Ukraine gets modest U.S. weapons package, until Congress can agree to more
KYIV — A modest new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine — what is likely be the last one until Congress approves new funding — was met with tepid gratitude in Kyiv on Thursday.
The $250 million package, which includes artillery shells, air defense equipment, antiaircraft and antitank missiles and small arms ammunition for the fight against Russia, will address some battlefield shortfalls but still leaves Ukraine facing an uncertain future and without critical financial support entering the new year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President Biden in a post on X, formerly Twitter, for the weapons that “will cover Ukraine’s most pressing needs.”
“U.S. leadership in the coalition of over 50 countries providing Ukraine with military aid is critical to countering terror and aggression not only in Ukraine but around the world,” he added.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — A modest new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine — what is likely be the last one until Congress approves new funding — was met with tepid gratitude in Kyiv on Thursday.
The $250 million package, which includes artillery shells, air defense equipment, antiaircraft and antitank missiles and small arms ammunition for the fight against Russia, will address some battlefield shortfalls but still leaves Ukraine facing an uncertain future and without critical financial support entering the new year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President Biden in a post on X, formerly Twitter, for the weapons that “will cover Ukraine’s most pressing needs.”
“U.S. leadership in the coalition of over 50 countries providing Ukraine with military aid is critical to countering terror and aggression not only in Ukraine but around the world,” he added.
Read the full story here.
Russia’s military wives emerge as wild card to Putin’s triumphal mood
RIGA, Latvia — The loved ones of the drafted Russian soldiers forced to fight in Ukraine indefinitely have tried everything: They appealed to the Defense Ministry, wrote letters to President Vladimir Putin, met with many officials and even protested publicly. Their questions to Putin’s annual “direct line” call-in show for Russians last week were ignored.
They mounted car sticker campaigns calling for the return of their husbands and sons, and crafted Christmas tree ornaments with the words, “Bring Papa home.” They posted impassioned video messages on social media.
The Kremlin has rebuffed them. Yet they have emerged as the only wild card in Putin’s highly stage-managed election campaign that will allow him to rule until at least 2030.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — The loved ones of the drafted Russian soldiers forced to fight in Ukraine indefinitely have tried everything: They appealed to the Defense Ministry, wrote letters to President Vladimir Putin, met with many officials and even protested publicly. Their questions to Putin’s annual “direct line” call-in show for Russians last week were ignored.
They mounted car sticker campaigns calling for the return of their husbands and sons, and crafted Christmas tree ornaments with the words, “Bring Papa home.” They posted impassioned video messages on social media.
The Kremlin has rebuffed them. Yet they have emerged as the only wild card in Putin’s highly stage-managed election campaign that will allow him to rule until at least 2030.
Read the full story here.
Russia shatters Ukraine holiday season with massive missile barrage
KYIV — Russia fired more than 100 missiles at Ukraine on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, striking multiple residential buildings, a shopping center and other civilian infrastructure in the biggest barrage so far in an otherwise quiet winter.
The scale of the attack confirmed what many in Ukraine have feared for months — that Russia was conserving its missile stocks throughout the fall for massive strikes in the winter. Officials in Kyiv have also warned that stalled U.S. security assistance, which includes ammunition for U.S.-made air-defense systems, could embolden the Russians and place Ukrainian cities in peril.
Britain’s Defense Minister Grant Shapps said his country was sending hundreds of air-defense missiles to Ukraine to ensure it “has what it needs to defend itself from Putin’s barbaric bombardment.”
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Russia fired more than 100 missiles at Ukraine on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, striking multiple residential buildings, a shopping center and other civilian infrastructure in the biggest barrage so far in an otherwise quiet winter.
The scale of the attack confirmed what many in Ukraine have feared for months — that Russia was conserving its missile stocks throughout the fall for massive strikes in the winter. Officials in Kyiv have also warned that stalled U.S. security assistance, which includes ammunition for U.S.-made air-defense systems, could embolden the Russians and place Ukrainian cities in peril.
Britain’s Defense Minister Grant Shapps said his country was sending hundreds of air-defense missiles to Ukraine to ensure it “has what it needs to defend itself from Putin’s barbaric bombardment.”
Read the full story here.
Ahead of New Year holiday, Russia sentences more people to prison
As Russians prepare for their own holiday season, the government’s crackdown on political activists and citizens who have voiced their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, does not appear to be taking a break.
On Friday, a court in Siberia sentenced a former head of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s local headquarters to nine years in a penal colony. And on Thursday, two Russian poets who publicly staged antiwar poetry readings in a central Moscow square, were sentenced to seven years and five-and-a-half years in prison respectively.
The latest convictions and sentences follow the news that well-known dissident Alexei Navalny finally resurfaced at a penal colony above the Arctic Circle, after his whereabouts remained unknown for almost three weeks, sending panic through his supporters and opposition circles.
Read the full story here.
As Russians prepare for their own holiday season, the government’s crackdown on political activists and citizens who have voiced their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, does not appear to be taking a break.
On Friday, a court in Siberia sentenced a former head of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s local headquarters to nine years in a penal colony. And on Thursday, two Russian poets who publicly staged antiwar poetry readings in a central Moscow square, were sentenced to seven years and five-and-a-half years in prison respectively.
The latest convictions and sentences follow the news that well-known dissident Alexei Navalny finally resurfaced at a penal colony above the Arctic Circle, after his whereabouts remained unknown for almost three weeks, sending panic through his supporters and opposition circles.
Read the full story here.
Russia blames Ukraine for deadly strikes in city near border
A combined rocket and missile attack on Belgorod, a city in Russia near the Ukrainian border, has killed at least 14 people and injured more than 100, Russian authorities said Saturday, blaming the assault on Ukraine’s military and vowing to retaliate for the deaths.
“This crime will not go unpunished,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, calling the strikes “indiscriminate.”
The attack, if confirmed, would be one of the deadliest inside Russia since it invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago. It came as Ukraine was still reeling from the massive drone and missile barrage Russia unleashed on civilian targets and infrastructure on Friday.
Read the full story here.
A combined rocket and missile attack on Belgorod, a city in Russia near the Ukrainian border, has killed at least 14 people and injured more than 100, Russian authorities said Saturday, blaming the assault on Ukraine’s military and vowing to retaliate for the deaths.
“This crime will not go unpunished,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, calling the strikes “indiscriminate.”
The attack, if confirmed, would be one of the deadliest inside Russia since it invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago. It came as Ukraine was still reeling from the massive drone and missile barrage Russia unleashed on civilian targets and infrastructure on Friday.
Read the full story here.
Russia is working to subvert French support for Ukraine, documents show
STRASBOURG, France — From the top floor of the house he shares here with a senior Russian diplomat — to whom he rents the apartment below — the man who helped bankroll the French presidential bid of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has been working on plans to propel pro-Moscow politicians to power.
“We have to change all the governments … All the governments in Western Europe will be changed,” Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, a former member of the European Parliament for Le Pen’s party, said in an interview. “We have to control this. Take the leadership of this.”
Read the full story here.
STRASBOURG, France — From the top floor of the house he shares here with a senior Russian diplomat — to whom he rents the apartment below — the man who helped bankroll the French presidential bid of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has been working on plans to propel pro-Moscow politicians to power.
“We have to change all the governments … All the governments in Western Europe will be changed,” Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, a former member of the European Parliament for Le Pen’s party, said in an interview. “We have to control this. Take the leadership of this.”
Read the full story here.
Russia unleashes missile barrage at Ukraine as holiday airstrikes persist
KHARKIV — Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with an overnight assault of drones and missiles on Tuesday, extending a vicious wave of holiday-season strikes on population centers by Moscow and Kyiv that has left dozens of civilians dead and suggests a brutal new stage of the war that is being felt well beyond the stagnating front lines.
In Kyiv, there were loud explosions shortly after 7 a.m. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Telegram that one woman died and 49 people were injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building “as the result of the missile attack” and that electricity and water were cut off in some areas of the capital.
Klitschko said that “civilian infrastructure” in two regions of the capital had been damaged and that fires broke out in numerous locations, including a warehouse in Kyiv’s Podil district.
Read the full story here.
KHARKIV — Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with an overnight assault of drones and missiles on Tuesday, extending a vicious wave of holiday-season strikes on population centers by Moscow and Kyiv that has left dozens of civilians dead and suggests a brutal new stage of the war that is being felt well beyond the stagnating front lines.
In Kyiv, there were loud explosions shortly after 7 a.m. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Telegram that one woman died and 49 people were injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building “as the result of the missile attack” and that electricity and water were cut off in some areas of the capital.
Klitschko said that “civilian infrastructure” in two regions of the capital had been damaged and that fires broke out in numerous locations, including a warehouse in Kyiv’s Podil district.
Read the full story here.
In Kharkiv, ambulance crews await shelling — and a new year of war
At a medic base an hour’s drive from the Russian border, Iryna Peshykova waited for the new year to arrive — and with it, more explosions, more carnage.
The ambulance out back was already running, ready to go as the clock ticked closer to midnight, bringing her country into a third year of war with no end in sight. It was New Year’s Eve and Peshykova, 40, knew that she’d be among the first to bear witness to the fallout.
She’d seen Russia bombard Ukraine — firing more than 150 missiles and drones on Friday in one of the largest attacks since invading in February 2022.
The tit for tat shelling foreshadowed a long winter to come as the counteroffensive ground to a halt and soldiers dug into front lines that barely budged. Like in the trenches, morale at the medic base was low. The group was the first to confront the human damage done by missiles in Kharkiv, hoping victims would survive the race to the hospital.
Read the full story here.
At a medic base an hour’s drive from the Russian border, Iryna Peshykova waited for the new year to arrive — and with it, more explosions, more carnage.
The ambulance out back was already running, ready to go as the clock ticked closer to midnight, bringing her country into a third year of war with no end in sight. It was New Year’s Eve and Peshykova, 40, knew that she’d be among the first to bear witness to the fallout.
She’d seen Russia bombard Ukraine — firing more than 150 missiles and drones on Friday in one of the largest attacks since invading in February 2022.
The tit for tat shelling foreshadowed a long winter to come as the counteroffensive ground to a halt and soldiers dug into front lines that barely budged. Like in the trenches, morale at the medic base was low. The group was the first to confront the human damage done by missiles in Kharkiv, hoping victims would survive the race to the hospital.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine and Russia exchange nearly 500 prisoners of war
KYIV — Ukraine and Russia exchanged nearly 500 prisoners of war Wednesday — including Ukrainian service members taken prisoner during fighting at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol and Snake Island in the Black Sea — a sign that talks between Kyiv and Moscow continue, even as the two sides appear frozen in peace negotiations.
It was the largest trade since Russian forces invaded the country nearly two years ago, Ukraine’s coordinating headquarters for POW issues said in a post on Telegram. Officials from the United Arab Emirates helped mediate the process, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian officials said that 230 of their service members returned home, while Russians said 248 of theirs had been released. Neither set of figures could be independently verified.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Ukraine and Russia exchanged nearly 500 prisoners of war Wednesday — including Ukrainian service members taken prisoner during fighting at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol and Snake Island in the Black Sea — a sign that talks between Kyiv and Moscow continue, even as the two sides appear frozen in peace negotiations.
It was the largest trade since Russian forces invaded the country nearly two years ago, Ukraine’s coordinating headquarters for POW issues said in a post on Telegram. Officials from the United Arab Emirates helped mediate the process, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian officials said that 230 of their service members returned home, while Russians said 248 of theirs had been released. Neither set of figures could be independently verified.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine Marines recount deadly mission to free towns east of Dnieper River
KHERSON, Ukraine — On the morning of his first crossing of the Dnieper River — where his unit was being sent in a desperate effort to claw back occupied land from Russia — the 21-year-old Ukrainian marine woke up “ready to die.”
With their counteroffensive stalled, Ukraine’s military and political leaders were eager to show their Western backers some progress — any progress. But the 21-year-old marine, Dmytro recounted fording a river of death for little reward, aside from some political messaging.
Dmytro described being “tossed like a piece of meat to the wolves” during the crossing, which takes 30 minutes to an hour. His account was corroborated by six others involved in the operation to lodge a toehold on the river’s Russian-occupied east bank.
“We bear many losses,” said another marine, 22. “We simply lose people, but there is no result.”
Read the full story here.
KHERSON, Ukraine — On the morning of his first crossing of the Dnieper River — where his unit was being sent in a desperate effort to claw back occupied land from Russia — the 21-year-old Ukrainian marine woke up “ready to die.”
With their counteroffensive stalled, Ukraine’s military and political leaders were eager to show their Western backers some progress — any progress. But the 21-year-old marine, Dmytro recounted fording a river of death for little reward, aside from some political messaging.
Dmytro described being “tossed like a piece of meat to the wolves” during the crossing, which takes 30 minutes to an hour. His account was corroborated by six others involved in the operation to lodge a toehold on the river’s Russian-occupied east bank.
“We bear many losses,” said another marine, 22. “We simply lose people, but there is no result.”
Read the full story here.