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☆ Ukraine says it caught a sleeper agent who sent video of a crowded restaurant to Russia before a deadly missile strike blew it apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk left several dead and dozens injured. Kyiv said it caught a Russian sleeper agent who was monitoring the restaurant before the strike. This photograph shows a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, after a missile strike hit it on June 27, 2023. Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images'The russian agent will undoubtedly stand trial in a Ukrainian court. Search and rescue efforts continue after a Russian missile attack hit Ria Restaurant, popular place of meeting in the city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine on June 27, 2023.

Persons: —, GENYA SAVILOV, Wojciech Grzedzinski, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kramatorsk, Tuesday's, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin's Organizations: Russian, GRU, Service, Security Service, Getty, Anadolu Agency, Russia's Locations: Ukrainian, Kramatorsk, Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine's Donetsk, Moscow, AFP, russia, Belarus

☆ Twin sisters among 11 killed in Russian attack on Ukraine's Kramatorsk
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sisters Anna and Yulia Aksenchenko would have turned 15 in September, Kramatorsk city council's education department said in a Facebook post under a picture of the two girls smiling for the camera. Asked about the attack on Kramatorsk, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia attacked only military targets, not civilian ones. A second missile hit a village on the fringes of Kramatorsk, wounding four people. Russia has frequently hit Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion in February 2022. A missile strike killed 63 people at a railway station there in April 2022, one of the worst single air strikes of the war.

Persons: Oleksandr Ratushniak, Anna, Yulia Aksenchenko, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Max Hunder, Anna Pruchnicka, Pavel Polityuk, Peter Graff, Timothy Organizations: REUTERS, Kremlin, Russia, Russia's Defence Ministry, Reuters, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Russian, Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Russia, KRAMATORSK, Ukrainian, Donetsk province

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Countdown started on Kremlin regime, Ukraine official says; Belarus receives Wagner leader Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Members of the Wagner Group prepare to depart from the Southern Military District's headquarters and return to their base on June 24, 2023 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko urged dissenters not to create divisions in his relationship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, after Minsk stepped in to provide sanctuary to failed insurrectionist and former Kremlin ally Yevgheny Prigozhin. The Wagner leader arrived in Belarus on Tuesday. Prigozhin's rebellion has spurred Ukrainian hopes of deepening cracks and a nascent decline to the Putin regime. On the frontline, Ukraine has accused Moscow of a missile attack in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, which allegedly struck a restaurant, leaving at least eight dead.

Persons: Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, insurrectionist, Yevgheny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Putin Organizations: Wagner Group, Southern Military, Kremlin Locations: Rostov, Don, Russia, Belarusian, Minsk, Ukraine, Belarus, Moscow, Kramatorsk

☆ Russian missile hits restaurant in Ukraine's Kramatorsk killing at least eight
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, June 27 (Reuters) - A Russian missile struck a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least eight people and wounding 56, emergency services said, as rescue crews combed the rubble in search of casualties. A second missile hit a village on the fringes of Kramatorsk, injuring five, but the main casualties were at the restaurant, where at least three children were among the dead. A Russian missile also hit a cluster of buildings in Kremenchuk, about 375 km (230 miles) west in central Ukraine, exactly a year after an attack on a shopping mall there that killed at least 20. In Kramatorsk, a city frequently targeted by Russian attacks, emergency workers scurried in and out of the shattered restaurant as residents stood outside embracing and surveying the damage. [1/9]A view shows a building of a restaurant heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 27, 2023.

Persons: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ron Popeski, Chizu Nomiyama, Leslie Adler, Mark Heinrich, Cynthia Osterman, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Police, Reuters, Donetsk Regional, Civil, Facebook, Thomson Locations: KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Russian, Ukrainian, Kramatorsk, Kremenchuk, Donetsk region, Donetsk, Russia, Donetsk province, town's

CNN —Russian missiles struck the busy city center of the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and a nearby village on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, according to local officials. An eyewitness to the aftermath of the strike in Kramatorsk city described up to a dozen people being pulled from the rubble. A restaurant heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in central Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 27, 2023. The attack happened at around 7:30pm local time, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk region military administration, said on Ukrainian state TV. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the frontlines of the Donetsk region, later announcing that Ukrainian forces had advanced “in all directions.

Persons: “, Ihor Klymenko, Andriy, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Wagner, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: CNN, Internal, Reuters, Monday Locations: Russian, Kramatorsk, “ Russia, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Bilenke, Donetsk

☆ A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Lynsey Addario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

A Boy’s Life on theFront Lines In a Ukrainian town, an 11-year-old navigates a childhood transformed by war. He lived with his mother, Lena, and his 23-year-old half sister, Angelina, in a borrowed one-story home about four miles from Russian positions to the east. “I remember how I used to have fun here with my friends,” Yegor said. Now only his father, Sasha, remained there, trapped behind Russian lines caring for the home and animals on the road out of Mariupol. But the war had forced Yegor into a sedentary life, almost always behind closed doors.

Persons: Lena, Angelina, Lena didn’t, Yegor, ” Yegor, ”, “, ’, ‘, ‘ Sonny, Sasha, squander, they’ll Organizations: Yegor Locations: Ukrainian, Donbas, Ukraine, stretchers, Kramatorsk, Chernivtsi

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — The team of soldiers had been out of their Ukrainian armored personnel carrier for only a matter of minutes when the tree line in front of them erupted in Russian gunfire. The dozen or so soldiers, sent to reinforce a trench, found themselves pinned down for hours. “Never seen that much fire, from so many positions,” a soldier recounted in a mission report obtained by The New York Times. One soldier fighting for Ukraine was killed and nine were wounded in the battle, which took place in March near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. It was a deadly demonstration that the Russian military was learning from its mistakes and adapting to Ukrainian tactics, having grossly underestimated them initially.

Persons: ” Organizations: The New York Times Locations: KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Bakhmut

☆ Russian missile attacks on Odesa and Donetsk region kill at least six, Ukraine says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Emergency services personnel work to control a fire at a business centre and the warehouse of a retail chain, caused by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine in this image released June 14, 2023. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERSKYIV, June 14 (Reuters) - Russian missiles struck civilian buildings in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa and eastern Donetsk region overnight, killing at least six people, Ukraine's military and local officials said early on Wednesday. Russia launched four cruise missiles on the city of Odesa, the South command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. The three people killed were working at a retail chain's warehouse when a missile hit, setting it ablaze, the military added. In a separate missile strike, Russian forces killed three civilians in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Facebook.

Persons: Serhiy Bratchuk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Lidia Kelly, Pavel Polityuk, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Emergency Service of, REUTERS, Russia, Ukraine's Armed Forces, Facebook, Ukrainian Air Forces, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Odesa, Emergency Service of Ukraine, Handout, REUTERS KYIV, Ukraine's Black, Donetsk, Ukraine's, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Russia, Melbourne, Kyiv

☆ Russia is claiming victory in Bakhmut, but the price it paid for it 'doesn't bode well' for Putin's bigger plans, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Russian forces are claiming victory in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. Russian leadership praised Wagner for its achievements in the devastated city of Bakhmut and promised the presentation of state awards. Casualty estimates likely skew significantly higher for Russian forces. AdvertisementAdvertisementBy April 11, Russian forces occupied over 76 percent of the city, according to a terrain assessment from the ISW think tank. An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26, 2023.

Persons: it's, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Gen, Oleksandr Syrskiy, Bakhmut, Wagner, ISW, Russia's, Vladimir Putin's, bode, Jeffrey Edmonds, Jens Stoltenberg, Marina Miron, Zelenskyy, Putin, Miron, Edmonds Organizations: Military, Service, Wagner Group, Institute for, CIA, AP Moscow, Russian, NATO, CNN, Moscow, AP, King's College London's Centre, Military Ethics, Bakhmut Locations: Bakhmut, Ukraine's Donetsk, Ukrainian, Moscow, Washington, Ukraine, Berlin, Soviet, Stalingrad, Russia, Kyiv, Donbas, Donetsk, Kramatorsk, Moreso

☆ Explainer: How important is Wagner's claimed capture of Bakhmut?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] A general view shows a building damaged by a Russian military strike, amid their attack on Ukraine, in the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Alex... Read moreLONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of intense fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. Zelenskiy portrayed "Fortress Bakhmut" as a symbol of defiance which he said was bleeding the Russian military dry. If confirmed, Bakhmut would be Russia's first major capture since July last year and a morale-boosting battlefield win after a string of defeats. The city's capture would be a boost for Russia's most high-profile mercenaries - Wagner - and their publicity-hungry founder Prigozhin.

☆ Russia's Prigozhin says Bakhmut will not fall in next two days
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 19 (Reuters) - Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the city of Bakhmut was unlikely to fall to his mercenary forces in the next two days as fighting raged around Ukrainian soldiers holed up in a makeshift "fortress" in the south of the city. The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, known in Russia by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, is in ruins after months of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces who call it the "meat grinder". "Bakhmut has still not been taken," Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on Telegram. "Bakhmut is unlikely to be taken either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian defenders have held out.

☆ Arman Soldin: AFP journalist killed in rocket fire near eastern Ukraine's Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A French journalist working for the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) was killed by rocket fire near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. “We are devastated to learn of the death of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in eastern Ukraine today,” AFP said. Their reporting team was with Ukrainian soldiers when they came under fire around 4:30pm local time on Tuesday, according to AFP. “The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman,” said Fabrice Fries, CEO of AFP, according to the news agency. In their obituary, AFP wrote that Soldin celebrated his 32nd birthday on March 21 from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: New drone attack on southern Russia refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - A drone attack on the Ilsky oil refinery in southern Russia, the second in as many days, has caused a fire, TASS news agency reported on Friday, citing emergency services. FIGHTING* Ukrainian military command said in its Friday morning report that 18 out 24 drones launched by Russian forces had been shot down. * Nearly 50 Russian attacks were repelled along the main sectors of the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday evening. * Record high water levels could overwhelm a major dam in southern Ukraine and damage parts of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, a Russian official told TASS news agency. DIPLOMACY/POLITICS* Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss a deal that allows the exports of Ukrainian grains on the Black Sea, the Turkish Defence Minister said.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Wagner Group threatens to exit Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WAGNER* Standing in a field of corpses, Russian Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin published an expletive-ridden video personally blaming top defence chiefs for losses suffered by his fighters. * However, Ukraine said Russia was bringing Wagner fighters from other parts of the front line to fight in Bakhmut. * Former Russian deputy defence minister Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev has joined the Wagner Group as a deputy commander, Russian pro-war social media channels reported. * Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss the renewal of the deal, the Turkish Defence Minister said. QUOTES* "Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are increasing exponentially every day," Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

CNN —Moscow alleged Wednesday Ukraine flew two drones toward the Kremlin overnight in what it claimed was an attempt to kill President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine says it had no knowledge of any attempted drone strike on the Kremlin, that it did not attack other countries. “As President Zelensky has stated numerous times before, Ukraine uses all means at its disposal to free its own territory, not to attack others,” Nykyforov added. The Kremlin Press Service called the purported drone attack an “attempt on the President’s life.” “Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” it added. Russia has accused Ukraine of multiple attempted drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, including one earlier this year when the governor of the Moscow region claimed a Ukrainian drone had crashed near the village of Gubastovo, southeast of the capital.

☆ Russia's Prigozhin: Ukrainian counter-offensive is 'inevitable'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 26 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's private Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Ukraine was preparing for an "inevitable" counter-offensive and was sending well-prepared units to the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, for many months the focal point of fighting. But he said his forces would do whatever it takes to halt any Ukrainian attempt to retake the city. "We will advance at any cost, just to grind down the Ukrainian army and disrupt their offensive," Prigozhin said. Russia has said capturing Bakhmut will allow it to mount further offensives in eastern Ukraine. Despite downplaying its strategic significance for Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnkiy has repeatedly refused to withdraw his forces.

☆ Russia says it has gained more ground in battle for Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The battle for Bakhmut has turned into one of the bloodiest of the 14-month war, with the Eastern Ukrainian city almost completely destroyed by artillery shelling and urban combat. Russia says capturing Bakhmut will allow it to mount further offensives into eastern Ukraine. If they succeed, Moscow's forces are likely to face even larger urban battles for the nearby towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private Wagner military force which is leading the assault on the city, has claimed his troops control 80% of Bakhmut. "There is no enemy foothold on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river ... our military completely controls that territory," Vladimir Saldo wrote on his Telegram channel.

Kyiv and the West accuse Russian forces of committing war crimes in occupied Ukrainian territory, which Moscow denies. Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk are the four regions that Putin proclaimed annexed last September following what Ukraine said were sham referendums. Russian forces only partly control the four regions. HEAVY ARTILLERYFighting has raged in and around Bakhmut in Donetsk region for months, with Ukrainian forces holding out despite regular claims by Russia to have taken the city. "Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences," they said.

☆ Russia increases shelling, air strikes in Bakhmut - Ukrainian general
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Adam Tactic Group/Handout via REUTERSKYIV, April 18 (Reuters) - Russian forces are stepping up their use of heavy artillery and air strikes in the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces said on Tuesday. Fighting in and around Bakhmut has for months been the epicentre of the war in Ukraine. "Currently, the enemy is increasing the activity of heavy artillery and the number of air strikes, turning the city into ruins," General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a statement. Russia says Ukrainian forces have also suffered heavy losses in Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military is widely expected to mount a counteroffensive in coming weeks or months aimed at recapturing Russian-held territory.

☆ Ukrainian paramedic describes dodging artillery fire to get to injured children: 'My mother instinct kicks in'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tetiana, a paramedic, has been working in the separatist region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Despite this, the most difficult part of the job is treating injured children, she told Insider. We have to wear body armor and protective gear when we go close to the front lines," she told Insider. "But once I get there and I'm working with people, giving them treatment, soothing them, I'm only in work mode. She told Insider that she once treated a girl who had her leg blown off after her home was shelled in a Russian attack in the city of Kramatorsk.

☆ Nine killed in Russian strike, rescue teams sift through wreckage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kai Pfaffenbach | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Emergency services in eastern Donetsk Region, in a statement on Facebook, said the death toll stood at nine at midnight (2100 GMT), including a two-year-old child. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Region, told national television earlier that seven Russian S-300 missiles had been fired. Rescue teams searching for victims sifted through rubble through the night, using cranes, ladders and other heavy equipment in the shells of apartments and stairwells. [1/5] A man stands next to a residential building damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine April 14, 2023. "The evil state once again demonstrates its essence," Zelenskiy wrote in a separate post accompanied by footage of a damaged building.

☆ Ukraine battles rage, Kyiv reported to rethink counter-offensive after leak
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The head of the Moscow-controlled part of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said Russian forces now held 75% of the city. As the battles ground on, U.S. media outlet CNN reported that Ukraine was forced to amend some military plans ahead of its long-anticipated counter-offensive because of the leak of dozens of secret documents. HOT ON THE EASTERN FRONTA Ukrainian counter-offensive has long been expected after months of attritional warfare in the east. Elsewhere, Russia's defence ministry said its forces destroyed a depot with 70,000 tonnes of fuel near Zaporizhzhia, and Ukraine reported widespread Russian shelling in northern regions. In a rare coordination between the warring parties, Russia and Ukraine carried out another prisoner swap, with 106 Russian captives freed in exchange for 100 Ukrainians.

☆ Ukraine bids farewell to fallen opera conductor
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoBROVARY, Ukraine, April 11 (Reuters) - Tearful mourners bid farewell on Tuesday to a celebrated Ukrainian opera conductor who was killed fighting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. Kostiantyn Starovytskyi, who joined the military after Russia's February 2022 invasion, died last week near the city of Kramatorsk. Starovytskyi, 40, had staged numerous operas in Kyiv, including Gaetano Donizetti's Rita, and was invited to the Berlin Opera Academy in 2021 as an assistant conductor. Friends, relatives and fellow service members laid flowers in Starovytskyi's open coffin during a service outside the capital Kyiv, where they reflected on what they described as his positive nature. Starovytskyi is among a growing number of artists, athletes and other public figures who have died fighting Russian forces in Ukraine.

☆ Russian forces step up strikes on two key Ukrainian cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russian forces have been besieging Bakhmut for months in the longest battle in more than a year of war. Ukraine's State Emergencies Service said a 50-year-old man and his daughter, 11, were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast. RUSSIAN ATTACKS REPELLEDMore than 40 enemy attacks had been repelled over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's general staff said. "In central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson region, enemy forces continued to build fortifications," it said. Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces controlled the centre of Bakhmut, with much of their actions now focusing on the city's railway station.

☆ Ukraine seeks to prevent military leaks after NATO assistance plans reportedly appear on social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

"The participants of the meeting focused on measures to prevent the leakage of information regarding the plans of the defence forces of Ukraine," it said. One document posted on social media said 16,000 to 17,500 Russian forces had been killed since the invasion. The Ukrainian military said it was holding on in the city but the situation was difficult. Ukrainian military expert Vladyslav Selezniov has said Ukraine will have to pull back if the route for getting supplies in and wounded out is threatened. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut and understood Russian intentions.

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