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☆ Russia Bombs Power Plants and Ukraine Targets Refineries in Dueling Attacks
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Russian missiles streaked through the skies above Ukraine before dawn on Saturday, once again targeting the nation’s already battered energy grid in a broad and complex bombardment, Ukrainian drones were flying in the other direction, taking aim at vital oil and gas refineries and other targets inside Russia. The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defense teams had intercepted 21 of the 34 Russian cruise and ballistic missiles fired from land, air and sea-based systems, but the attack caused extensive damage to four thermal power plants and other critical parts of the power grid in three regions. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 66 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region, which is just across the Kerch Strait in southern Russia, east of the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Veniamin Kondratyev, the head of the regional government, said the Ukrainians drones had targeted two oil refineries, a bitumen plant, and a military airfield in Kuban.

Persons: Veniamin Kondratyev Organizations: Russian, Ukrainian Air Force, Russia’s Ministry of Defense Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Krasnodar, Kerch, Crimean, Kuban

☆ The Battle for a Hilltop Fortress in Eastern Ukraine, Explained
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian forces have razed dozens of towns and cities in Ukraine over the past 26 months — killing thousands of civilians, forcing millions from their homes and leaving a trail of destruction that is impossible to calculate. Cities and towns little known to the world have become the scorched-earth battlegrounds where two armies clashed for months to bloody effect before the Russians finally prevailed. Now Russian forces have set their sight on Chasiv Yar, a hilltop fortress town in eastern Ukraine. The campaign is part of an intense effort by Russia to achieve what could be its most operationally significant advance since the first summer of the war in 2022. That includes the headquarters of the Ukrainian eastern command in Kramatorsk.

Persons: Chasiv Yar Locations: Ukraine, Avdiivka . Cities, Russia, Donetsk, Ukrainian, Kramatorsk

☆ ‘Kharkiv Is Unbreakable’: A Battered City Carries On
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Marc Santora | Tyler Hicks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The espresso machine was warming up and Liliia Korneva was counting cash at the coffee shop in Kharkiv where she works when a powerful Russian bomb detonated nearby, sending up a deafening explosion and knocking her to the floor. “I can’t describe in words how it felt, it was terrifying,” said Ms. Korneva, 20. She was not hurt, though the courtyard where the bomb fell was destroyed and a man riding a bicycle nearby was killed, according to city officials. Just a day later, the cafe was open again. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, is open for business, too, despite a sustained bombing campaign that is among the most devastating of the entire war and growing fears that Russia might launch a renewed offensive aimed at taking the city.

Persons: Liliia Korneva, ”, Korneva Locations: Kharkiv, Ukraine’s, Russia

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLawmakers approved a giant new tranche of support for Ukraine late last night after a tortured passage through the U.S. Congress, where it was nearly derailed by right-wing resistance in the House. Marc Santora, a Times reporter in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, explains what effect the money could have, given Ukraine’s increasing desperation on the battlefield.

Persons: Marc Santora Organizations: Spotify, Amazon Music Lawmakers, Ukraine, U.S . Congress Locations: Kyiv

☆ Ukraine Could Receive Some U.S. Aid ‘Within Days’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Senate today overwhelmingly approved a critical procedural move to tee up the final passage of the long-stalled $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. After the bills become law, shipments of American weapons could begin flowing to Ukraine, including air-defense missiles and artillery ammunition that Ukrainian officials say are badly needed. Some of the aid could be sent from the Pentagon’s stockpiles in Germany and shipped by rail to the Ukrainian border. The anticipated aid — the first significant new U.S. package for Kyiv in 16 months — was celebrated in Ukraine. However, he added, military analysts think it will take a month or two before Ukraine receives enough new supplies to change the dynamic of the war.

Persons: Biden, ”, —, Marc Santora, ” Marc Organizations: Senate, Senators, Pentagon, Kyiv, Lawmakers Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, Germany, Ukrainian, Kyiv

has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.

Organizations: East Locations: Ukraine, Russia, London, Central Europe, Warsaw, Iraq, Africa

☆ Vote to Resume U.S. Military Aid Is Met With Relief in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Ukrainian lieutenant was at a firing position on the eastern front, commanding an artillery unit relying on American-provided M777 howitzers and other big guns, as U.S. lawmakers gathered in Washington to decide if his cannons would be forced to go silent for lack of ammunition. But when the lieutenant returned to his base on Saturday night, he got the news that he and millions of Ukrainians had been praying to hear. “I had just entered the building after a shift change when the guys informed me that the aid package for Ukraine had finally been approved by Congress,” said the lieutenant, who is identified only by his first name, Oleksandar, in line with military protocol. “We hope this aid package will reach us as soon as possible.”The decision by American lawmakers to resume military assistance after months of costly delay was greeted with a collective sigh of relief and an outpouring of gratitude across a battered and bloodied Ukraine. It may have been late in coming, soldiers and civilians said, but American support meant more than bullets and bombs.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: Congress Locations: Ukrainian, Washington, Ukraine

From the bloody trenches of the battlefield to crowded cities battered by Russian bombardments, millions of Ukrainians waited in nervous anticipation as the United States Congress prepared, after months of delay, to decide if America will resume providing their country with critical military support. Private Pavlo Kaliuk, who has been fighting to slow the Russian advance after the fall of the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine earlier this year, was on his way to the funeral for a fallen soldier when reached by phone on Friday. “I am walking and thinking that maybe it’s my friend who died at war, who is up in the sky now, who will help the world and United States to support Ukraine,” he said. Ukraine cannot rely on divine intervention; instead it is counting on the House of Representatives to approve a $60 billion aid package on Saturday.

Persons: Pavlo Kaliuk, “, ” Organizations: United States Congress Locations: America, Avdiivka, Ukraine, United States

☆ Russian Missile Strikes North of Kyiv Kill at Least 14, Ukraine Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Maria Varenikova | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At least 14 people were killed and scores more injured when three Russian missiles struck a busy downtown district of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, just before noon on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the death toll, reported by the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, might rise and blamed Ukraine’s lack of air defenses for the loss of life. The prosecutor general said that 61 people were reported injured. “This would not have happened if Ukraine had received enough air defense equipment and if the world’s determination to counter Russian terror was also sufficient,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement. Ukrainian officials did not comment on the apparent attack, but Russian military bloggers affiliated with the Kremlin reported that Ukrainian missiles had struck locations around the air base in Dzhankoi, Crimea.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s, Mr, Zelensky, ” Organizations: Kremlin, Ukrainian Locations: Russian, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Ukraine, Crimean, Ukrainian, Dzhankoi, Crimea

☆ Ukraine’s Big Vulnerabilities: Ammunition, Soldiers and Air Defense
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Ukraine’s top military commander has issued a bleak assessment of the army’s positions on the eastern front, saying they have “worsened significantly in recent days.”Russian forces were pushing hard to exploit their growing advantage in manpower and ammunition to break through Ukrainian lines, the commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said in a statement over the weekend. “Despite significant losses, the enemy is increasing his efforts by using new units on armored vehicles, thanks to which he periodically achieves tactical gains,” the general said. At the same time, Ukraine’s energy ministry told millions of civilians to charge their power banks, get their generators out of storage and “be ready for any scenario” as Ukrainian power plants are damaged or destroyed in devastating Russian airstrikes.

Persons: Oleksandr Syrsky

☆ Ukraine’s Parliament Passes a Politically Fraught Mobilization Bill
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After months of political wrangling, Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday passed a mobilization law aimed at replenishing the nation’s exhausted and depleted fighting forces, which are struggling to hold back relentless Russian assaults that are expected to intensify in coming months. Yulia Paliychuk, a spokeswoman for the party of President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed that the law had been adopted by Parliament. The urgent need for fresh troops has been evident since last fall, but Mr. Zelensky has been exceedingly cautious in dealing with the politically fraught topic, which has the potential to undermine the social cohesion that has played a critical role in Ukraine’s ability to wage war against a far larger and better-armed enemy. Mr. Zelensky had urged lawmakers to act this week and is widely expected to sign the new legislation soon. However, the last time the Parliament passed controversial legislation related to mobilization — lowering the draft eligibility age to 25 from 27 last May — Mr. Zelensky waited nearly a year before signing it into law this month.

Persons: Yulia Paliychuk, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, Mr

☆ Russia Pounds Kharkiv in Deadly Barrage, Straining Ukraine’s Defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-06 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian rockets slammed into residential buildings in Kharkiv before dawn on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, killing at least six people and injuring at least 11 more in the latest assault on Ukraine’s second-largest city. “Russian terror against Kharkiv continues,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement. “It’s crucial to strengthen the air defense for the Kharkiv region. And our partners can help us with this.”Ukraine’s air defenses have come increasingly under strain since American military support stopped flowing into the country more than six months ago, and future assistance remains uncertain amid Republican resistance in Congress to a $60 billion aid package. Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, has hinted that he would soon bring the issue of military aid for Ukraine to a vote in the House, but has also said that he might tie the issue to unrelated matters like domestic energy policies that could complicate its passage.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, “, Mike Johnson Organizations: Republican Locations: Kharkiv, Ukraine, Louisiana

☆ 41 Days in a Bunker: How a Battle Raged on Ukraine’s Bloody Front Line
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After repelling waves of Russian attempts to storm their small bunker in a cellar near an abandoned house, the enemy was on top of them. Vladyslav Molodykh, 39, whose call sign is Hammer. “They were shouting, ‘Surrender and you’ll live.’ There was no point in surrendering because they would have torn me apart.”It was around 10 a.m. on Dec. 14. Private Molodykh would emerge from the freezing, cramped cellar 41 harrowing days later — alone but alive. The battle for the bunker in Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, was only a small part of one of dozens of clashes raging along a 600-mile front.

Persons: ”, Vladyslav Molodykh, “, Molodykh Organizations: Ukrainian Locations: Avdiivka, Ukraine, Russia

☆ Collecting the Dead Russia Left Behind
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Tyler Hicks | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Oleksii Yukov spends many of his nights dodging drones, navigating minefields and hoping not to be targeted by Russian artillery as he races to collect the remains of fallen soldiers from the battlefield. In just three shattered tree lines around the ruined village of Klishchiivka outside Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought seesaw battles for well over a year, he collected 300 bodies. They were almost all Russian, he said, left behind in a maelstrom of violence where the struggle to stay alive often outweighs concern for the dead. Mr. Yusov has been collecting bodies from the bloody fields and battered villages of eastern Ukraine for a decade. He is now the head of a group of civilian volunteers called Platsdarm, and has witnessed more death than he would care to remember.

Persons: Oleksii Yukov, Yusov Locations: Klishchiivka, Bakhmut, Ukraine

☆ Ukraine’s Deepening Fog of War
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The forecasts are anything but optimistic: The best Ukraine can hope for in 2024, many Western officials and analysts say, is to simply hold the line. Western nations, buoyed by Ukraine’s success, promised aid to help Ukrainians break through Russian lines. Ukraine’s own domestic arms production was mired in bureaucracy, top military officials have said. Those weaknesses, and some strategic battlefield missteps, stymied Ukraine’s widely telegraphed counteroffensive, which resulted in only marginal territorial gains. At the same time, Russia was fortifying its defensive lines, converting its economy to war production, conscripting hundreds of thousands of fighters and adjusting its strategy for renewed offensives this winter.

Persons: staving Locations: Ukraine, Russia

☆ Ukraine Marks 2nd Anniversary of Russian Invasion, Determined Despite Setbacks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In solemn ceremonies and small vigils, state visits, stirring speeches and statements of solidarity, Ukraine and its allies marked the dawn of the third year of Russia’s unprovoked invasion with a single message: Believe. “When thousands of columns of Russian invaders moved from all directions into Ukraine, when thousands of rockets and bombs fell on our land, no one in the world believed that we would stand,” said Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s newly named top military commander. “No one believed, but Ukraine did!”On the 731st day of the war, Ukrainian soldiers once again find themselves outmanned and outgunned, fighting for their nation’s survival while also trying to convince a skeptical world that they can withstand the relentless onslaught, even as they suffer losses on the battlefield and are challenged up and down the front line by Russian forces. The leaders of Canada, Belgium and Italy, as well as the head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, were among the dignitaries who traveled to Kyiv in a show of solidarity. While many analysts at the outbreak of the war believed that European nations would go wobbly in their support of Ukraine in a prolonged struggle, these countries are now stepping up, trying to help fill the void left by the U.S., where Republicans in Congress have for months blocked any new military assistance to Kyiv.

Persons: ”, Oleksandr Syrsky, “, Ursula von der Leyen Organizations: Russian, European Union Locations: Ukraine, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Kyiv, U.S

☆ The Death Throes of a Ukrainian City
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Marc Santora | Tyler Hicks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even from a few miles away, the death rattle of another Ukrainian city echoed through the mist and fog. Russian warplanes were dropping more thousand-pound bombs on Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, reducing an already battered city to rubble and ashes. Since Jan. 1, President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces have dropped around one million pounds of aerial bombs on an area encompassing just 12 square miles, according to estimates by Ukrainian officials and British intelligence. In the end, Russia’s superior firepower and manpower overwhelmed Ukrainian forces over many months, even as Russia incurred a staggering number of casualties. Russian warplanes bombed the hulking coke-processing plant on Avdiivka’s northern outskirts, using incendiary munitions to blow up fuel tanks at the plant, unleashing a toxic smog, according to Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the plant.

Persons: Vladimir V, Avdiivka Organizations: Ukrainian Locations: Ukraine, British, Russia

Ukraine ordered the complete withdrawal from the ruined city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine before dawn on Saturday, surrendering a city that had been a military stronghold for the better part of a decade, in the face of withering Russian bombardment and relentless assault. “Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more favorable lines,” Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top military commander, said in a statement issued overnight. The fall of Avdiivka, a city that used to be home to some 30,000 people but is now a smoking ruin, is the first major gain Russian forces have achieved since May of last year. In recent weeks, Russian forces have been pressing the attack across nearly the entire length of the 600-mile long front.

Persons: Gen, Oleksandr Syrsky Organizations: Russian Locations: Ukraine, Avdiivka

Russian forces captured the longtime Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka before dawn on Saturday, Moscow’s first major battlefield gain since it took Bakhmut last May. Russia’s assault has split into five major lines of attack, spanning towns and cities across much of the front in eastern and southern Ukraine. AvdiivkaRussia captured a longtime Ukrainian stronghold. But for the better part of a decade it carved a bulge in the front line that undermined critical Russian logistical operations. It sits only a few miles from the city of Donetsk, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Persons: Moscow’s Organizations: Avdiivka Locations: Ukraine, Ukrainian, Avdiivka, Avdiivka Russia, Donetsk, Russia

☆ Losing Ground, Ukraine Seeks New Positions Around Avdiivka
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukrainian soldiers are withdrawing even further from positions around the shattered town of Avdiivka after advancing Russian forces breached a critical supply line and threatened to encircle scores of Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian military officials and soldiers said on Thursday. Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces fighting in the area, said the Ukrainians were “maneuvering” and “sometimes withdrawing to more advantageous positions and sometimes repelling enemy advances.”He also said military commanders had set up a backup logistical route to the town to transport much needed supplies to Ukraine’s beleaguered troops. The battle, Mr. Lykhovii said, was dynamic and changing by the hour as the two sides engaged in fierce urban combat. But his comments suggested the fighting had taken another ominous turn for Kyiv’s forces, potentially presaging their withdrawal from a town reduced to ruins by months of horrendous bombardment.

Persons: Dmytro Lykhovii, Lykhovii Organizations: Ukrainian Locations: Avdiivka

As outgunned Ukrainian soldiers struggle to hold back bloody Russian assaults on land, Ukraine said on Wednesday that its forces had struck yet another powerful blow against the Russians at sea, sinking a large Russian landing ship off the coast of Crimea before dawn. The Ukrainian military released footage of the strike, which it said had resulted in the sinking of the 360-foot-long landing ship Caesar Kunikov, its fourth-largest landing ship taken out of action in the war, possibly complicating Russia’s logistical efforts in southern Ukraine. The Ukrainian claims could not be immediately confirmed, but when NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, was asked about the attack, he called Ukraine’s campaign on the Black Sea a “great achievement.”“The Ukrainians have been able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” he said at a news conference in Brussels. Russia has lost more than a third of its fleet since the war began, according to Ukrainian officials and military analysts.

Persons: Caesar Kunikov, Jens Stoltenberg, ” “, ” Locations: Ukrainian, Ukraine, Crimea, Russian, Brussels, Russia

☆ As U.S. Weighs Aid, Ukraine Turns to European Allies for Support
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Volodymyr Zelensky is redoubling his diplomatic outreach to Europe in the hopes of starting to fill the void left by months of American indecision, as the debate over providing renewed military assistance for Ukraine continues to play out in Washington. The aid package must still make it through the Republican-led House, where the speaker, Mike Johnson, said he would ignore it. “We hope that as a result of constructive debate and dialogue, the bill will also receive bipartisan support and be adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Olena Kondratyuk, the vice speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. “We need this support to continue to fight for our freedom and independence. A clear message must also be sent to the aggressor country of Russia about the unity of the democratic world and the continued U.S. leadership in providing comprehensive assistance to Ukraine.”

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, “, Mike Johnson, ”, Olena Kondratyuk Organizations: Republican, U.S . House, Representatives Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Washington, Ukrainian, Kyiv, U.S, Russia

☆ Ukraine Has a New Military Commander but the Problems Haven’t Changed
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Marc Santora | Eric Schmitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian forces are razing the already battered city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine to the ground and sending waves of assault units to overwhelm outgunned Ukrainian troops. After months of brutal fighting, the Russian military is threatening to cut off a vital supply line to the city, which could render further defense impossible. It is a bloody equation that General Syrsky has had to try to work out many times as the commander of ground forces in eastern Ukraine, and it is one that critics — including American military officials — contend he has not always gotten right, particularly in the battle for Bakhmut. Assessing that strategy will be only part of the “renewal” that President Volodymyr Zelensky said was necessary when he dismissed his commanding general, Valery Zaluzhny, on Thursday and named General Syrsky to replace him. Mr. Zelensky also named five generals and two colonels he intends to promote as part of the sweeping overhaul.

Persons: Oleksandr Syrsky, —, Syrsky, Volodymyr Zelensky, Valery Zaluzhny, Zelensky Organizations: Bakhmut Locations: Avdiivka, Ukraine

☆ Ukraine’s Creative Use of Weapons Carries Promise and Risk
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Julian E. Barnes | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. officials say Ukraine should continue to develop innovative ways to strike at Russian forces as the war approaches its third year. But Ukraine’s use of a Patriot missile to take down a plane last month is an example of how novel battlefield tactics can be fraught with peril as well as promise. Unbeknown to Ukraine’s military, the Russian aircraft it targeted may have been carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to U.S. officials. The Patriot is a defensive system, usually used to protect a location and not to shoot down planes. Russian officials immediately claimed the aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were to be exchanged for Russian service members.

Persons: Unbeknown Organizations: Russian, Patriot, Russian Ilyushin Locations: Ukraine, Russian

☆ Ukraine Worries About Losing Its Biggest Weapon: U.S. Military Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But there was always the prospect of more American aid on the horizon. That support was critical, analysts and leaders in Kyiv say. The United States has provided about half of the foreign military assistance to Ukraine’s arsenal, roughly $47 billion. But this week leaders in Kyiv have waited anxiously to see if that lifeline will come to an end, as a stalemate between lawmakers in the United States Congress threatens to end, for now, American support for the war against Russia. A measure that would allow American arms to flow to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and fund border security was defeated in a Senate vote on Wednesday amid growing Republican opposition and deep division on Capitol Hill.

Persons: Molotov Organizations: United, United States, Russia, Capitol Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, United States, Israel, Taiwan

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