Page 52 - Ukraine

Ukraine seizes 28 villages in Russia's Kursk ahead of possible peace talks

Putin said Zelenskyy is trying to improve negotiating position; questions "what talks there can be with Ukraine"

Ukraine enters 30 km into Russia: Deepest incursion so far | Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant fire

In a first, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the cross-border operation between Ukraine and Russia.

Russia evacuates another border region amid growing threat from Ukraine

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia's Kursk region

Ukraine's Kursk attack to pressure Russia, restore justice: Zelenskyy

Ukraine has at most occupied several tens of square kilometres of Russian territory without laying claim to it

US announces $125 million aid package for Ukraine's military operations

The US is sending Ukraine an additional USD 125 million in weapons to assist in its military operations against Russia, including much-needed air defense capabilities, radars to detect and counter enemy artillery and anti-tank weapons, the White House announced Friday. The latest package comes as Ukraine has launched its largest ground offensive on Russian soil since the war began in February 2022. The offensive in the Kursk region has prompted Moscow to declare an emergency and send reinforcements there. National security spokesman John Kirby said Ukraine's use of US -provided weapons in the offensive was in line with administration policies. The Biden administration has approved their use in cross-border counterstrikes against Russia but not against targets deeper inside Russia, although the specific distances are not clear. The weapons in this latest aid package will be drawn from existing US stocks and will include Stinger missiles, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, High ...

Russia declares emergency in Kursk region after attack by Ukraine

Russia declared a federal-level emergency in the Kursk region following a large-scale incursion from Ukraine and sent reinforcements there on Friday, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured across the border in what appeared to be Kyiv's biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began. Meanwhile, a Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a Ukrainian shopping mall in the middle of the day, killing at least 14 people and wounding 44 others, authorities said. The mall in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, is located in the town's residential area. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike. This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians, Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post. It was the second major strike on the town in almost a year. Last September, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market there, killing 17. July saw the heaviest civilian casualties in Ukraine since October 2022,

Russia kills 11 in airstrike, puts emergency in Kursk after Ukraine attack

Russia declared a federal-level emergency in the Kursk region following a large-scale incursion from Ukraine and sent reinforcements there on Friday, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured across the border in what appeared to be Kyiv's biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began. Meanwhile, a Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a Ukrainian shopping mall in the middle of the day, killing at least 11 people and wounding 44 others, authorities said. The mall in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, is located in the town's residential area. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike. This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians, Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post. It was the second major strike on the town in almost a year. Last September, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market there, killing 17. Russia's Defence Ministry said that reinforcements were on their way to t

Troops battling to push back Ukrainian forces from Kursk region: Russia

Russian troops are battling to push back Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region on the third day of one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war, the Russian Defence Ministry said Thursday. A ministry statement said the Russian military and border guards have blocked Ukrainian forces from pushing deeper into the region in southwestern Russia. It added that the army is attacking Ukrainian fighters trying to advance into the area from Ukraine's Sumy region. Attempts by individual units to break through deep into the territory in the Kursk direction are being suppressed, the ministry said. Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 15 kilometers (9 miles) into Russian territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. The data that hasn't been officially confirmed. Kyiv has not commented on the incursion. In a video address to the nation late Thursday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the fighting in the Kursk regio

Putin accuses Ukraine of a provocation with its raid in southwestern Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described a Ukrainian incursion into the country's southwestern Kursk region as a large-scale provocation as his officials asserted that they were fighting off cross-border raids for a second day. Ukrainian officials remained silent about the scope of the operation. Putin met with his top defense and security officials to discuss what he called the indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances with different types of weapons. He instructed the Cabinet to coordinate assistance to the Kursk region. The fighting is about 500 kilometers (320 miles) from Moscow. Army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov told Putin at the meeting via video link that about 100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the battle and more than 200 wounded, Russian news agencies reported. The Ukrainian shelling, meanwhile, killed at least two people a paramedic and an ambulance driver and injured 24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Ukrainian forces pierce Russia's southern border, trigger fierce clashes

Ukraine struck back, and battles continued through night into Wednesday as Ukrainian forces pushed to northwest of the border town of Sudzha, 530 km southwest of Moscow, Russia's defence ministry said

Olympics 2024: Mahuchikh, other Ukrainian medalists put attention on war

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the Ukrainian world-record high jumper, may have just won Olympic gold, but she and other winning athletes from Ukraine are not resting in Paris they're trying to shine the spotlight on the war tearing apart their country. "The Olympic Games are about peace, she said. But Russia didn't stop, and during these Games, there were massive attacks on Ukrainian cities. These missile strikes forced Mahuchikh to spend the last two and a half years mostly abroad as she focused on her main goal the Olympic gold, which she won Sunday. She trained far from her family, including in Portugal, Estonia, Belgium and Germany. She occasionally comes to her hometown of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, but every time she left the country, she didn't know when she would return. To achieve such high results on the international stage, you need to train abroad, Mahuchikh said. And it is very sad, and I really want us to be able to train fully at home for the next Olympic cycle. Despite th

Ukraine keeps up air attacks on Kursk, 4 drones destroyed, says Russia

The region was under a dozen air raid alerts over the past 24 hours, Smirnov's posts showed. By Wednesday morning, there were no reports of fresh ground fighting

French imports of Russian LNG surge, Ukraine supporters call for halt

Shipments of Russian liquified natural gas to France more than doubled the first half of this year, according to new analyses of trade data, at a time when Europe has tried to pull back from energy purchases that help finance the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. Europe has restricted oil imports from Russia, but natural gas is still allowed. And while companies in France are importing the most, one analysis found EU countries overall imported 7% more Russian LNG, natural gas that has been chilled and liquified for easier ocean transport, in the first half of this year compared to the same period a year ago. Oleh Savytskyi, a founder of nonprofit Razom We Stand, which campaigns for tougher sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, said the EU's goal of phasing out all Russian fossil fuels by 2027 was appallingly off track. He said countries buying Russian LNG are sabotaging the continent's energy transition and contributing billions to Russia's war effort. European governments have said banni

Zelenskyy confirms arrival of F-16 fighter jets, thanks allies for help

The US committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in August last year, after months of lobbying by Kyiv

Russia reports Ukrainian drone barrage, Kyiv says it hit an airfield

Russian officials have said that Ukrainian forces overnight targeted multiple Russian regions with a massive drone barrage. Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed a total of 75 drones over a number of regions that lie on the border with Ukraine or not far from it, including Belgorod, Krasnodar, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Voronezh, and the Ryazan region deeper inside Russia. One of those drones was also shot down over the Azov sea, the statement said. Thirty-six drones were destroyed over the Rostov region, according to the ministry. Rostov Gov. Vasily Golubev said in an online statement, however, that the region was attacked by a total of 55 drones. He didn't specify how many of these were intercepted and how many hit the targets, saying only that warehouse facilities in the Morozovsk and Kamensky districts sustained damage in the attack. Ukraine's General Staff said on Saturday in a Facebook post that its forces struck an ...

Atmanirbhar shouldn't lead to inefficient import substitution: Ex RBI chief

Owing to supply disruptions caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war, many countries started thinking about being self-sufficient with respect to critical imports' and India needs to ensure that Atmanirbhar should not degenerate into inefficient import substitution', former RBI Governor C Rangarajan said on Saturday. Addressing the 14th Convocation of the ICFAI Foundation For Higher Education, he said India's development strategy should be multidimensional and growth may be stimulated by raising investment rate, emphasizing agriculture, manufacturing and services, absorbing new technologies and promoting a mix of sectors that are employment friendly. Any import substitution must look at cost. Expensive, import substitution is not to the advantage of anybody. What we need to do is efficient import substitution. Atman should not degenerate into the old style import substitution. I think that is contrary to what is good for our country, he said. Jobless growth is certainly a matter of ...

Russia-N Korea defence deal 'risky for the world': Australian foreign min

Australia's foreign minister said on Tuesday the recent defence deal between North Korea and Russia was destabilising and risky for the world, after she visited the tense border village shared by North and South Korea on Tuesday. In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, deepening worries about the expanding ties between the countries. The US and its partners have steadfastly accused North Korea of supplying much-needed conventional arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. I also want to say something about the security pact between North Korea and Russia. And say again, this is destabilising. This is risky for the world and again we say Russia is behaving in ways which are not conducive to peace but are escalatory, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters following a visit to the southern side of the Korean

US to send $ 1.7 billion in military aid including munitions to Ukraine

The US will send USD 1.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine, officials announced on Monday, including an array of munitions for air defence systems, artillery, mortars and anti-tank and anti-ship missiles. The package includes USD 1.5 billion in funding for long-term contracts through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and USD 200 million in immediate military aid taken from Pentagon stockpiles. The latest infusion of weapons comes a bit more than two weeks after the NATO summit in Washington, where allies focused a significant amount of time on shoring up support for Ukraine as it fends off Russian forces. President Joe Biden announced during the summit that the U.S. would send a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, answering a key plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. NATO members agreed to create a new program to provide reliable military aid to Ukraine and prepare for its eventual membership in the alliance. And they declared Ukraine was on an irreversible

Ukrainian troops say Russia has driven them out of 2 more Donetsk villages

Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defences there. Separately, attacks in Russia's Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, struck a number of substations causing power outages, according to a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine. The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it thwarted a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack. They pressed non-stop to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda. They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used. Russia's Defence Ministry claimed in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff made no official comment. The villages lie about 30 kilometres northwest of Avdiivka, a Donetsk

India will have more contacts with Ukraine & Russia: EAM Jaishankar

India will have more contacts with Ukraine and Russia going forward as such engagements by countries talking to both sides are important to resolve their conflict, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, days after it emerged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit Kyiv next month. Jaishankar said India's position has been that a solution to the conflict will not emerge from the battlefield, and cautioned that it could be "fatalistic" to allow the situation to take its course and wait for events in some other parts of the world to provide some help to end the crisis. "We do believe that we should be more active there," he said during an interactive session at Japan National Press Club. Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to Japan. "I can reasonably expect that there will be more contacts between us and Ukraine and between us and Russia as well," he said, replying to a question on reports of Modi's likely visit to Kyiv next month. Declining to give a specific answ