authorities have warned about such a move for weeks, with Ukraine’s foreign ministry saying it would be “a flagrant violation” of the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ukraine’s military has also claimed to have found evidence of earlier plans by Moscow to issue Russian passports around Kyiv, the capital. Read more
@nytimes
The Kremlin began formally issuing Russian passports to Ukrainians living under occupation on Saturday, even as Moscow’s forces confront a growing insurgency in areas they control in southern Ukraine and struggle to provide essential services like medical care.
The move to hand out Russian identification papers is just one facet of Russia’s attempts to solidify Moscow’s control in the south, including making the ruble the legal currency and cutting off Ukrainian cellphone networks. The Ukrainian authorities have warned about such a move for weeks, with Ukraine’s foreign ministry saying it would be “a flagrant violation” of the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ukraine’s military has also claimed to have found evidence of earlier plans by Moscow to issue Russian passports around Kyiv, the capital. Read more
@nytimes
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As the Russians close in, civilians in Lysychansk must decide whether to stay or go.
Between the loud thuds of artillery shells landing a few blocks away, dozens of people emerged from a communal shelter in this eastern Ukrainian city Saturday to receive packets of food from a red armored van crewed by a group of volunteers.
It was the first aid they had seen in months.
Lysychansk, an industrial city with a prewar population of around 100,000, is quickly becoming the focal point of Russia’s slow and methodical advance in Ukraine’s east. Russian forces have seized most of the neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of vicious street fighting and artillery duels. Lysychansk lies just across the Seversky Donets River and will likely be the next city the Russian army will try to capture.
Though much of Lysychansk has been evacuated, many residents remain. Read more
@nytimes
Between the loud thuds of artillery shells landing a few blocks away, dozens of people emerged from a communal shelter in this eastern Ukrainian city Saturday to receive packets of food from a red armored van crewed by a group of volunteers.
It was the first aid they had seen in months.
Lysychansk, an industrial city with a prewar population of around 100,000, is quickly becoming the focal point of Russia’s slow and methodical advance in Ukraine’s east. Russian forces have seized most of the neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of vicious street fighting and artillery duels. Lysychansk lies just across the Seversky Donets River and will likely be the next city the Russian army will try to capture.
Though much of Lysychansk has been evacuated, many residents remain. Read more
@nytimes
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