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Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine CNN —For Dima, the silence away from the horrors can be harder to bear. Now the damage to the town and the risk of his work is such that he says he works one shift a week. Like so many Ukrainians now, whose lives have been torn apart by the war, he struggles with the calm of rest days, and yearns to be back at work. And when I go to work, at least I feel at home and I can get some sleep, despite the shelling. You get tired, it is hard, but I can sleep there.”A building in Orikhiv destroyed by Russian shelling.

Persons: Dima, ”, “, Brice Laine, ” Dima, Dima’s, shellfire, ’, Orikhiv Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, CNN, ” CNN Locations: Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Orikhiv, Europe, ”

☆ Why F-16 jets can’t come soon enough for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Dnipro, Ukraine CNN —The depth and frequency of craters across the frontline city of Orikhiv are a blunt example of why Ukraine needs F-16 fighter jets urgently. Ukrainian troops amassed around the city have the unenviable task of pushing through minefields towards an enemy that has long anticipated their advance. Russian jets fire half-metric-ton bombs that glide in from afar – from outside of the reach of Ukraine’s air defenses – and then devastate Ukrainian positions at will. So when Ukraine says it urgently needs F-16s, it is because Ukrainian troops are dying daily because of Russian air superiority. Portuguese Air Force F-16 military fighter jets participate in NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission in Lithuanian airspace near Siauliai, on May 23.

Persons: Stringer, “, Petras Malukas Organizations: Ukraine CNN, NATO, CNN, Portuguese Air Force, Air Policing Mission, Getty Locations: Dnipro, Ukraine, Orikhiv, Russian, Ukrainian, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s, Moscow, Siauliai, AFP

Heavy artillery fire prevented entry into the village, as Russian forces shelled Ukrainian troops holding the area. Drone footage of the intense fight for the village has emerged in which dozens of Russian troops can be seen fleeing to the village’s south. More than 100 countries have banned the use of cluster weapons via treaty, though the Ukraine, Russia and the United States are not signatories to that international treaty. By comparison, Russian cluster weapons, also said to be in use during their invasion of Ukraine, are claimed by Western officials to have a dud rate of 30%. CNN was unable to confirm the devices identified by experts as likely cluster munitions in the videos from Urozhaine were US-supplied weapons.

Persons: Hanna Maliar, treelines, Dykyi, ” Dykyi, Biden, “, Harry Potter, ” Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, CNN, Marines, Western, Ukrainian, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Reuters Locations: Urozhaine, Ukraine, Mariupol, Russia, United States, Russian

☆ Video shows Ukraine using thermal imaging drones to try to locate mines left by Russia to kill and maim its soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine is using thermal imaging and drones to find mines left by Russian forces. Ukrainian soldiers showed CNN their anti-mine strategy from the trenches on the front line. The outlet filmed soldiers using a drone with a thermal camera, which clearly showed the mines, glowing, on the soldiers' screen. The soldiers told CNN that after locating mines, they use special charges to blow them up so that their colleagues can move through the area. The New York Times reported that some Ukrainian soldiers have been blasted by mines as they try to help fellow soldiers hit by mines.

Persons: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Paton Walsh, Anton, Oleksii Reznikov, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Russian, CNN, Service, National Guard Brigade, Guardian, New York Times Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Robotine, Russia, Ukraine's, Ukrainian

☆ Crimean Bridge attack: The moment Ukraine used an experimental drone to strike Russia's Kerch Bridge
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh Victoria Butenko Florence Davey-Attlee | Nick Paton Walsh | Victoria Butenko | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Dnipro, Ukraine CNN —Ukrainian security services have released to CNN exclusive footage showing the moment in July when they used an experimental sea drone to attack Russia’s bridge to annexed Crimea, providing new details on the attack and warning more such assaults will follow. The attack on July 17 caused damage to the road lanes of the bridge, and, according to Russian officials, killed two civilians. A view of the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, the only direct link between Russia and the Crimean peninsula. Maliuk also claimed responsibility for the first Ukrainian attack on the bridge, on October 8, but declined to provide details. He said the July drone attack was the product of months of preparation.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, It’s, Vasyl Maliuk, ”, Olengorskiy, Maliuk, Oleksiy Neizhpapa, “, ” Maliuk Organizations: Ukraine CNN, CNN, Security Service, SIG, Ukraine Security Service, coy, Naval, Reuters “, Ukrainian Locations: Dnipro, Ukraine, Crimea, Russia, Kerch, Crimean, Novorossisk, Ukraine Security Service Ukraine, Moscow, Ukrainian

During a week spent with troops around the town of Orikhiv, CNN saw a palpable improvement in morale as some advances appeared to be made. Destroyed buildings in the city of Orikhiv in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, which has been pummelled for months by Russian bombardment. Russian air superiority is taking Ukrainian lives daily, with half-ton bombs landing frequently – sometimes 20 in as many minutes. Ukrainian troops constantly relocate and hide their vehicles at every opportunity to frustrate Russian targeting. Brice Lane/CNNA Ukrainian tank fires from a treeline towards Russian forces on the country's southern frontline.

Persons: Eastern Ukraine CNN —, Ukraine’s, that’s, –, ”, Vitaly, Brice Lane, chatted, Eugene, “, Vlad, ” Eugene, Andrei, CNN Vlad, …, Julia, it’s Organizations: Eastern Ukraine CNN, NATO, CNN, 15th National Guard, Kyiv, 15th National Guard Brigade, ”, Russian Locations: Eastern Ukraine, Soviet, Robotine, Orikhiv, Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russian, Ukraine's, Ukrainian

☆ A Ukrainian drone spotted a fellow wounded soldier bleeding out on a battlefield. He crawled back to safety after the drone dropped off water and aid: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Serhiy, a Ukrainian soldier, was badly wounded by shelling in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He was stuck in a crater field for two days with a pierced lung and wounded leg, Serhiy told CNN. According to CNN, the drone kept sending water and medicine to the wounded soldier to ease Serhiy's pain and allow him to crawl back to safety. "The combat medics who gave me first aid when they found me were very surprised I survived for two days with a pierced lung," Serhiy told CNN. Eugene, a soldier of the 15th national guard brigade who operated the drone, told CNN that he wouldn't be able to "live with myself" if he left a fellow soldier to die.

Persons: Serhiy, Nick Paton Walsh, wouldn't Organizations: CNN, Service Locations: Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Wall, Silicon

At one point, Russian officials even claimed to have kicked Ukrainian forces back out of the village, which Ukraine staunchly denied. “That’s the hardest part.”Images from drone footage show the extensive damage to Staromayorske, Ukraine. Ukraine’s position is made harder still given Russian forces are on the eastern side of the river, able to use its natural boundary from which they can fire artillery. The wall graffiti is equally bleak: “There is no love.” “God is for Russia.” “Welcome to Mordor.”It is a nihilism that only amplifies a key question Ukrainian forces have: Why do the Russian troops fight so hard for these tiny settlements? The fact that Russian forces fight so persistently for each settlement has raised doubts about claims that Russia’s defensive line is fierce but thin.

Persons: Ukraine’s, Krivyh Rih, ” Krivbas, ’ Krivbas, Neskuchne, Krivbas, ”, ‘, haven’t, Reva, deminer Organizations: Ukraine CNN, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Staromayorske, Marines, CNN, Pentagon, ‘, Russian, Storm, AK Locations: Neskuchne, Ukraine, Staromayorske, Mariupol, Krivyh, Russian, “, Russia, Mordor

CNN —Afghans who were promised a home in the United States after their country fell to the Taliban say they have waited so long for the US to process their applications that they are now being sent back to the enemy they fled. “They did not hand us over to the (Taliban) Afghan border forces,” he said. Many Afghans fled the Taliban after the August 15, 2021 fall of Kabul to the hard-line group. At least two Afghans awaiting P-2 visas have been swept up in this crackdown, CNN has learned, and complain of Pakistani police persecution. Afghans waiting in Pakistan have reported harassment by Pakistani police, including arrest and demands for money.

Persons: “, ”, Haseeb, Aafaq, ” Aafaq, “ I’m, Biden, sobbed Organizations: CNN, State Department, Pakistan’s, Interior Ministries, Afghanistan Immigrants Refugees Council, Getty, Support Center, US State Department, Foreign Locations: United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Afghan, Kabul, Taliban, USA, Pakistani, Chaman, AFP, Islamabad, Turkey, Tajikistan

CNN —One fighter was shot twice, sent from the hospital back to the front, where he drank melted snow to live. Forced to assault Ukrainian positions repeatedly, until a grenade blinded him. CNN also spoke to a rare survivor of the Storm-Z units, Sergei – who was first interviewed by phone in a military hospital months earlier and last week recounted the savage and deteriorating life in the Russian trenches. While the appalling fighting conditions are well known, much Russian testimony is from prisoners of war, and provided through Ukrainian facilitators. Sergei recalls the quotidian horrors of the Russian trenches.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Andrei, Sergei –, Sergei, CNN Sergei, amputees, ” Sergei, ”, “, Don’t, Yulia, ” Andrei, CNN Yulia, Andrei messaged, Putin, ‘, ‘ we’re, ’, ” Yulia sobbed Organizations: CNN, Nazis, Russian Ministry of Defense, Kremlin, Ministry of Defense Locations: Russian, Red Square, Ukraine, Russia

☆ Putin cut deal with Wagner ‘to save his skin,’ MI6 chief says in rare speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Prague CNN —It was a rare moment when the publicly visible Kremlin matched the reality behind closed doors. And he had, it seemed, been welcomed into the Kremlin to meet Putin days later. Asked by CNN if Prigozhin was “alive and healthy”, Moore replied the Wagner leader was still: “floating around”, per his agency’s understanding. Yet the on-camera speech provided an opportunity for Moore’s expression to convey how shocking the weakness betrayed by Putin that weekend had been. “He really didn’t fight back against Prigozhin”, Moore said.

Persons: Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Richard Moore, “ Prigozhin, ” Moore, Prigozhin, Moore, Wagner, Prigozhin ”, Alexander Lukashenko, “, ” Organizations: Prague CNN, Mi6, CNN, Belarus ”, Ukraine ”, Kremlin Locations: Prague, Moscow, Belarus, Denmark, Ukraine, United Kingdom, China, Russia, Iran

☆ MI6 chief makes open plea to Russians to spy for UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Prague CNN —The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service used a rare speech Wednesday to issue a plea to disaffected Russians to spy for the UK. They know in their hearts that Putin’s case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent,” he added. The MI6 chief told CNN that Prighozin is alive and at liberty following the group’s 24-hour mutiny against the Kremlin, and that Putin is clearly under pressure. Over the years they have developed a particularly gruesome reputation and have been linked to various human rights abuses. A CNN investigation in April found that Wagner has been supplying Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces with missiles to aid their fight against the country’s army.

Persons: Richard Moore, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, ” Moore, Moore, “, Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prighozin, Belarus –, Prighozin, Putin “ didn’t, –, ” Putin Organizations: Prague CNN, Kyiv, Russian, CNN, Kremlin, Prighozhin, Wagner Group, Central African, Rapid Support Forces Locations: Prague, Ukraine, Russian, Odesa, Belarus, Moscow, Denmark, Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Syria

☆ Why Wagner chief Prigozhin's absence is so damaging to Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Instead, the Kremlin on Monday tried to provide some clarity, after French newspaper Liberation reported a meeting between Putin and Prigozhin on June 29. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, confirmed in a conference call with journalists the meeting had taken place. I can’t tell you more.”It is important to pause and conjure just how surreal the meeting Peskov is describing sounds. But this is in keeping with the Kremlin’s bid to contain the fallout from Putin’s most dangerous weekend yet. If Prigozhin has been forgiven – as the Kremlin meeting might suggest - then why is there no public acknowledgement of that, a bid to at the least file down the fangs of stray Wagner fighters?

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Alexander Lukashenko’s, Putin, Prigozhin, Dmitry Peskov, ” Peskov, –, Wagner, Lukashenko, Mikhail Khodorkovsky –, Sergey Surovikin, Valery Gerasimov Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Russia’s, French, Liberation, Defense Ministry Locations: Russia’s Rostov, Belarusian, St . Petersburg, Belarus, Russian, Derbent, Kremlin, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Russia is wracked by mutiny and mistakes. Ukraine will seek to take advantage
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But the Russian military may have panicked at seeing mercenaries advance on Moscow and sent help. Wagner forces drove tanks into Rostov-on-Don on June 24, 2023. Firstly, there must have been a radical impact on Russian military morale. Might an earthquake on the battlefield inadvertently rally Moscow’s elite around him, to stave of an existential defeat for Russia as a nation in Ukraine? Moscow’s mistakes have been so plentiful over the past months, at some point Ukraine will likely seize the initiative.

Persons: Wagner, Hanna Mailar, Wagner’s, STRINGER, won’t, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin –, –, Putin’s, Prigozhin's, Putin, ”, Napoleon Organizations: CNN, Rivnopil, Getty, NATO, Troops, Russia Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Bakhmut, Donetsk, Mariinka, Russian, Rostov, AFP, Kyiv, Russia, Belarus, Soviet Union, Ukrainian

☆ Putin: Bizarre and chaotic 36 hours in Russia feels like the beginning of the end for Kremlin leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

These were 36 hours that provided a glimpse of the end of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Two hours earlier, Wagner were at the gates of the capital (almost), and then suddenly everything is forgiven. Did he accept entering the capital would leave his men vulnerable, even to a weak Russian military response? While on the surface, Prigozhin’s climbdown makes him appear weak, even finished, he has been the decision-maker over the past 36 hours. The most optimistic assessment you could make is that Russian military morale must have felt a hiccup while watching its commander-in-chief and most prominent military figure engage in a 24-hour game of chicken.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Dmitry Peskov, Wagner, climbdown, he’s, didn’t, Putin’s, – Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Justice, NATO, NATO – Locations: Moscow, Belarus, Minsk, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, Russian

☆ Analysis: Moscow is at risk of losing its iron grip on power in Russia. The next 24 hours are critical
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —This just does not happen in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This is now an existential choice for Russia’s elite – between the president’s faltering regime, and the dark, mercenary Frankenstein it created to do its dirty work, which has turned on its masters. Among the Russian rich, Friday’s events will remove any question about whether they should doubt Putin’s grip on power. The 1917 removal of Tsar Nicholas II in Russia turned into the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin and then the Soviet Empire. But it is impossible to imagine Putin’s regime will ever go back to its previous heights of control from this moment.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, he’s, fratricide, –, Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Prigozhin, Frankenstein, Stringer, Tsar Nicholas II, Lenin Organizations: CNN, Russian Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin, NATO, Southern Military District, Reuters, Kremlin, Bolshevik Locations: Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Russian, Moscow, Rostov, Russia, Don, CNN Ukraine, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ Chonhar bridge strike may indicate a more potent strategy by Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The Chonhar bridges are both rail and road crossings, and head from the northeast of occupied Crimea to Ukraine’s main target in this counteroffensive: occupied Zaporizhzhia region. In the video, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian installed governor of occupied Kherson region, walks around the wreckage, and bemoans “another pointless action” assisted, he says, by the London-supplied Storm Shadow missile. They will have to use another, longer route, he added, to the West through Armyansk and Perekop, closer to Ukrainian positions. On Sunday, a blast hit what seemed to be a Russian ammunition depot in Rykove, near Chonhar. Alexei Zhivoff, a Russian military blogger, said Thursday the Chonhar bridge was more a “land corridor”, and carried 70% of the military and civilian traffic to and from Crimea.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky’s, Vladimir Saldo, bemoans, Alexei Zhivoff Organizations: CNN, Shadow, NATO, Kharkiv – Locations: Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Russian, Kherson, London, Armyansk, Kherson City, Dnipro, Kerch, Rykove, Chonhar, Kharkiv, Moscow, Russia

☆ Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been brutal and slow. But Kyiv has many cards left to play
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

And this is likely why we are seeing a slow – and at times incremental – start to this first phase of open operations. It has also been grueling, with Ukrainian losses reported around Mala Tokmachka, and now intense fighting near Pyatykhatky. Some estimates suggest only a quarter of Ukraine’s fresh units, bolstered by NATO training and supplies, are now in the fight. Ukrainian forces firing an S60 anti-aircraft canon placed on a truck on Juune 19, 2023. Kyiv needs to cement a change in the frontlines to validate the huge investment in its forces made by NATO.

Persons: –, Wojciech Grzedzinski, Rykove, recalibrations, Vladimir Putin, Velyka, Blahodatne, Brigade perilously, Igor Strelkov, Melitopol –, Kreminna, Ukraine’s, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Zalyuzhnyi, gridlock Organizations: CNN, 73rd Naval Special Operations Center, NATO, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Moscow, Kyiv, Brigade, Donetsk People’s Republic Locations: Ukrainian, Ukraine, Rykove, Kherson, Bakhmut, Crimea, Russia, Kyiv, Moscow, Volnovakha, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia, Orikhiv, Mala Tokmachka, Pyatykhatky, Donetsk, Zherebyanki, Kamyanske, Dnipro, Melitopol, Azov, Kupyansk, Kharkiv, Russian

CNN —Former United States President Barack Obama, late night television host Stephen Colbert, and CNN’s Erin Burnett are some of the “500 Americans” Russia has banned from entering the country. The list includes Obama, former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman, several US senators and the next expected chairman of the joint chiefs Charles Q. The rambling list of names also includes American late night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Colbert, and Seth Meyers. Friday’s list also includes CNN Anchor Erin Burnett and is an update of a previously published longer list of sanctioned individuals that includes CNN’s Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, CNN contributors Bianna Golodryga and Timothy Naftali. While the list was labelled, “500 Americans,” Paton Walsh is a British citizen.

☆ Analysis: Ukraine is keeping Russia guessing about its counteroffensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It is possible we only learn the counteroffensive has begun when its first tangible results are revealed. But it has more significantly revealed a seismic difference in how Russia and Ukraine’s war machines are functioning. This will be vital in the weeks ahead: Moscow appears to process bad news very poorly and publicly. In the weeks ahead, we will likely see more confusion about what Ukraine is up to. But weeks more of Russian confusion, overstretch, and public self-criticism will likely reduce the ultimate human cost on Kyiv.

☆ Russian forces lash out indiscriminately as Ukraine increases military pressure on frontline towns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh Natalie Gallón Kosta Gak Peter Rudden | Nick Paton Walsh | Natalie Gallón | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Local residents stand next to a building that was damaged in the night, following Russian shelling in Komyshevakha, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine on Monday, May 8. Polohy is one of over a dozen frontline settlements that occupying forces announced Friday would be emptied of civilians. It is as yet unclear what impact these evacuations – which on Sunday Russian occupation officials said amounted to 1,600 people – will have on Moscow’s ability to hold frontline towns. He evaded their tight scrutiny of his whereabouts when a local occupation official failed to turn up to work one day, and he drove a minibus of civilians out. The regular effective targeting of Russian positions by Ukrainian firepower sparked a manhunt in the town for an informant.

CNN —Ukraine says it has for the first time used a US-made Patriot air defense system to intercept a Russian hypersonic missile. Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said on Telegram Saturday: “Yes, we have intercepted the ‘unmatched’ Kinzhal,’” adding the word “Patriot” and an emoji of the Ukrainian flag. Ukraine has received at least two Patriot systems, one from the United States and one from Germany, to enhance its air defenses, which have previously been unable to intercept more modern Russian missiles such as the Kinzhal. “Building a multi-level air and missile defense system as soon as possible is our priority,” he declared. Patriot systems create a capability that did not exist before – to defeat ballistic targets.”

☆ Putin faces a deluge of bad news as Wagner says it will withdraw from frontline and Kremlin comes under attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

And it will happen just after the May 9 Victory Day pomp and celebration, as, he insists, Wagner are patriots. But he has never said he will likely cripple one of Russia’s most symbolic frontlines by just walking away. Wagner forces would have to walk out of a battlefield which is – on the surface – for the most part controlled by Putin’s Ministry of Defense. Putin is absorbing a lot of bad vibes at the moment to seem that much in control. It is unlikely that any fissures at the heart of the Kremlin would be made public before they were acted upon.

☆ Analysis: Cross-border attacks as Russia and Ukraine seek to weaken each other ahead of expected offensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine is apparently striking at fuel depots in Russian-occupied areas and inside Russia itself – seemingly precise attacks but ones to which Kyiv is making no overt claim. Russia has been lashing out at what often seem to be civilian targets in Ukraine, either in rage or through ineptitude. Ukraine was quick to capitalize on that statement and sent senior officials to the area to claim Russia had already begun pulling back. And now, in Kherson, Ukrainian officials have ordered a 58-hour curfew from 8 p.m. on May 5, barring locals from leaving their houses. This comes amid a deluge of comments from Ukrainian officials that the weather - for the past fortnight alternating between rain and bold sunshine - has held them back.

CNN —A former US Marine, Cooper “Harris” Andrews, 26, was killed on the outskirts of Bakhmut late last week, according to his mother and colleagues in Ukraine. Andrews worked for an activist group known as the Resistance Committee, according to their social media statements. Andrews left Cleveland, Ohio in November and joined the Foreign Legion in Ukraine, a group of foreign fighters helping the Ukrainian military. The US Department of State said on Monday it could “confirm the death of a US citizen in Ukraine,” without naming the individual. “Out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.”CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment but has yet to hear back.

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