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☆ Zelenskiy aide edits own post, says fighter jets for Ukraine 'may be resolved'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy edited his own social media post on Thursday to say the question of fighter jets for Ukraine may be resolved, after earlier writing that it had already been resolved. Andriy Yermak, chief of the presidential staff, had issued the initial post as Zelenskiy held talks in Brussels at which he raised Kyiv's request for more weapons to fight Russian forces. "It seems the question of long-range weaponry and fighter jets for Ukraine may be resolved," Andriy Yermak, chief of the presidential staff, wrote in the edited post on the Telegram messaging app. The initial version of the post was more categorical, saying the question "has been resolved." Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Timothy HeritageOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, speaks with Reuters during an interview, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 7, 2023. "Attempts at an offensive in either the Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia direction will of course be made," he said, speaking in his office in the capital, Kyiv. Russian forces have been trying to encircle and capture Bakhmut for weeks at a steep cost. Danilov said Kyiv expected Russia to seek to achieve demonstrable results around the one-year anniversary of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. Earlier, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces could try to attack from Moscow's ally Belarus to the northwest.

[1/6] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend an EU summit, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 2, 2023. The United States and its Western allies stepped up pledges to deliver more weapons to Ukraine in January. Authorities were investigating senior military officials in two separate cases of suspected corruption, officials said on Thursday. EASTERN BATTLEGROUNDThe EU-Ukraine summit coincides with an intensification of Russian pressure on Ukrainian forces in eastern battlegrounds but also in the northeast and south. The refrain from Ukraine officials and military analysts is that the Russians are exploiting the main resource they have - superiority in manpower.

☆ Jailed ex-Georgian leader appears in court by video link, seeking urgent medical treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Irakli GedenidzeTBILISI, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mikheil Saakashvili, the jailed former president of Georgia, appeared in court via video link on Wednesday to show how much weight he had lost while incarcerated, as associates renewed calls for him to be freed for urgent medical treatment. Citing medical records, Saakashvili's team says his weight has dropped from 115 kg (254 pounds) when he was jailed in October 2021 to 68 kg (150 pounds) at a check-up this week. Georgian authorities say he is feigning the gravity of his condition in order to secure early release. Zelenskiy decried Saakashvili's condition, saying Georgian authorities were trying to kill him. Saakashvili's supporters accuse the current Georgian government of adopting a pro-Kremlin position and of refusing to sufficiently back Ukraine.

☆ Ukrainian authorities raid home of billionaire Kolomoiskiy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian state security officials searched the home of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday, in what several media outlets said was an investigation into possible financial crimes. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the reports, and Kolomoiskiy could not be reached for comment. Ukrainian anti-corruption officials are also investigating a case in which they suspect eight people of embezzling assets and funds from a state-controlled oil company formerly tied to Kolomoiskiy. The United States sanctioned him in 2021 "due to his involvement in significant corruption". U.S. authorities have also alleged Kolomoiskiy and a business partner laundered stolen funds through the United States.

In a statement that did not name Kolomoiskiy, the SBU published the same photographs, but with the person's face blurred out. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change," Arakhamia wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The head of the State Bureau of Investigation said the law enforcement action was "only the beginning". The oligarchs took control of swathes of industry during the post-Soviet privatisations of the 1990s and wield influence to this day. Reporting by Olena Harmash; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Who is Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoiskiy?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Ukrainian business tycoon Ihor Kolomoiskiy speaks with journalists on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine September 13, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoKYIV, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian law enforcement and security officials searched the home of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday. EARLY LIFEKolomoiskiy was born in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk, which was then part of the Soviet Union and is now known as Dnipro. SANCTIONSThe United States imposed travel sanctions on Kolomoiskiy in 2021 "due to his involvement in significant corruption", partly while serving as governor of Dnipropetrovsk. U.S. authorities have also alleged that Kolomoiskiy and a business partner laundered stolen funds through the United States.

[1/2] A car rides on an empty road near a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 29, 2023. In Paris after meeting Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said "there was no taboo" about supplying Kyiv with fighter planes. Russian forces on Tuesday made no headway in attempts to advance on Avdiivka, the second focal point of Russian attacks in Donetsk region, Kyiv's military general staff said. Russian forces also tried to advance near Lyman, a town further north in Donetsk region that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in October, the military said. Russia was reaching further west in Donetsk by firing on the town of Vuhledar and a half dozen other towns and villages, the Ukraine military said.

☆ Kyiv berates Croatian president for saying Crimea won't return to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Ukraine's foreign ministry criticised Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday for saying Crimea would never return to Ukrainian control, describing his comment as "unacceptable." Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and Kyiv has said it will not abandon efforts to regain control of the region. "We consider as unacceptable the statements of the president of Croatia, who effectively cast doubt on the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook. In the same statement, Nikolenko thanked the Croatian government and people for backing Ukraine's since Russia's invasion in February last year. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has openly voiced support for Ukraine.

☆ Zelenskiy adviser: IOC promotes 'Russian anti-human policy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

That's why it insists Russian athletes should participate in contests as real 'ambassadors of death'," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. "Sport doesn't exist outside politics – sport promotes it. Thus, the IOC promotes the Russian anti-human policy." President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine would launch an international campaign to prevent Russian athletes from being allowed to compete in the 2024 Games. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that any attempt to squeeze Moscow out of international sport was "doomed to fail".

☆ Zelenskiy's party purges lawmaker for wartime trip to Thailand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine's ruling party has kicked out a lawmaker from its parliamentary faction after reports he had travelled to Thailand during Ukraine's grinding war with Russia sparked a public outcry. Tyshchenko said on Facebook he had been on a business trip in Asia with approval of party leaders, "acting exclusively in the interests of Ukraine". The winter visit to sun-soaked Southeast Asia comes amid a crackdown by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy aimed at projecting an image of greater accountability for officials. Zelenskiy has announced a ban this week on private trips abroad by officials. Most Ukrainian men aged 18-60 have already been barred from leaving the country under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Februrary last year.

☆ Ukraine sets up drone assault units
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Friday it was setting up drone assault companies within its armed forces that will be equipped with Starlink satellite communications, as it presses ahead with an idea to build up an "army of drones". Commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi signed off on the creation of the units in a project that will involve several ministries and agencies, the General Staff said. Starlink is a satellite internet system operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, and widely used both by civilians and the military in Ukraine. Unmanned aircraft have played a crucial role on both sides since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Ukrainian forces use drones to drop small explosives on Russian forces and surveil their movements.

☆ Ukrainian authorities detain alleged spy in security service
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Investigators have detained a Ukrainian security official on suspicion of spying for Russia, authorities said on Thursday, part of an effort by Kyiv to weed out moles nearly a year into a war with Russia. The official - a lieutenant colonel in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) which joined the operation - had revealed the location of military checkpoints and other "secret information", the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said. A search turned up mobile phones, Russian SIM cards, cash and other evidence proving "longstanding ties" to Russian state and law enforcement structures, the SBI added. "Today the service works as a single team and is doing the maximum for Ukraine's victory," said SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk in a separate statement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fired the previous SBU director, a childhood friend, last July citing collaboration with Russia by officials in the powerful agency.

Ukraine's long-running struggle with graft has taken on added significance as Kyiv battles for survival while also pursuing a bid to join the European Union. But tackling graft has become more urgent since the European Union offered Kyiv candidate member status last June, months after Russia's invasion. The Ukrainian public, exhausted by 11 months of war, was also clearly a key intended audience for the sackings and resignations. But the same poll, which included nearly a thousand respondents across government-controlled Ukraine, found that 84% trusted Zelenskiy - up from 27% a year earlier. Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Mike Collett-WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ On the one hill with mobile signal, Ukrainian kids build makeshift classroom
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Vitalii Hnidyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Vitalii HnidyiHONTARIVKA, Ukraine, Jan 24 (Reuters) - At the only place in their village where they could find a strong mobile internet signal - a windswept hill on the barren steppe - Ukrainian fifth-grader Mykola Dziuba and his friends have built makeshift tent to serve as a remote classroom. "We sit here for around two or three hours, sometimes just for an hour," said Dziuba as the wind rattled the rickety structure. He said they collected the materials - plastic sheeting, wooden poles, bricks and sand - from around their homes. In the shadow of a water tower on a low hill they discovered the mobile coverage was good enough for a stable internet connection. Repeated Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure since last October have also plunged large parts of the country into periodic power outages.

☆ Ukraine honours interior minister, other senior officials, killed in helicopter crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and first lady Olena Zelenska offer their condolences as they attend a memorial ceremony for Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy and officials who died in the helicopter crash near Kyiv, in Kyiv, Ukraine, January 21, 2023. REUTERS/Nacho DoceKYIV, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A tearful Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended a memorial service on Saturday to commemorate seven senior Interior Ministry officials killed in a helicopter crash this week, a fresh blow to a nation already grieving its many war dead. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy and five other high-ranking ministry officials were killed when their French-made Super Puma helicopter plummeted amid fog into a nursery on the eastern outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday. Another seven people were killed, including one child, in the crash. Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, paid their respects to the victims' relatives inside the hulking Ukrainian House cultural centre in central Kyiv.

☆ Zelenskiy honors Ukraine officials killed in helicopter crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A tearful Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended a memorial service on Saturday to commemorate seven senior officials killed in a helicopter crash, a fresh blow to a nation already grieving its many war dead. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy and five other high-ranking ministry officials were killed on Wednesday when their French-made Super Puma helicopter plummeted amid fog into a nursery near Kyiv. Another seven people were killed, including one child, in the crash. [1/7] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and first lady Olena Zelenska offer their condolences as they attend a memorial ceremony for Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy and officials who died in the helicopter crash near Kyiv, in Kyiv, Ukraine, January 21, 2023. Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, paid their respects to the victims' relatives inside the hulking Ukrainian House cultural centre in Kyiv.

☆ 'Where are the kids?' Ukrainian mother recounts helicopter crash horror
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The young mother ran to the burning nursery but could not see her daughter. Some kids were in ambulances," she said on Thursday, a day after the crash in the town of Brovary outside Kyiv. She said it was too early to say what caused the crash, but Ukrainian officials have not blamed it on Russia. [1/4] A relative looks at the site of a helicopter crash, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, January 19, 2023. But thank God, Sofiika fell ill, so we weren't there," the mother said at the vigil, her daughter beside her.

Together with Moscow, Minsk has also been bolstering the drills with weaponry and military equipment. The Belarusian defence ministry said only that "units" of Russia's air forces have been arriving in Belarus. Ukraine's Air Force said the apartment block was struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which is known to be inaccurate and that Ukraine lacks the air defences to shoot down. SOLEDARIn Ukraine's eastern Donbas region - the focal point of Russia's drive to capture more territory - Ukraine's forces were battling around the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Russian forces claimed to have taken control of the town, but Ukraine insisted on Sunday that its forces were battling to hold the town, with street fighting raging and Russian forces advancing from various directions.

☆ Dnipro mayor says chances are minimal of finding survivors in wrecked apartment building
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Herbert Villarraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DNIPRO, Ukraine, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The chances are "minimal" of pulling more survivors from the wreckage of an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that was hit by a Russian missile strike on Saturday, the city's mayor told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. "I think the chances of saving people now are minimal. The Dnipro City Council reported after Filatov made his comments that the death toll had risen to 23, while 43 people had been reported missing. As Filatov spoke, rescue workers were digging through smashed concrete and twisted metal from a portion of the building. "But the missile flew by and hit a residential building," he said.

☆ German minister promises Ukraine weapons, EU accession help on surprise trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In a statement ahead of a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Baerbock expressed Germany's solidarity with Ukrainians living through Russia's invasion and harsh winter conditions. After Germany last week promised to send Marder fighting vehicles to Ukraine as part of increased military support, Baerbock promised more weapons, without specifying which ones. Senior Russian legislator Leonid Slutsky, echoing Moscow's line that it launched the war to "denazify" Ukraine, said history would harshly judge the comments by Baerbock. Baerbock also said it was important not to lose sight of Ukraine's place in Europe and its desire to join the EU. She said Germany would provide 20 million euros ($21.47 million) for demining efforts and another 20 million euros to boost Ukraine's access to Starlink internet terminals.

☆ Nobel Prize-winning rights defender goes on trial in Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski, who co-founded the Viasna human rights group, sits inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus January 5, 2023. The 60-year-old, who co-founded the Viasna human rights group, and two other representatives of the group who also went on trial watched from inside a metal cage before proceedings were adjourned until Friday. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties last October, but had been arrested in 2021 along with the two co-workers from Viasna. A fourth rights defender who fled Belarus is being prosecuted in absentia in the same case. "The allegations against our colleagues are linked to their human rights activity, the Viasna human rights centre's provision of help to the victims of politically motivated persecution," the group said of the case.

☆ Ukrainian volunteers deliver bodies, and closure, to troops' families
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Herbert Villarraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Oleksii Lukov 37 examines a fallen Ukrainian soldier’s helmet as his team searches, exhumes and retrieves bodies of soldiers, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Yampil, Ukraine, January 2, 2023. "Black Tulip" exhumes bodies of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers on the battlefield and trades the bodies of deceased Russian soldiers they find for the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers to return to their families. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneYAMPIL, Ukraine, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Combing the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, a group of volunteers have made it their mission to search for the bodies of fallen soldiers and return them to their families. Made up of around 100 volunteers, the group undertakes the at times dangerous task of locating and exhuming bodies of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers close to the front line. Bodies are often found with the remains of explosive weapons, and some are booby-trapped, the group said.

That was on top of 31 missile attacks and 12 air strikes across the country in the past 24 hours. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter: "Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still does not seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron." Russian media also reported multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with local officials saying at least nine people were wounded. There was no immediate response from Kyiv, which rarely comments on attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine.

☆ Russian missiles strike Kyiv on New Year's Eve, at least one dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] A local resident embraces his son as they stand next to a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 31, 2022. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person had been killed and eight wounded after a series of explosions in the capital. The governor of the surrounding Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, had warned shortly beforehand of a possible incoming missile attack, and said air defences in the region were engaging targets. In the western city of Khmelnytskyi, two people were wounded in a drone attack, Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. "With each new missile attack on civilian infrastructure, more and more Ukrainians are convinced of the need to fight until the complete collapse of Putin's regime," it wrote.

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