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☆ Bakhmut: Russia has claimed to control the besieged city, but Ukraine says it's still fighting. Here's what we know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Ukraine has claimed it still controls parts of Bakhmut after Russian forces said they had finally captured the besieged eastern city. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Monday that Ukrainian forces were still in control of some buildings in the southwest of Bakhmut, two days after Russia claimed to have captured the city. Russian forces, bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, have taken heavy losses trying to capture the city. Only two roads out to the west have remained outside Russian control, though for Ukrainian forces trying to re-supply the city, the drives in have been treacherous. Before the war, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut, a city once famous for its sparkling wine.

☆ Russia's Wagner group claims to have captured Bakhmut but Ukraine says it still controls a part of it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Darya Tarasova Sugam Pokharel Thom Poole Rob Picheta | Darya Tarasova | Sugam Pokharel | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied claims Bakhmut has fallen to Russia after the chief of the mercenary Wagner group said his forces had taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian city following months of brutal fighting. In a later update the Armed Forces of Ukraine said: “The battles for the city of Bakhmut continue”. Wagner received a message of praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian forces, bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, have taken heavy losses trying to capture the city. Before the war, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut, a city once famous for its sparkling wine.

☆ Ukraine banks’ robust health masks big challenges
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Pierre Briancon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Across the banking sector, deposits are as abundant as they’ve ever been, and the country’s lenders have found ways to remain profitable. The National Bank of Ukraine, the country’s central bank, deserves plaudits for both its preparations before the war and after it began. NPLs crept up to 38% of total sector loans as of January 1 this year, according to the central bank. It has the equivalent of $4.8 billion in non-performing loans, a staggering 67.5% of its loan portfolio, according to central bank numbers. The fact that Ukraine’s banks not only still exist but are thriving is an achievement in itself.

☆ Zaporizhzhia: Evacuations from Russian-occupied Ukrainian region raise concerns of nuclear power plant safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Helen Regan Julia Kesaieva Mariya Knight Katharina Krebs Kostan Nechyporenko Stephanie Halasz | Helen Regan | Julia Kesaieva | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But the evacuation of a town close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has raised concerns about the facility’s stability. The plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, is held by Russian forces but mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce. The plant is also significant because Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. On the groundOn Sunday, Ukraine’s Operation Command South spokeswoman said Russian forces were trying to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense system. Bakhmut has been the site of a months-long assault by Russian forces that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated.

☆ 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.

☆ Victory Elusive for Russians in Grinding Battle in Ukraine’s East
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Ian Lovett | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A VILLAGE OUTSIDE AVDIIVKA, Ukraine—The Russian assaults begin at 5 a.m. and last all day, according to Ukrainian troops in and around the eastern city of Avdiivka. Inside the city, airstrikes level buildings and drones drop grenades. On the outskirts, Russian artillery pummels Ukrainian trenches, then infantry try to advance. Then they send two more groups of five, who climb over the corpses of the others,” said Yuriy, a 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier in the area. “They’ve gained some territory, but it’s not strategically significant.”

☆ Russian Missile Barrage Kills 13 in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia targeted cities across Ukraine on Friday in the most severe missile barrage in more than a month, killing at least 13 people, as the Kremlin called for expanding the development and use of drones. Eight Ukrainian regions were targeted in Russia’s overnight strikes, authorities across the country said. Regular Russian missile barrages throughout the fall and winter, aimed at disabling Ukraine’s energy grid and sapping Ukrainians’ morale, failed to achieve their objective, but Russia has continued sporadic attacks throughout spring as its military campaign to gain territory in Ukraine’s east has largely ground to a halt.

☆ Russian Missile Barrage Kills at Least 23 in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia targeted cities across Ukraine on Friday in the most severe missile barrage in more than a month, killing at least 23 people, as the Kremlin called for expanding the development and use of drones. Eight Ukrainian regions were targeted in Russia’s overnight strikes, authorities across the country said. Ukraine has resisted Russian missile barrages throughout the fall and winter aimed at disabling Ukraine’s energy grid and sapping Ukrainians’ morale. But Russia has continued sporadic attacks throughout spring as its military campaign to gain territory in Ukraine’s east has largely ground to a halt.

☆ Russian Missile Barrage Kills at Least 25 in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia targeted cities across Ukraine on Friday in the most severe missile barrage in more than a month, killing at least 25 people, as the Kremlin called for expanding the development and use of drones. Eight Ukrainian regions were targeted in Russia’s overnight strikes, authorities across the country said. Ukraine has resisted Russian missile barrages throughout the fall and winter aimed at disabling Ukraine’s energy grid and sapping Ukrainians’ morale. But Russia has continued sporadic attacks throughout spring as its military campaign to gain territory in Ukraine’s east has largely ground to a halt.

☆ A Chinese Ambassador’s Comments on Ex-Soviet States Draw Ire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Steven Erlanger | David Pierson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The recent rhetorical gyrations of Chinese diplomats — including Mr. Lu and Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the European Union — suggest that Beijing is still struggling to strike a balance between courting European leaders and supporting Russia, with which it has declared a “no limits” partnership. The war in Ukraine has put Beijing in an awkward position: It has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion while also promising not to help Russia militarily in its war. He said that Crimea was Russian historically and had been handed over to Ukraine. Still, Mr. Lu’s comments have caused confusion and anger in Ukraine and the European Union, especially among those countries of Eastern and Central Europe that were under Soviet rule or occupation. The Baltic nations, which were annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II, are especially sensitive to any suggestion that their sovereignty is under question.

☆ Ukraine-Russia War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

As she told her story with the help of an interpreter, some members of the House committee grew visibly emotional. At one point, the turret of an armored vehicle was pointed at them, Ms. Bobrovska said. Ms. Bobrovska said he and other Ukrainian children were visited by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who informed them that they would be adopted. Roman eventually managed to return to Ukraine with the help of volunteers, Ms. Bobrovska said, but she did not detail how, citing safety concerns. The prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, addressed the Republican-led House committee after the survivors’ testimony to urge increased international pressure on Russia to return the children.

☆ Ukraine Says Russia Is Using ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics in Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia is using “scorched earth” tactics as it fights to take Bakhmut, a top Ukrainian military commander said Monday, as the city in Ukraine’s east is reduced to rubble after months of heavy combat for which Kyiv and Moscow have paid a heavy price in lives and equipment. “The fighting from both sides is tough,” said Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s commander of ground forces overseeing the Bakhmut campaign in a visit to troops, according to the military. Russia, he said, is “destroying buildings and military positions with airstrikes and artillery fire.”

☆ Ukraine Downs Russian Warplane Near Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ukraine said its forces shot down a Russian warplane near Bakhmut while repelling multiple attempts by the Kremlin’s forces to seize the eastern city, which has become an important prize in the broader war. Bakhmut, a small city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, has become a central battleground in Russia’s assault on the country, with the fight there taking on increasing symbolic and strategic importance to both sides after more than six months of brutal combat. Ukraine’s forces have held out in the city against overwhelming Russian firepower after the Kremlin’s forces began targeting the area last summer.

☆ Wagner’s convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. Four of the men said they were personally recruited by Yevgeny Prigozhin as he toured Russia’s prison system to bolster his private army. I wish all real men would join Wagner.”The war in Ukraine is straining Russia’s military capacity. One of the convict recruits told Reuters he travelled to a Wagner training camp in the Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region. According to the United States, by mid-February Wagner had suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, including 9,000 dead, almost all of them convicts.

☆ Russian Forces Press Ukrainian Defense in Northeast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( James Marson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russian armed forces were trying to break through Ukrainian defense lines in Ukraine’s northeast on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, a sign of building Russian pressure across the front. Serhiy Haidai , governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province, said the number of Russian attacks around the city of Kreminna, long a target for Ukrainian troops, had soared. Russian forces were also assaulting Bilohorivka, he said, a much-contested village to the south of Kreminna.

☆ Russia Claims Gains in Battle for Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ian Lovett | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine—Russian forces claimed new advances in their effort to encircle the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, while European leaders arrived in Kyiv to discuss further military aid. Yevgeny Prigozhin , leader of Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization that is leading the assault in Ukraine’s east, said Wednesday that his forces had seized the village of Sacco and Vanzetti, north of Bakhmut. Rybar, a Telegram channel linked to the Kremlin, said Thursday that Wagner was claiming territory on the contested east side of the city, seizing a sparkling-wine factory and a meat-processing plant.

☆ A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +18 min

The resting places were adorned with simple wooden crosses and brightly coloured wreaths that bore the insignia of Russia’s Wagner Group - a feared and secretive private army. The news agency matched the names of at least 39 of the dead here and at three other nearby cemeteries to Russian court records, publicly available databases and social media accounts. He said gravediggers told him the bodies had come from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, close to Russia’s border with Donetsk region. According to Russian court documents, Kochas and another man burst into the apartment of an acquaintance while drunk in an attempted robbery. But he refused, so he’s a fool.”A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army By Felix Light and Filipp Lebedev in Tbilisi and Reade Levinson in London Photo editing: Simon Newman Graphics: Fielding Cage Art direction: Eve Watling Edited by Janet McBride

☆ Russia nears breakthrough after months of 'savage' fighting in eastern Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Patrick-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Patrick Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Russia has struggled to advance in the area for months, with both sides suffering huge losses as it became a focal point of the conflict after Ukraine's successful counteroffensive in the south. But the Kremlin's forces appeared to have made progress in Soledar in recent days. There is almost no life left.”“The whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers and scars from the strikes,” he added. The Moscow-backed leader of the occupied areas of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state TV on Tuesday that Russian forces were “very close” to taking Soledar, but that the gains were coming at a high price. Taking the town would create “good prospects” to then take Bakhmut, he said.

☆ Ukraine Sets Sights on Retaking Key Eastern City
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukrainian authorities said their army was closing in on the Russian-occupied city of Kreminna, control of which could allow Kyiv to significantly expand its efforts to retake Russian-held areas in Ukraine’s east. Kreminna, a city in the eastern Luhansk region with a prewar population of 18,000, is being abandoned by Russia’s military command as Ukrainian troops advance through the mined and heavily fortified area surrounding it, said Serhiy Haidai , the governor of Luhansk.

☆ Moscow and Kyiv Battle for Towns in Ukraine’s East
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LVIV, Ukraine—Heavy fighting continued on Tuesday in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is pushing to seize the city of Bakhmut while Ukraine presses to wrestle back parts of the Luhansk region that Moscow has held for months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky , in a late-night address on Monday, described the situation in the east as “difficult and painful” but said Russia was expending substantial resources to achieve only incremental advances on the battlefield.

Bakhmut has been facing the relentless firepower of a frustrated Russian army for months. There was blood everywhere.”Vyacheslav Tarasov, a 48-year-old builder, lost his right arm after shelling in Bakhmut. Peter Rudden/CNNSurgeon Yuri Mishasty treats civilians injured in nearby Bakhmut every day. Jo Shelley/CNNAs the Russian army intensifies its campaign to take Bakhmut, the shelling comes ever nearer to Kostiantynivka, 25 kilometres (about 15 miles) to the west. Since the beginning of the month, the town has been hit almost every day, the hospital director says.

Much of Ukraine’s resisting force has had to hunker down in muddy trenches, fighting tooth and nail to deny Russian forces a victory they desperately crave. Vasco Sousa Cotovio/CNNFamily tiesCaesar’s ideological drive is not the only reason some Russians have chosen to side with Ukrainians on the battlefield. Evidence of mass graves and civilian executions in those areas emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kyiv region in early April. Russian soldiers fighting for Ukraine could face tougher consequences than their Ukrainian counterparts if they’re captured by the enemy. Vasco Sousa Cotovio/CNNBut pain and death are not a part of this unit’s lexicon, even as they face overwhelming odds in Bakhmut.

☆ Russia Strikes Maternity Ward in Southern Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Thomas Grove | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rescuers at the site of a maternity ward destroyed by a Russian missile attack in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Wednesday. KYIV, Ukraine—Russian missiles struck a hospital and other civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’s east and south, killing at least three people including an infant, while Western officials questioned the extent of Moscow’s weapon supplies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a strike on a maternity ward in Vilnyansk in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia was intentional.

☆ Russia Steps Up Artillery Attacks in Ukraine’s East
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ODESSA, Ukraine—Russian artillery pounded the positions of Ukraine’s defenders in the country’s east as Moscow stepped up its efforts to capture more territory there, Ukrainian authorities said, while Kyiv sought to win international support for its peace terms. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had launched more than 400 artillery attacks against Ukrainian positions on Sunday alone. “Thank you to every man and woman who is holding their positions and helping our defense forces,” Mr. Zelensky said in a video address late Sunday.

☆ Russia Redoubles Attacks in Ukraine’s East After Retreat From Kherson
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Isabel Coles | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine as Russian forces renewed their efforts to advance there after retreating from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. The loss of Kherson—the only regional capital seized by Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February—was a major blow for Moscow, which claimed to have absorbed the Kherson region into its own territory in September. But the retreat has also freed up about 20,000 troops for Russia to redeploy to other fronts, including in the eastern Donetsk region.

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