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☆ At least 20 torture centers in Kherson were directly financed by the Kremlin, international lawyers say in a new report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A photo of a hallway in a building where Russian forces established a torture center in Kherson. In November, Ukrainian forces liberated the southeastern city, once home to more than 280,000 people. A photo of a cell used by Russian forces to detain Ukrainian civilians in the southeastern city of Kherson, Ukraine. A U.N. report previously outlined grisly accusations of war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Pierre Crom | Getty ImagesSurvivors also said in interviews with lawyers that electric shock torture and waterboarding were common tactics used by Russian forces at the torture centers.

☆ Russia used drones to attack civilians, including a child, waiting for aid in a line outside a school, Ukrainian officials allege
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia used drones to attack civilians, including children, waiting for aid, Ukraine officials say. The attack reportedly happened in the Kherson region. The incident is the latest reported Russian attack on Ukrainian civilians during the year-long brutal war. According to Ukrinform, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office released a statement accusing Russian drones of attacking a group of civilians who were waiting for help outside a school. Russian officials announced a full retreat from Kherson in November 2022.

☆ Ukraine clings to Bakhmut but time may be running out as Russians advance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Ukrainian service members ride a self-propelled howitzer, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine February 27, 2023. Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has nevertheless put up fierce resistance. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that defending Bakhmut can go on indefinitely. "From my standpoint, it is not logical to defend Bakhmut at any cost," Rakhmanin said. Russian forces were making preparations for new attacks in central Zaporizhzhia region and on the southern front in Kherson region, the military statement said.

REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerBILOZERKA, Ukraine, March 1 (Reuters) - When Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November, Andrii Povod returned to find his grain farm in ruins. The institute's Baliuk said the war damage could lead to an alarming loss of fertility. ECHOES OF WORLD WAR ONEA working group of soil scientists created by the Ukrainian government estimates it would cost $15 billion to remove all mines and restore Ukraine's soil to its former health. If studies of damage to land during World War One are anything to go by, some areas will never recover. To be sure, World War One lasted four years, and the war in Ukraine only one year so far, but lead remains a key component of many modern munitions, Rintoul-Hynes said.

☆ Russians intensify assault on Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces try to dig in
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Ukrainian aircraft launched three strikes on areas of concentration of Russian forces, according to a statement by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Tuesday night. Bakhmut had a pre-war population of around 70,000 but has been ruined during months of fighting as a focal point of Russian assaults and determined Ukrainian defence. A Russian takeover of Bakhmut would open the way to seizing the last remaining urban centres in the industrial Donetsk province. 'GRINDING SLOG'[1/4] Ukrainian service members ride BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine February 27, 2023. The meeting will be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain's James Cleverly, while China is expected to send its foreign minister, Qin Gang.

☆ Kremlin: Russia open to Ukraine talks, but won't give up annexed regions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia would never renounce its claims to four Ukrainian regions that Moscow declared it had annexed last year following referendums that Kyiv and the West slammed as bogus and illegal. Russia proclaimed it had annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last September in a grand ceremony in Moscow. Peskov said Russia was open to negotiations if Kyiv accepted Moscow's control over the regions. Ukraine says Russian troops must leave every inch of its territory including the four annexed regions and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, before a peace plan can be discussed.

REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerLUCH, Ukraine, Feb 27 (Reuters) - For a Ukrainian village devastated by war, Cold War bunkers built to withstand a nuclear attack that never happened have proven a lifeline for residents who have spent much of the past year living in them. In April, with their village caught between Russian and Ukrainian forces, Gynzhul, her husband Dmytro and their son moved into a warehouse basement, just before their second-storey apartment was shelled. Ukrainian soldiers pushed the Russians south away from Luch last autumn and by early November had recaptured Kherson city. Gynzhul and the others in her bunker live off humanitarian aid and her 4,000 hryvnia ($109) per month salary from her administrative job in the village. Bunker resident Iryna Sichkar said her son was captured early in the war in Mariupol.

☆ Russia's air force is struggling to hit targets in Ukraine, but its missiles can still keep Ukraine's jets at bay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

However, more potent air-to-air missiles are helping Russian jets keep Ukrainian aircraft at bay. However, a potent mix of air-to-air missiles — some of which out-range their Ukrainian counterparts — have helped keep Ukrainian aircraft at bay. The Kh-38 is a Soviet concept dating back to the 1980s, but the Russian air force never procured them "in anything like operationally useful numbers," Barrie said. Russian air-to-air missiles have been "effective in limiting the Ukrainians ability to use their own air force," Barrie said. For now, the only blessing for Ukraine is that Russia doesn't have a lot of these long-range air-to-air missiles.

☆ How Ukraine's 'lifeline' railway runs even as Russia bombs it, according to a man fighting to keep the trains on time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Alexander Kamyshin, CEO of Ukrainian Railways, explained to Insider how the operation keeps going. "Some people say that railways is the lifeline of Ukraine," Kamyshin said in a recent interview with Insider. Kamyshin oversees Ukrainian Railways, the state-owned company that has kept Ukraine's economy and people moving through a brutal year of war. AP Photo/Leo CorreaBut even with the burdens of war, Ukrainian Railways also managed to innovate and expand during 2022. We want to keep growing, to keep constructing, and to keep doing new projects even during the war," Kamyshin said.

☆ A year into the war, Ukraine and the West prepare for the biggest reconstruction since World War II
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

People help to clean up debris at a bus station damaged after a shelling, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine February 21, 2023. Lisi Niesner | ReutersOne year since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's economy and infrastructure are in tatters, with the government and its allies planning the largest rebuilding effort since World War II. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the Ukrainian economy contracted by 30%, a less severe decline than previously projected. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva visited Ukraine this week, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy, among others. It is difficult to predict the size of this debt reduction as it depends on the state of the Ukrainian economy at the time the restructuring is agreed," Nasser said.

☆ Investors piled $354 bln into cash since Ukraine war - BofA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Harry Robertson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerLONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Global investors have allocated $354 billion to cash since Russia's invasion of Ukraine first shook global financial markets in February 2022, according to data released by Bank of America on Friday. The price shock forced central banks to hike interest rates, clobbering stock and bond markets in the process. Since February 2022, investors have pulled $135 billion from bond funds, BofA said, citing figures from financial data company EPFR. Investors have become more positive at the start of 2023, especially about bonds, even as the Ukraine war drags on. Flows into bond funds continued for the eighth straight week last week, BofA said, at $4.9 billion.

☆ Fear, Anger, Love: See Ukrainians’ Texts From the First Hours of War
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Maria Varenikova | Gray Beltran | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

The messages are a snapshot of a fateful day for Ukraine and Europe — capturing the fear, love and support shared in the first hours of war. Ira YeroshkoOh Girls:((( I can’t believe it started friend one yeah. Oleksandr StarunThe war started. Lilia TurchynSvitlanka, the war started Be careful, and tell our mom to be careful with Myroslav Where did you read that? On Feb. 24, she was in Lviv with her husband and 4-year-old son, Ustym.

☆ After a year of death and destruction, Ukraine braces itself for a major escalation in the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Emergency service workers extinguish a fire after shelling on the Bakhmut frontline in Ivanivske, Ukraine as Russia-Ukraine war continues on January 02, 2023. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesWhen Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, it shocked the world. Russia and Ukraine have only published data sporadically on their own casualty rates in the war — so we have to rely on estimates. One former NATO official told CNBC that, sooner or later, Ukraine would need to be given combat aircraft. Kenzo Tribouillard | Afp | Getty ImagesAsked whether he believed Ukraine could prevail and win the war before the end of 2023, Shea said two things need to happen: Western weapons need to arrive quickly and Ukraine must be given aircraft.

☆ Russia welcomes China peace plan, says it is open to talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russia welcomed on Friday Chinese proposals to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and said it was open to achieving the goals of what it calls its "special military operation" through political and diplomatic means. China has called for a comprehensive ceasefire as part of a 12-point plan for dealing with the war, which began a year ago when Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. "With regard to the Ukraine crisis, Russia is open to achieving the goals of the special military operation by political and diplomatic means," Zakharova said. However, this would also mean recognising "new territorital realities" in Ukraine, Zakharova said, referring to Russia's unilateral annexation of four Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Lukhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - as well as of Crimea. Kyiv's Western allies have also reacted coolly to the Chinese proposals, with NATO saying Beijing did not have much credibility as a mediator in view of its close ties with Russia.

☆ Timelapse map shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine reclaimed its land over a year of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new timelapse map from AP shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine fended them off. Putin believed he could capture Kyiv in a matter of days, underestimating Ukraine's military. After a year of war, the conflict is focused on a hard fight in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. Insider previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought Russia could capture Kyiv in about two days, but he seriously overestimated Russia's military. While the war in Ukraine has ebbed and flowed over time, the battle for Kyiv stands as one of the first testaments to Ukraine's resilience and Putin's failure.

☆ Russia spent vast sums paying a network of collaborators before the Ukraine war. Most simply took the money and ran, report says.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia sent masses of cash to pay off officials in Ukraine ahead of the war, the FT reported. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long said that Medvedchuk was Putin's pick to become his puppet leader in Ukraine. With that supposed wellspring of pro-Russian support in Ukraine, the Kremlin envisioned installing Medvedchuk as leader the moment Kyiv had fallen. But none of it was enough to produce the groundswell that Medvedchuk so confidently depicted to Putin, the FT reported. Medvedchuk was arrested by Ukrainian security services in April last year and handed to Russia in a prisoner swap.

KHERSON, Ukraine, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Vladyslav Antoniuk felt euphoric three months ago when he returned to his home city Kherson, the day Ukrainian troops rolled back in and jubilant residents waved blue and yellow flags in the main square to celebrate. Russian soldiers, who retreated just across the Dnipro River, have not been pushed back further and are pummelling the city daily with artillery. On Wednesday, Russian shells hit a bus stop in the city centre, killing six people and wounding a dozen. He said his administration evacuates about 100 people from the city daily on trains and buses on a voluntary basis. Reporting by Rod Nickel in Kherson, Ukraine Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Film offers close-up of Ukraine's bloody Eastern Front
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Directors Vitaly Mansky and Yehven Titarenko speak about the movie 'Eastern Front' during a Reuters interview during the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2023. "I think people usually get some romantic ideas about war from the books, from movies," Yevhen Titarenko, a Ukrainian filmmaker who co-directed the film, told Reuters. The film premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, celebrating the resilience of the Ukrainian people while providing a grisly portrait of the devastation of war. Lviv-born filmmaker Vitaly Mansky co-directed the film with Titarenko, providing additional scenes recorded in Western Ukraine. "The message is not to give anybody the chance to think they can hide from this war," Mansky said.

☆ Dispatch From Kherson: What’s Next for Ukrainians Along the Front Lines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tesla’s Growing Competition in China Goes Beyond Just EVs Tesla is facing pressure in China from the country’s top electric-vehicle company BYD. WSJ unpacks the business and manufacturing strategy of BYD and Tesla to uncover what the competition in China reveals about the race to own the global EV space. Photo Illustration: Mike Cheslik

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Putin gives nuclear warning after Biden's Kyiv visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] Russia's President Vladimir Putin takes part in an event marking Gazprom's 30th anniversary, via video link at a residence outside Moscow, Russia February 17, 2023. Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems were on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. U.S. President Joe Biden, fresh from pledging support for Ukraine on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, was due to rally NATO allies in Warsaw, making his case for a sustained Western effort to ensure Kyiv wins the war. * The United States and Ukraine's President Zelenskiy warned China against supporting Russia. * Financial leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) will meet on Thursday to discuss measures against Russia that will put pressure on it to end the Ukraine war, Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.

Hours before Biden spoke in Poland following a surprise visit to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that Moscow would achieve its objectives in Ukraine and accused the West of plotting to destroy Russia. Biden proclaimed "unwavering" support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering NATO's eastern flank facing Russia, while rejecting Moscow's contention that the West was plotting to attack Russia. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free. "When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. Putin said Ukraine had sought to strike a facility deep inside Russia where it keeps nuclear bombers, a reference to the Engels air base.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Putin gives nuclear warning, Biden rallies allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/7] Russia's President Vladimir Putin takes part in an event marking Gazprom's 30th anniversary, via video link at a residence outside Moscow, Russia February 17, 2023. Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems were on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. DIPLOMACY* "One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv," Biden said at Warsaw's Royal Castle. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free." * A year on from Russia's invasion, Ukraine and its government have not just survived.

☆ A year after Russia’s invasion: How Ukraine endured
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +21 min

REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoIn the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers entered Ukraine. By seizing the city of three million people, and capturing or killing Zelenskiy, Russia’s hope appeared to be that Ukraine would quickly surrender. By March 23, Russia’s advance had captured regions of Ukraine along the Belarus border but Ukraine’s forces had begun reclaiming territory near Kyiv. Satellite imagery of Russia’s military convoy near Invankiv, Ukraine, Feb. 28, 2022. The two sit on a bed, with a radio and teddy bears nearby., image Ukrainian civilians have endured The will of the people of Ukraine continues to be that they remain free.

☆ Russian defence chief keeps job despite Ukraine routs thanks to Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The Russian Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Shoigu or its own performance in Ukraine. Appointed defence minister in 2012, he is part of Putin's inner circle and has enjoyed hunting and fishing holidays with him in his native Siberia. The Russian army has been learning from its mistakes and successfully adapting, the source said. There's no escaping the poor performance of the Russian military". It was "inconceivable", said Jones, that a Western defence minister could have kept his job in such circumstances.

☆ Ukraine war diary: My girlfriend and I bought a new mattress for our apartment in Kyiv. We used it to cover the window when the shelling began.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Ivan OleksiiNearly one year to the day after the war started, I saw my parents at home in Kherson for the first time in over a year. They had no idea I was coming, and I used the Find My Friends function on my iPhone to see where they were. My dad was in the supermarket, so I went in and turned to corner to see him browsing the aisles. Onward to a new yearThe feeling of uncertainty is still very present as we move into the second year of this war. Ukraine will win the war, 100% — and this will include the liberation of all our territories, including Crimea.

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