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☆ Ukraine stages raids across Dnipro River as counteroffensive looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, April 25 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the River Dnipro are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday. Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. "Our military visit the left (eastern) bank very often, conducting raids. Russia seized the Kherson region soon after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago, and has continued since then to hold all of the region's territory east the Dnipro. Retaking all the Kherson region would be an important step towards achieving this goal.

CNN —For Yulia Laputina, Ukraine’s Minister of Veterans Affairs, a visit to Arlington National Cemetery was a deeply moving experience. On Thursday, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, announced that the city council had “started the procedure for establishing the National Military Memorial Cemetery,” and had allocated land for its creation. Ukrainian Minister of Veterans Affairs Yulia Laputina visits Arlington National Cemetery in April 2023. Lawmakers made the case that personal connections to Americans across the country could “increase the level of support of practical support” for Ukraine, Laputina said. Yulia Laputina, Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine at the International Rehabilitation Forum in Lviv, Ukraine, on April 12.

[1/4] A load of corn is poured into a truck, at a grain storage facility in the village of Bilohiria, Khmelnytskyi region, Ukraine April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichBILOHIRIA, Ukraine, April 19 (Reuters) - Volodymyr Bondaruk takes little comfort from Poland's decision to lift a ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain. His mixed dairy and arable farm in western Ukraine has already lost a Polish contract and he doubts it will ever be renewed. With uncertainty growing over the future of a Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows safe grain exports from three ports in southern Ukraine, Bondaruk said the outlook for exports appeared increasingly bleak. He called for European help for Ukrainian farmers seeking to export grain, saying that he, unlike "some in Europe", did not want subsidies, just an even playing field.

☆ Ukraine resumes exporting electricity to Europe after Russia fails to destroy its power grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Exports stopped in October after Russia attacked Ukraine's power grids, a move some said amounted to war crimes. Russia ramped up infrastructure attacks in September, when waves of missiles and exploding drones destroyed about half of Ukraine's energy system. Ukraine needs funding to repair damaged generation and transmission lines, and revenue from electricity exports would be one way to do that. The first country to receive Ukraine's energy exports will be Moldova, he said. Engineers sped up the process to link Ukraine to the continental grid, allowing it to decouple its power system from Russia.

☆ 'It was heartbreaking': Ukraine children back home after alleged deportation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Anna Dabrowska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But once in Crimea, Russian officials said the children would be staying for longer. Dasha's mother Natalia said she had travelled from Ukraine to Crimea via Poland, Belarus and Moscow to get her daughters. "It was heartbreaking to look at children left behind who were crying behind the fence," she said. The children were taken to what Russians called stays in summer camps from occupied parts of Ukraine's Kharkiv and Kherson regions, Kuleba said. Save Ukraine said they came home on a previous mission last month that returned 18 children in total.

☆ Ukraine gets back 31 children from Russia after alleged deportation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia since Moscow invaded in February last year, in what it condemns as illegal deportations. It was special regarding the number of children we managed to return and also because of its complexity," said Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save Ukraine humanitarian organisation. Kuleba said that all the children who have been brought back to Ukraine by Save Ukraine had said that no one in Russia was trying to find their parents in Ukraine. The children were taken to what Russians called stays in summer camps from occupied parts of Ukraine's Kharkiv and Kherson regions, Kuleba said. Save Ukraine said they were returned to Ukraine on a previous rescue mission last month that returned 18 children in total.

☆ Ukraine's reserves grow to 11-year high on foreign aid - c.bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, April 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine's international reserves grew to an 11-year high of $31.9 billion at the start of April thanks to foreign aid, lower demand for hard currency and moderately-sized payments on government debt, the central bank said on Thursday. The amount included $409.3 million in interest payments on state treasury bills denominated in hard currency, the central bank said. The central bank said the demand for hard currency on the foreign exchange market was lower in March. The central bank said the volumes of its interventions decreased for the third month in a row. The current amount of the international reserves is enough to cover 4.2 months of future imports, the bank said.

☆ Zelenskiy says Poland will help form coalition to supply warplanes to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Poland's President Andrzej Duda and first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and first lady Olena Zelenska stand at the Royal Castle courtyard during a visit in Warsaw, Poland, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper PempelKYIV, April 5 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a trip to Warsaw on Wednesday that Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to supply warplanes to Ukraine, as it did with battle tanks earlier this year. "Just as your (Polish) leadership proved itself in the tank coalition, I believe that it will manifest itself in the planes coalition," Zelenskiy said in a speech on a square in Warsaw. The Ukrainian leader said Russia would not defeat Europe while Ukraine and Poland were working closely together. "Poland with you, shoulder to shoulder, we will establish freedom in Europe forever, tyranny will lose in history when it loses in Ukraine," he said.

Border of Steel is one of eight new storm brigades totalling 40,000 soldiers that Ukraine wants to use during a counter-offensive against Russian occupiers in coming weeks or months. Ukraine beat back Russian forces from Kyiv last year before liberating swathes of the northeast and of the southern Kherson region. But Russian forces still occupy tracts of the east, the strategically important south and the Crimean peninsula. "For them, the objective is to liberate Ukraine," Klymenko said of the recruits during an interview in Kyiv. He gave no clues as to when or where Ukraine would launch its counter-offensive.

☆ Ukraine aims to exhaust Russian troops in Bakhmut - general
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodny Yar" via REUTERSKYIV, March 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine is aiming to exhaust and inflict heavy losses on Russian forces trying to capture the small eastern city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said in a video posted on Tuesday. Moscow sees capturing Bakhmut as vital to its efforts to establish complete control over the Donbas industrial region in eastern Ukraine. Syrskyi has been meeting troops near the frontline as Ukraine prepares for a possible counter-offensive after 13 months of war. His remarks again underlined Ukraine's desire to hold on to Bakhmut rather than pull back to limit casualties. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also visited troops in the east, south and southeast Ukraine this month.

☆ To stay or go? The dilemma Ukrainians near front face every day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mike Collett-White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

KALYNIVKA, Ukraine, March 21 (Reuters) - It was finally time for Vasyl Kurlyshchuk to leave. She was going to stay in the settlement and wanted to know if Kurlyshchuk was taking his solar powered battery with him. What is now ordinary for the hundreds who remain in Chasiv Yar out of a pre-war population of some 13,000 would be extraordinary elsewhere. "Vera was evacuated to Poltava but a lot of people have stayed," said the 67-year-old, pointing to pictures on her smartphone of her friend, who had left Chasiv Yar for a safer place. That meant three fewer familiar faces for Olena and her friends as they carried on in Chasiv Yar.

☆ Factbox: Who are the Ukrainian children at the heart of Putin arrest warrant?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KYIV, March 19 (Reuters) - In its arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, the International Criminal Court accused the Russian president of the war crime of unlawful deportation of people, in particular children, and their unlawful transfer from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The ICC issued a separate warrant on the same charge for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights. - Ukraine has so far managed to return 308 children, officials said. - Iryna Vereshchuk, minister for reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, issued a public appeal on Saturday to Russian officials asking for lists of all Ukrainian orphans and all Ukrainian children whose parents were stripped of parental rights who are currently in occupied Ukrainian areas or were illegally transferred to Russia. The report said Yale University researchers had identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held that were part of a "large-scale systematic network" operated by Moscow.

☆ No risk of war in Moldova while Ukraine holds out - President Sandu
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Alexander Tanas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CHISINAU, March 17 (Reuters) - President Maia Sandu said on Friday she saw no danger of war in Moldova while Russia is fighting in Ukraine, despite what she said were Russian efforts to destabilise her country. "There is no danger of war coming to Moldova while Ukraine is fighting," Sandu told parliament. "I want to reassure our citizens that Moldova is not now in any danger of war. Sandu repeated accusations, denied by Moscow, that Russia wants to destabilise Moldova. "As long as I am president, Moldova will hold out," said Sandu, who became president in 2020.

Zhevago's case comes as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy seeks to clip the wings of oligarchs dominating the economy since the fall of the Soviet Union three decades ago. Zhevago, a former lawmaker and former beneficiary owner of Finance & Credit Bank, was released on bail for 1 million euros and due to appear at an appeals court in the nearby town of Chambery. Zhevago told Reuters Finance & Credit was one of dozens of banks to lose vast sums of money after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Since then, Russia's invasion has inflicted huge damage on Ukraine's industrial sector and contributed to the erosion of their wealth. Monthly publication Forbes Ukraine estimated Zhevago's worth at $2.4 billion in 2021 and $1.4 billion at the end of 2022.

[1/8] A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits in a hanger at Amari Air Base, Estonia, July 1, 2020. On the diplomatic and economic fronts, talks continued to extend a deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports that is due to expire this week, the United Nations and Turkey said. DRONE CRASHTwo Russian Su-27 jets carried out what the U.S. military described as a reckless intercept of the American spy drone while flying in international air space. The accounts of the incident in the Black Sea, which is bordered by Russia and Ukraine among other countries, could not be independently verified. RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR SUMMONEDRussia's Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov was summoned by the U.S. State Department to discuss what happened over the Black Sea, said spokesperson Ned Price.

☆ Russian shelling kills 3 Ukrainian civilians in Kherson, one in the east
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, March 11 (Reuters) - Three civilians were killed in Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Saturday, and one more died in the eastern Donetsk region, regional officials said. Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said three people, including an elderly woman, were also wounded during the artillery shelling of the city. Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November after nearly eight months of occupation by Russian forces who seized it soon after the start of the large-scale invasion. Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk regional governor, said one person was killed and at least three civilians were injured in the city of Kostyantynivka following several rounds of Russian shelling during the day. Donetsk region has seen some of the heaviest fighting since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.

☆ Ukraine says Bakhmut battle is grinding down Russia's best units
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/8] Ukrainian servicemen walk along a muddy road near the frontline town of Bakhmut amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Donetsk region, Ukraine March 8, 2023. "It has converged on Bakhmut with a large part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional army, as well as the private companies." Russia has made Bakhmut the main target of a winter push involving hundreds of thousands of reservists and mercenaries. But apart from around Bakhmut, the Russian winter offensive has largely failed. Kyiv and the West also saw signs of exhaustion in Russia's latest mass salvo of missile strikes on Ukrainian targets.

☆ Ukraine detains officials over destruction of famous plane at start of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A Ukrainian service member walks in a front of the Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world's biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian troops as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, at an airfield in the settlement of Hostomel, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 3, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichKYIV, March 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine handed suspicion notices on Friday to three former top managers of aircraft manufacturer Antonov for obstructing the country's military and allowing Russia to destroy the iconic giant "Mriya" cargo plane at the start of the full-scale war. The Ukrainian-made "Mriya", which is Ukrainian for "dream", weighs some 705 tonnes and has a wingspan of 290 feet. The cargo plane was originally built in the late 1980s to transport a Soviet space shuttle. "Our state will definitely build a new plane, because the Dream, like Ukraine, cannot be destroyed," Malyuk said.

☆ Pro-Ukraine group sabotaged pipelines, intelligence suggests, NYT reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On the battlefield, Ukraine's forces continued to fight for the eastern city of Bakhmut on Tuesday despite Russian troops and mercenaries nearly encircling them. "Without a doubt, Ukraine is absolutely not involved in the excesses on the pipelines," presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement. Several towns and villages near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region came under Russian shellfire, including Dubovo-Vasylivka, Ivanivske, Dyliivka and Bohdanivka, the statement said. Other provinces of Ukraine were attacked by Russian troops on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said, including in central Zaporizhzhia region. That narrative is rejected by Kyiv and the West, which say Ukraine is fighting for survival against a Russian imperial land grab.

It was one of the last still providing Ukrainian citizenship for newborns in the southern city of Kherson which was then under Russian occupation. Early in the occupation, Ukrainian parents faced pressure to accept Russian citizenship for their newborns. "When we asked for diapers, the Russians told us, 'If you come without Russian birth certificates, we will not give you diapers'," said Natalia Lukina, 42. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Kherson during Russian occupation. It is unclear how many babies received Russian citizenship, because Russian officials recorded them and Ukrainian registration workers did not cooperate with them, Klimenko said.

☆ Moldova and Romania vow to boost ties amid war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, March 1 (Reuters) - Moldova and Romania pledged on Wednesday to boost economic ties following Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and Bucharest reiterated support for Chisinau's bid to join the European Union. Moldova has been hit hard by the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine, which borders both Moldova and Romania, and tensions with Russia have risen over the war in Ukraine and the tiny former Soviet republic's EU accession bid. Recean said talks also covered regional security and that Moldova, which is highly dependent on Russian gas, was considering signing long-term contracts on gas and electricity supplies from Romania. "Romania will firmly support Moldova's European agenda, economic recovery and strengthening its security," said Iohannis, whose country joined the EU in 2007. Recean said Moldova and Romania enjoyed a "special relationship" and that Romania's experience in joining the EU was helpful for Chisinau.

☆ Ukraine's economy stabilizes after shock of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

The economy shrank by a third last year, the largest fall since Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine's largest steel mill, said its production was currently at about 25% of pre-war levels amid electricity blackouts. Ukraine's central bank predicts GDP will grow by 0.3% this year, while the economy ministry forecasts 3.2% growth. The agreement saved Ukraine's agriculture, which accounted for about 12% of GDP and some 40% of overall exports before the war. The steel sector, a key pillar of the economy, is among the hardest hit.

☆ Zelenskyy shows the simple bedroom at his office that he has called home since Russia invaded Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed the spartan room he has lived in since Russia invaded a year ago. The small room off his office contains a single bed, a sink, and other modest furnishings. Ukraine's president gave a tour of his office to a journalist for a documentary marking a year of the war. Zelenskyy said that while he had made efforts to speak to Putin directly before the invasion, he had been repeatedly rebuffed. When asked if he would now speak to Putin, Zelenskyy said: "No.

☆ How a 34-year-old Ukrainian founder created scrappy business opportunities amid the chaos of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Alina Kachorovska has kept her business afloat thanks to scrappy opportunities amid the war. She's made boots for Ukrainian soldiers and focused on international expansion to sustain the brand. Kachorovska, which relied heavily on domestic direct-to-consumer sales before the war, felt a major impact from the displacement of Ukrainians. Opportunities during wartimeKachorovska employees worked from the factory to produce boots and shoes amid the war. Kachorovska first dreamed of taking her brand international six months before the war with Russia began, she said.

☆ Zelenskiy's message on Ukraine war anniversary: 'we will defeat everyone'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy marked the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Friday with a sombre message of defiance to his people, saying "we will defeat everyone". Western military officials estimate casualties on both sides of the largest conflict in Europe since World War Two at more than 100,000 killed or wounded. "Almost everyone has at least one contact in their phone that will never pick up the phone again," Zelenskiy said. These two simple words got a new meaning during the year of the war." With leaders of both countries showing no signs of backing down, the prospects of an end to the fighting any time soon look bleak.

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