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☆ Large Blast Hits Warehouse Near Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There was no immediate suggestion of foul play, and the Russian authorities told Tass that the blast was unrelated to the reports of drones flying near Moscow overnight. Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram that it was looking into the possible “violation of industrial safety requirements.”“We are looking into the causes of the blast and collecting information about those injured,” Dmitry Akulov, the head of the district, wrote on Telegram, according to Tass. He said that more than 30 people had been injured, some seriously. The authorities ordered a “total evacuation” of all plant buildings and workshops.

Persons: ” Dmitry Akulov Organizations: Tass, Federal, Committee Locations: Moscow

In the center of a small Ukrainian city, rescuers shrouded in smoke and dust dug through what remained of buildings and bodies on Tuesday, looking for survivors after a pair of missile strikes that President Volodymyr Zelensky said had killed at least nine people and wounded 82 others. Two Russian missiles hit the city center of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, just 37 minutes apart and in nearly the same location on Monday evening. Pools of blood in the rubble were still wet on Tuesday, human flesh littered the wreckage, and the smell of smoldering fires hung in the air. On the ground floor of the apartment building, Corleone’s, an Italian restaurant that was popular with volunteers and journalists traveling to the front, was destroyed. Cafes, other businesses and a prosecutor’s office were damaged, and a playground was covered with debris.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky Locations: Ukrainian, Russian, Donetsk, Italian

The battle for control of the sea could have implications for global energy markets and world food supplies. In Washington, Biden administration officials had expressed reservations early in the war about Ukraine striking targets or conducting sabotage inside Russia, including its Black Sea ports, fearing that such attacks would only escalate tensions with President Vladimir V. Putin. The United States has prohibited the use of American weapons in any attack against Russian territory, and American officials say they do not pick targets for Ukraine. But the United States and Western allies have long provided intelligence to Ukraine that, along with its own extensive intelligence-gathering networks, Kyiv uses to select targets. The Battle to Project PowerFor centuries, the Black Sea has been at the center of Russia’s efforts to extend its geopolitical and economic influence, leading to clashes with other world powers, including multiple wars with the Ottoman Empire.

Persons: Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Biden, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Ukrainian, NATO, United Locations: Russian, Washington, Ukraine, Russia, United States, Ottoman Empire

A Ukrainian naval drone hit a Russian oil tanker early Saturday off the occupied Crimean Peninsula, the second Ukrainian sea drone attack to strike Russian ships in the Black Sea in two days, Ukrainian and Russian officials said. The engine room of the tanker was damaged, but the ship remained afloat, there was no oil spillage and no crew members were injured, Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said on its Telegram channel. Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, said Ukraine was responsible for the attack and that Kyiv’s forces would continue to attack any ship assisting in the Russian war effort. The tanker was near the Kerch Strait Bridge, a vital connection for Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which has been under Russian occupation since 2014. Mr. Malyuk said Ukraine would continue attacking the bridge until Russian forces completely withdraw from Ukrainian lands.

Persons: Vasyl Malyuk, Malyuk Organizations: Russia’s Federal Agency for, Inland Water Transport, Security Service Locations: Ukrainian, Russian, Crimean, Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea, Ukraine, Kerch, Russia

Ukraine will make a renewed push this weekend at a gathering in Saudi Arabia to win the support of dozens of countries that have remained on the sidelines of the war — the start of a broader campaign in the months ahead to build the diplomatic muscle to isolate and weaken Russia. Ukraine and Saudi Arabia invited diplomats from some 40 governments to talks in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Notable among them were China, India, Brazil, South Africa and some of the oil-rich Gulf nations that have tried to maintain good relations with both Ukraine and Russia throughout the war, which began in February 2022. The meeting is the starting point of what is expected to be a major Ukrainian diplomatic push in the coming months to try to undercut Russia. It began on Wednesday, when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine recalled his ambassadors for an emergency strategy session on how to get the country’s message out to the world.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky Locations: Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Red, Jeddah, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Ukrainian

A Ukrainian maritime drone damaged a Russian warship on the Black Sea on Friday, the most serious strike on Moscow’s navy since last year, demonstrating both the escalating conflict at sea and the growing range and capability of Ukraine’s uncrewed vehicles. The drone slammed into the ship and detonated its explosive payload near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a key naval and shipping hub on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, hundreds of miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory. The New York Times verified multiple videos and photographs of a Ropucha-class landing ship listing to its port side, both being guided into the harbor and at a dock. The same type of ship is seen in a video taken by a naval drone speeding toward the ship and apparently striking it on the port side. Moscow’s fleet keeps a more cautious distance from Ukraine’s coast since Ukrainian forces sank the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, in April 2022, using missiles fired from shore.

Organizations: New York Times, Black Locations: Ukrainian, Russian, Novorossiysk, Ukraine, Ukraine’s

☆ Danube Ports, a Lifeline for Ukraine, Come Under Russian Threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Russia blockaded Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea after its full-scale invasion last year, grain that could feed millions worldwide piled up in silos. Roughly half the world’s supply of the neon used in lasers to make chips was taken off the market. But while Russian ships menaced off the Ukrainian coast, the small ports in the Danube river on the Romanian border kept working, offering a small but vital lifeline. Now, two weeks after the collapse of that deal, the small Danube ports are the only shipping outlet for millions of tons of grain once again trapped in Ukraine — and Russia has made clear they, too, are under threat. “The Danube is our gateway at sea to Europe and the world,” Stanislav Zinchenko, chief executive of GMK, a Kyiv-based economic think tank, said in an interview.

Persons: ” Stanislav Zinchenko Locations: Russia, Ukrainian, Romanian, Ukraine —, Europe, Kyiv

Drones have exploded over the gilded domes of the Kremlin. They have hit strategic Russian air bases hundreds of miles from Ukraine. They have struck a Moscow tower that houses several government ministry offices, including the one responsible for the military-industrial complex. As Ukraine steps up its strikes inside Russian borders this summer, it is also making plain the nature of its targets: military-aligned sites that aid Moscow’s full-scale invasion, now in its 18th month. “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Sunday night.

Persons: Russia —, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: Russian Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Russia

Russian forces struck a grain terminal in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, extending a bombardment of the country’s infrastructure that has raised alarm about Kyiv’s ability to ship grain to the world. Ukraine continues to ask its Western allies to speed up the delivery of more air defense systems and warn that continued Russian bombardment could leave it without the necessary infrastructure to ship grain even if Black Sea shipping lanes open up. Moscow has struck Ukrainian ports near daily since pulling out of a deal last week that allowed Ukraine to ship its grain despite the war. “In two or three months, we may not have a single port left,” Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military southern command, told French journalists this past week. They want to have a monopoly on grain,” she said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, “, ” Natalia Humeniuk Locations: Ukrainian, Kherson, Ukraine, Moscow

Moscow said it shot down two Ukrainian missiles over southwestern Russia on Friday, including one that fell and exploded in a city center — apparently rare instances of Ukraine using such powerful weapons to attack targets inside Russia. Coming as Ukraine, within its own borders, steps up its counteroffensive against the Russian invaders, the missile attacks could signal a more aggressive effort to expand a war that until now has brought death and destruction almost exclusively to Ukrainian territory. Russian officials said one downed missile fell in the city of Taganrog, about 80 miles southeast of the nearest front lines, injuring at least nine people, none severely, and damaging some buildings, and that the other fell in “a deserted area” near the city of Azov, which lies some 25 miles farther from the fighting. Video and photographs circulated by Russian state media and local outlets showed the aftermath of a blast in Taganrog, a port city on the Sea of Azov, including piles of rubble and blown-out windows and garage doors. The regional governor, Vasily Golubev, said the detonation hit near an art museum and a cafe in the city center.

Persons: Vasily Golubev Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Taganrog, “, Azov

☆ With Grinding Advance, Ukraine Aims for Better Shot at Russian Targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukrainian officials have cautioned that their drive toward the Sea of Azov, a key objective of their counteroffensive, will require a bloody slog through extensive minefields and fortified trenches, likely under heavy artillery fire along roads lined with Russian armor and machine guns. But Kyiv has a more immediate goal. That is to penetrate deep enough into occupied territory to bring more Russian military targets within range of Ukraine’s gradually expanding arsenal, further disrupting Moscow’s supply lines and its ability to parry Ukrainian advances. “The main task we face now, in addition to moving forward, is, of course, to weaken the enemy’s ability to defend itself,” Hanna Malyar, the deputy minister of defense, said on Ukrainian national television. “And in fact, this is what we are doing now.”The Ukrainian military claims to be destroying dozens of Russian weapons depots every week while constantly searching for command posts, air defense systems and concentrations of troops to hit.

Persons: parry, ” Hanna Malyar Organizations: Kyiv, Ukrainian Locations: Azov, parry Ukrainian

Battles raged in southern Ukraine on Thursday, as Kyiv’s stepped-up offensive against the Russian occupation made small gains, according to Russian, Ukrainian and Western analysts and officials, but the scope of the assaults and their toll remained unclear. A day after U.S. officials said the main thrust of Ukraine’s counteroffensive appeared to have begun, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said, “We confirm that hostilities have intensified and in a significant way.”But there was minimal, and sometimes contradictory, information about how many troops and armored vehicles Ukraine had committed so far to its attempt to punch holes through Russia’s daunting defensive network. Crucially, it was also unclear what kind of losses either side was suffering, in soldiers and weaponry. What is clear is that Ukraine has significantly ratcheted up its seven-week-old counteroffensive, along two southward thrusts apparently aimed at cities in the Zaporizhzhia region: Melitopol, near the Sea of Azov, and Berdiansk, to the east, on the Azov coast. In both cases, the Ukrainians have advanced only a few miles so far and have dozens of miles to go.

Persons: Kyiv’s, Vladimir V, Putin, “ Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Azov

Three Russian attack helicopters swooped in low over the city of Kreminna, strafing Ukrainian frontline positions just outside the city. Russian drones circled overhead while Moscow’s ground forces fired heavy machine guns to flush out Ukrainians from foxholes hidden in the dappled light of the pine forest. As exploding artillery shells shook the ground around him on Saturday morning, Vlad, a 27-year-old Ukrainian drone operator, spotted a Russian armored personnel carrier bringing more troops to the battle. “They are constantly attacking us,” said Lt. Col. Matviychuk Oleh, a 49-year-old battalion commander with Ukraine’s 100th Territorial Defense Brigade. So far they have been able to prevent a major Ukrainian breakthrough.

Persons: Vlad, ”, Matviychuk Organizations: 100th Territorial Defense Brigade Locations: Russian, Kreminna, Ukraine, Ukrainian

When Russia invaded Ukraine, it put the global food supply at risk — until the two countries struck an unusual deal to keep shipments flowing. Last week, that deal fell apart. Marc Santora, who has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, explains what the collapse of the agreement means for the war and why its impact will be felt by tens of millions of people across the world.

Persons: Marc Santora Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ Russia Attacks Odesa for a Second Night: Ukraine War Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Victoria Kim | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Several waves of missiles and drones were launched at cities across Ukraine overnight, but the assault was particularly concentrated on infrastructure targets in Odesa, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. “It was a hellish night,” Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, said in a video message posted on social media. At least 30 cruise missiles and 32 attack drones were fired at targets across the country, primarily from the Black Sea, the air force said. Ukraine said the assault on Odesa, the country’s largest port, was Russia resuming its blockade of Ukrainian grain ships passing through the Black Sea. The Kremlin issued threats on Tuesday against Kyiv attempting to continue shipments of food through the Black Sea.

Persons: ” Serhiy Bratchuk, Sergei Aksyonov, Serhii Popko Organizations: Reuters, Ukraine’s Air Force, United Nations, ”, Kyiv Locations: Odesa ., Reuters Russia, Odesa, Black, Moscow, Ukraine, Port, Russian, Crimean, Russia, Crimea, Kerch, ” Russia

☆ Why Odesa Is So Important to Ukraine in the War With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Moscow is no longer intent on cutting off Ukraine’s ports simply by blocking ships from leaving, Ukrainian officials said after the latest aerial assault against Odesa on Wednesday. By targeting the city’s shipping facilities with missiles and drones, Ukrainian officials said, Mr. Putin wants to destroy the infrastructure that allows Ukraine, a major grain exporter, to provide food to the world. The three ports that ring Odesa are Ukraine’s largest and include the only deepwater port in the country. Before the war, about 70 percent of Ukraine’s total imports and exports were carried out by sea, and nearly two-thirds of that trade moved through the ports of Odesa. “And this means that they will attack ports, infrastructure and possibly ships,” he warned, speaking on national television.

Persons: Putin, Vasyl Bodnar Organizations: Odesa, Initiative, United Locations: Kyiv, Odesa, Moscow, Ukraine, United Nations, Turkey, Ukrainian, Russia, Ukraine’s

As Russia resumes its blockade of ships carrying food from Ukraine, its military bombarded Odesa and an adjoining port late Tuesday and early Wednesday — specifically targeting the ability to export grain, Ukrainian officials said. Hours later, Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a warning to ship operators and other nations suggesting that any attempt to bypass the blockade might be seen as an act of war. As of midnight, “all ships en route to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo,” it said in a statement. “Accordingly, the flag countries of such vessels will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime.” The ministry added that even parts of the Black Sea in international waters “have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation.”Ukrainian officials accused Russia of using food as leverage in the war, in an attempt to extend Ukraine’s pain to the rest of the globe.

Organizations: Russia’s Ministry of Defense Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Odesa, Kyiv

Explosions thundered above Odesa, Ukraine, as Russia targeted it with missiles and drones before dawn on Tuesday, a day after an apparent Ukrainian strike damaged an important Russian bridge and the Kremlin halted a deal for safe passage of grain ships on the Black Sea. Moscow suggested that the unusual barrage aimed at Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port, was in response to the attack on the strategic Kerch Strait Bridge, which links Russia to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Kyiv had asserted it was related to the grain deal, which the Kremlin denied. “We are talking about a zone that is very close to the area of armed hostilities,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told journalists. Therefore, if something will get formalized without Russia’s participation, these risks need to be considered.”

Persons: ” Dmitri S, ” Organizations: Kremlin Locations: Odesa, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine’s, Kerch, Crimean, Kyiv

The Kerch Strait Bridge that links the Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia, in March. Russian officials blamed Ukraine for the attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge. Ukrainian officials offered no comment on the incident. Video and photographs verified by The Times showed damage to both sides of the road bridge, with the most significant being along a span of the bridge heading into Russia. The attack came as Ukrainian forces were engaged in an ambitious and grinding counteroffensive aimed at driving Russian forces from southern Ukraine.

Persons: Yusov, ”, Vladimir Rogov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Aksyonov, —, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Aksyonov, Mazaeva, Ivan Nechepurenko Organizations: The Times, Ministry, Transport, Russian Federation, Ukrainian, Crimean Locations: Kerch, Crimean, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Crimea, Sevastopol, Belgorod

The blasts were the second time the Kerch Strait Bridge has been hit in 10 months. Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of using maritime drones to assault the bridge, a strategic link for Russian forces fighting in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials celebrated the attack, but neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the blasts. Hours after the attack, Moscow announced that it was pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal, an agreement that had allowed Ukraine to export its grain by sea despite Moscow’s naval blockade. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said the bridge attack was not related to Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the deal, which had helped keep global food prices stable.

Persons: Vladimir V, Dmitri S Organizations: Monday Locations: Crimean, Russia, Kerch, Ukraine, Moscow

☆ Odesa Was Ready to Reclaim Its Beaches. Then a Dam Broke.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last summer, the beaches that ring the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine were crowded with volunteers packing sandbags under bluffs where troops were positioned in machine gun nests as the threat of a Russian amphibious assault still loomed. In the first days of June, the sun was warm, the Black Sea was a shimmering blue, and many Ukrainians were already packing the beaches despite an official ban on swimming. It released a torrent of water rushing down the Dnipro River, washing over towns and villages across southern Ukraine. Thousands of houses and businesses were flooded, vast stretches of rich farmland were ravaged, and the full environmental and economic cost is likely to take years to measure. Now, the tides are carrying much of that to shore, along with a stew of toxic chemicals, fouling the famed beaches of Odesa and other coastal communities.

Locations: Odesa, Ukraine, Russian, Dnipro

☆ Counteroffensive Is Grueling and Costly, but Promising, Ukraine and U.S. Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United Nations’ chief nuclear energy watchdog, Rafael Mariano Grossi, ventured into the war zone on Thursday to visit the endangered Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, held since last year by Russian forces. After crossing the front line to reach the plant, he explained the concern in posts on Twitter, but did not say what he had found. On Thursday, a missile struck Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine, damaging an industrial area and injuring one man, but no deaths were reported. On Tuesday, a strike in the same city hit an apartment block and a warehouse, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens of others. A day earlier, a missile destroyed apartments and a warehouse in Odesa, on Ukraine’s southern coast, killing three people and displacing hundreds, officials said.

Persons: Rafael Mariano Grossi, Grossi Organizations: United Nations ’, International Atomic Energy Agency Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Odesa

☆ Zelensky Signals Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Has Begun
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday offered the strongest confirmation yet that the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive had begun, as battles along a 600-mile front line offered further evidence that the long-awaited counterattack was underway. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are being taken in Ukraine,” he said at a news conference Saturday with the visiting Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “At what stage, I will not disclose in detail.”The Ukrainian military, which guards battlefield information closely, offered only broad acknowledgment of the clashes playing out along the front Friday night into Saturday. Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces firing rockets and artillery hit four Russian command centers, six areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, three ammunition depots and five enemy artillery units in firing positions, Ukraine’s military said. The claims could not be independently verified.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Justin Trudeau, “ Organizations: Saturday, Ukrainian, Military Locations: Ukraine, Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk

☆ As Ukraine Struggles With Floodwaters, Russia Strikes Odesa
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The number of fortifications Russia has installed in the Zaporizhzhia region since 2022 is more than double those erected in other regions of Ukraine where fighting is taking place, the report found, citing satellite data. Zaporizhzhia has become a focal point of intensified fighting in recent days as Ukrainian forces mount an offensive that military analysts say is an effort to sever Moscow’s hold on territory connecting Russia to occupied Crimea. Satellite images suggest that at least some of the Russian fortifications are of low quality, Mr. Jones said. Others sit on top of the earth, when they are supposed to be partly underground, or appear to be eroded by weather, it added. Ultimately, Mr. Jones said, regardless of their quality, fortifications “are only as good as the forces that are defending them.”

Persons: ”, Seth G, Jones, Alexander Palmer, Joseph S, Bermudez Jr, — Organizations: Center for Strategic, International Studies, ” Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia, Moscow, Europe, Washington, Dnipro, Crimea, Melitopol, France

☆ Zelensky Visits Ukraine’s Flood Zone, Where Residents See ‘Horror’ Float By
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Marc Santora | Maria Varenikova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even as rescue workers took boats through flooded streets to get people to safety, Russian forces assailed the city on Thursday afternoon. Shelling struck near an evacuation point at the heart of Kherson, close to where Mr. Zelensky had stood hours earlier, and sent hundreds of people ducking for cover in floodwaters that have loosed land mines and mixed with toxic material. “There was nowhere to hide,” said Serhiy Ludensky, a volunteer from an animal care center, who was on a boat near a flooded square when the shelling struck. The people on the boat managed to break down the door of a flooded dormitory to take shelter there until the explosions stopped. The monthslong bombardment of Kherson, which Russian soldiers once occupied in southern Ukraine, has not let up since an explosion on Tuesday at the Kakhovka dam, up the Dnipro River.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, ”, Serhiy Ludensky Locations: Ukraine, Kherson, Dnipro

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