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More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt. Credit... ReutersUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, staked his nation’s own claim to the holiday, with an address on Monday drawing a parallel between World War II and the current war against Russian invaders. In Russia, various regional governors have cited security concerns in canceling Victory Day events. Igor Artamonov, the governor of the Lipetsk region, which is also near Ukraine, said his decision should not be misinterpreted. “No neo-Nazi scum will be able to mar the great Victory Day.

☆ Ukraine Says It Shot Down Russia’s Most Sophisticated Missile for First Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine used a newly delivered Patriot air-defense system to intercept the most sophisticated missile in Russia’s arsenal for the first time over Kyiv this week, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday. It was the first time Ukraine said that its military had used the advanced American-made missile system, long coveted by the Ukrainians. Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said that the Patriot system was used to shoot down a hypersonic Kinzhal missile fired by Russia over the capital on Thursday. “I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event,” General Oleshchuk said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. “Yes, we have shot down the ‘unparalleled’ ‘Kinzhal.’”There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine’s Western allies, including the United States, of the use of the Patriot or whether it had hit a hypersonic missile.

☆ The Dnipro River, Axis of Life and Death in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Nicole Tung | Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The thunder of artillery echoes night and day over the mighty Dnipro River as it winds its way through southern Ukraine. With Russian and Ukrainian forces squared off on opposite banks, fighters have replaced fishermen, surveillance drones circle overhead and mines line the marshy embankments. Carving an arc through Ukraine from its northern border to the Black Sea, through Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the Dnipro shapes the country’s geography and economy, its culture and its very identity. And now it helps define the contours of battle — as it has for millenniums, a barrier and a conduit to warring Scythians, Greeks, Vikings, Huns, Cossacks, Russians, Germans and many more. Visiting towns and villages along the Dnipro a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, Nicole Tung, a photographer for The New York Times, traveled a path marked by hope and horror, joy and sorrow.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Smoke rises from the side of the Ilsky Oil Refinery manufacturing complex in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. For the past several days, Russian infrastructure near Ukraine’s border and in Russian-controlled Crimea has been targeted repeatedly. But it has usually maintained ambiguity about involvement in attacks on Russian territory. Russian officials reported strikes on train lines in Russia’s Bryansk region on Monday and Tuesday. Four drones also attacked storage facilities on Thursday at one of the largest oil refineries in southern Russia’s Krasnodar Territory, according to Tass, the Russian state news agency.

☆ Russian Mercenary Leader Threatens to Pull Forces From Bakhmut Next Week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Neil Macfarquhar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“These are Wagner guys who died today; the blood is still fresh,” Mr. Prigozhin said, in a speech marked by frequent bleeped-out expletives. The Wagner chief has long criticized Russian military leadership openly, with some analysts attributing the tensions to rivalries for President Vladimir V. Putin’s favor. Mr. Prigozhin has never pointed a finger directly at Mr. Putin over Russia’s setbacks in the war. In February, Mr. Prigozhin accused Mr. Shoigu and General Gerasimov of treason, claiming they were starving Wagner of ammunition. The problem for Wagner was not a lack of ammunition, Mr. Cherevaty said, but a shortage of people to fight and die.

☆ Wagner Leader Threatens to Pull Out of Bakhmut: Russia-Ukraine War Live News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Matt Surman | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Whatever the provenance of the two drones that approached the Kremlin early Wednesday morning, one thing was clear: The Russian government wanted the world to know about them. The Kremlin made a deliberate choice to quickly make public what it claimed was a drone attack aimed at assassinating President Vladimir V. Putin. It published an unusual, five-paragraph statement on its website that named the Ukrainian government as the perpetrator and asserted the right to retaliate against Kyiv. The Kremlin’s messaging diverged significantly from its response to previous episodes involving attacks on Russia or Russian-occupied territory. Now the question is whether Russia will use the incident to justify more and even deadlier strikes against Ukraine.

Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was detained by Russian authorities in March on charges of espionage. He is one of hundreds of journalists currently in custody around the world. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the killings of 14 journalists and media workers have been confirmed there, the committee said. But “we cannot withdraw from reporting about the world,” Mr. Latour said. In total, the event was likely to present a story of “a worldwide assault on journalists, their work and the public’s right to know,” Mr. Sulzberger said.

☆ Russia Ramps Up Pressure on Civilians in Occupied Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia is ramping up pressure on civilians in occupied parts of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, whose forces have stepped up their assaults behind enemy lines ahead of a widely expected counteroffensive. Anticipating the campaign, and still recovering from their costly and stumbling winter offensive, many Russian forces have shifted into defensive positions. Despite its staggering losses, Russia still controls a large swath of Ukrainian territory. The Russian authorities in occupied territory, wary of strikes by Ukrainian partisans and special forces, have imposed strict new measures on civilians. Most recently, they have “reinforced” counterintelligence units and are restricting travel between towns and villages, Ukraine’s military high command said Tuesday.

☆ Russia Tightens Restrictions in Occupied Regions of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Residents waiting for buses in Russian-controlled Mariupol, Ukraine, in December. Russian counterintelligence operatives are restricting travel in occupied areas of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. KYIV, Ukraine — As Ukrainian forces step up their assaults behind enemy lines ahead of an expected counteroffensive, Russia is imposing stricter measures on civilians in occupied areas of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say. The Ukrainian General Staff, which is responsible for the country’s overall military strategy, said “the violent abduction of pro-Ukrainian civilians” in occupied areas was continuing and that there were signs more civilians could be detained. In a reflection of the dangers facing Russian occupiers themselves, both Ukrainian and Russian officials reported an assassination attempt on the Kremlin-appointed deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Tuesday.

☆ As Signs Point to Counteroffensive, Russia and Ukraine Step Up Attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Signs of an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive mounted on Monday with stepped-up military strikes by both sides, Russian forces moving into defensive positions and even an unexplained explosion that knocked a supply train off its tracks across the border in Russia. Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said in an appearance on national television that the military was “reaching the finish line” in preparations to launch a counteroffensive and that commanders would decide “how, where and when.”The day began with Russia launching broad aerial assaults across Ukraine, its second wide-ranging attack in four days. In Pavlograd, a city in central Ukraine, dozens of buildings were damaged, including schools and homes, local officials said, and missile strikes set off a massive fire that lit up the night sky. In Kyiv and elsewhere, explosions echoed across the pre-dawn landscape as air defenses shot down what the Ukrainian military said was 15 of 18 Russian cruise missiles.

☆ Explosions Rock Kyiv After Russian Strike: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Marc Santora | Malachy Browne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Image Emergency workers at the scene of a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Uman, Ukraine, on Friday. A flurry of missiles fired by both sides this weekend appears to mark the next phase of the conflict. Credit... Brendan Hoffman for The New York TimesExplosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday as Ukrainian officials warned of a large-scale Russian missile attack. Air defences intercepted 15 of 18 cruise missiles that Russia aimed at Ukraine, according to the military. The explosions in Kyiv on Monday were a few hours after Russia attacked Pavlograd in central Ukraine, sparking a massive fire that lit up the night sky.

☆ Explosions Over Kyiv as Ukraine Braces for Broad Russian Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Marc Santora | Malachy Browne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday as Ukrainian officials warned of a large-scale Russian missile attack aimed at targets nationwide. About an hour later, a Ukrainian military official confirmed that all of the missiles and drones were destroyed and there were no reports of damage or injuries in Kyiv. The air raid sirens were turned off at about 6:30 a.m. after blaring for three hours.The attacks follow a weekend of explosions deep behind Russian lines, including one at an oil depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday. The spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, Natalia Humeniuk, said the depot fire is part of preparations for “the broad, full-scale offensive that everyone expects” Ukraine to launch soon. Both sides have said they are preparing for a counteroffensive that would likely renew attempts to gain territory.

☆ Deadliest Russian Attack in Months on Ukraine’s Cities Kills at Least 25
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dmytro raced to the room where two of his children had been sleeping, after a Russian missile thundered into his apartment building in Uman, Ukraine, before dawn on Friday. “There was no room behind the door. By the end of the day, he and his wife, Inna, had found no trace of Kyrylo, 17, or Sophia, 11. Russia on Friday launched its first widespread aerial assault in more than a month against Ukrainian civilian targets, killing at least 25 people, officials said — the deadliest such attack since January. At least 20 died at that one apartment block in Uman, its front face shorn off by the missile blast.

☆ Russian Attack on Ukraine Kills at Least 12 People: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Marc Santora | Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Evidence is piling up about the steady disintegration of Russia’s vital natural gas export industry since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. With this success behind them, European leaders are contemplating widening their attack to include imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia. Russian L.N.G. energy commissioner, has urged members of the bloc and European energy companies to stop buying Russian L.N.G. On the other hand, having largely gone cold turkey on Russian pipeline gas, European leaders may calculate that “going without Russian L.N.G.

☆ A Symbol of Loss in Almost Every Ukrainian Kitchen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian occupation of lands used to produce wheat, corn and sunflower oil — normally Ukraine’s top exports — has devastated the agricultural sector. The wreckage of Azovstal, the Mariupol plant where Ukrainian soldiers held out for months, is a testament to Russia’s decimation of the nation’s steel industry. “Everything has been completely destroyed; there is almost no life left,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in early January. “The whole land near Soledar is covered with corpses of occupiers and scars from strikes. His full name is being withheld for security reasons since he is still on active duty.

Two months after issuing a vague plan for ending the war in Ukraine, China’s leader, a close ally of Vladimir V. Putin, on Wednesday acceded to repeated requests from the Ukrainian president to talk. The one-hour telephone discussion between China’s Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was the first known contact between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. China’s official account of the discussion was notable for its omission of two words: “Russia” and “war.” It referred instead to the need for a “political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” and warned of the danger of nuclear escalation. For his part, Mr. Zelensky said the two leaders “had a long and meaningful phone call.”In recent months, Mr. Xi has been trying to burnish his image as a global statesman by helping restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and by rolling out the red carpet in Beijing for visiting world leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France.

For much of the winter, the war in Ukraine settled into a slow-moving but exceedingly violent fight along a jagged 600-mile-long frontline in the southeast. Now, both Ukraine and Russia are poised to go on the offensive. They are looking for vulnerabilities, hoping to exploit gaps, and setting the stage for what Ukraine warns could be Moscow’s most ambitious campaign since the start of the war. Ukraine must now defend against the Russian assault without exhausting the resources it needs to mount an offensive of its own. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given an order to take all of the Donbas region by March, Ukrainian intelligence says.

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