Zaporizhzhia steel plant refuses to bend to Russian attacks
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — The air raid alarm doesn’t care if the blast furnace is blowing.
So when the siren sounds warning of a missile attack, which is often, Oleksii Klashnik doesn’t run down to one of Zaporizhstal’s 14 underground bunkers. Instead, he and a few key workers don protective vests along with their heatproof outfits. Then they continue working with the molten metal at temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius.
Zaporizhzhia city is less than 30 miles from the front line in Ukraine’s high-stakes counteroffensive and has been frequently targeted by Russian forces. The air alarm signals real danger. But stopping a blast furnace in the middle of smelting molten iron used to create steel could be even riskier.
Read the full story here.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — The air raid alarm doesn’t care if the blast furnace is blowing.
So when the siren sounds warning of a missile attack, which is often, Oleksii Klashnik doesn’t run down to one of Zaporizhstal’s 14 underground bunkers. Instead, he and a few key workers don protective vests along with their heatproof outfits. Then they continue working with the molten metal at temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius.
Zaporizhzhia city is less than 30 miles from the front line in Ukraine’s high-stakes counteroffensive and has been frequently targeted by Russian forces. The air alarm signals real danger. But stopping a blast furnace in the middle of smelting molten iron used to create steel could be even riskier.
Read the full story here.
With African leaders visiting Ukraine, Russia fires missiles at Kyiv
As a delegation of African leaders visited the Ukrainian capital Friday morning, bringing a proposal for “confidence-building measures” aimed at halting Russia’s war, Moscow launched a daytime barrage of airstrikes, bombarding Kyiv with a “massive combined attack” of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, officials said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s official Twitter account posted a video of his arrival in Kyiv by train early Friday, along with the leaders of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia and the Comoros — the first stop in a peace mission to Ukraine and Russia. Shortly after, air raid sirens sounded in the capital. Then, explosions from air defenses rang out.
The barrage was a departure from the Kremlin’s typical strategy of bombarding Ukrainian cities during the early-morning hours as residents attempt to sleep and the darkness makes it easier to detect the location of Ukrainian air defenses.
Read the full story here.
As a delegation of African leaders visited the Ukrainian capital Friday morning, bringing a proposal for “confidence-building measures” aimed at halting Russia’s war, Moscow launched a daytime barrage of airstrikes, bombarding Kyiv with a “massive combined attack” of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, officials said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s official Twitter account posted a video of his arrival in Kyiv by train early Friday, along with the leaders of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia and the Comoros — the first stop in a peace mission to Ukraine and Russia. Shortly after, air raid sirens sounded in the capital. Then, explosions from air defenses rang out.
The barrage was a departure from the Kremlin’s typical strategy of bombarding Ukrainian cities during the early-morning hours as residents attempt to sleep and the darkness makes it easier to detect the location of Ukrainian air defenses.
Read the full story here.
To fight Putin, Russian militias aid Ukraine with cross-border attacks
The first cross-border raids were quick and furtive, the commander said, just a handful of fighters entering a village, scouting the terrain, taking a few shots at Russian border guards and slipping away. Later, he said, a group carried out the main mission — killing dozens of enemy troops, taking others prisoner and stealing weapons.
The commander, Denis Kapustin, is a leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, one of two independent militias that staged a series of joint cross-border attacks inside Russia’s Belgorod region.
Their aim is to give Russian civilians a taste of the death and destruction that President Vladimir Putin’s war has wrought on Ukraine. The raids also created a military and political distraction as Ukraine prepared to launch its counteroffensive, diverting attention from more important areas and creating a political problem for Putin, who has sought to keep Russian lands and citizens out of the war.
Read more here.
The first cross-border raids were quick and furtive, the commander said, just a handful of fighters entering a village, scouting the terrain, taking a few shots at Russian border guards and slipping away. Later, he said, a group carried out the main mission — killing dozens of enemy troops, taking others prisoner and stealing weapons.
The commander, Denis Kapustin, is a leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, one of two independent militias that staged a series of joint cross-border attacks inside Russia’s Belgorod region.
Their aim is to give Russian civilians a taste of the death and destruction that President Vladimir Putin’s war has wrought on Ukraine. The raids also created a military and political distraction as Ukraine prepared to launch its counteroffensive, diverting attention from more important areas and creating a political problem for Putin, who has sought to keep Russian lands and citizens out of the war.
Read more here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- The United States is “not going to make it easy” for Ukraine to join NATO, President Joe Biden told reporters Saturday as he boarded Air Force One. The comment comes days after Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and ahead of next month’s NATO summit.
- Leaders from African nations met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, with the hope of persuading the Russian leader to seek peace talks with Ukraine. The Kremlin said the talks would focus on “possible ways to reach settlement in Ukraine.”
- The Russian missile attack on Kyiv only made the African peace mission more important, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said before the Putin meeting.
More live updates here.
- The United States is “not going to make it easy” for Ukraine to join NATO, President Joe Biden told reporters Saturday as he boarded Air Force One. The comment comes days after Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and ahead of next month’s NATO summit.
- Leaders from African nations met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, with the hope of persuading the Russian leader to seek peace talks with Ukraine. The Kremlin said the talks would focus on “possible ways to reach settlement in Ukraine.”
- The Russian missile attack on Kyiv only made the African peace mission more important, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said before the Putin meeting.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Biden criticized the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus, speaking to reporters.
- Leaders from Africa met Russian President Vladimir Putin with a message of peace Saturday following a trip to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- The death toll from the explosion of Kakhovka dam has risen to 16, Ukraine’s interior ministry said.
More live updates here.
- President Biden criticized the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus, speaking to reporters.
- Leaders from Africa met Russian President Vladimir Putin with a message of peace Saturday following a trip to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- The death toll from the explosion of Kakhovka dam has risen to 16, Ukraine’s interior ministry said.
More live updates here.
With Russia claiming Bakhmut, Ukraine tallies cost in lost lives and limbs
LVIV, Ukraine — A Buddhist chef was sent to Bakhmut to cook for soldiers on the front line and ended up joining the men in the trenches instead, losing nearly all his hearing when a drone crashed into his chest.
A 24-year-old foundry worker turned soldier lost both of his legs and an arm when Russian shelling landed by his feet. A 28-year-old IT worker lasted less than two weeks defending the city before a rocket blasted off the lower part of his left leg.
They are among the soldiers who fought in Bakhmut — and are now living with the cost of the war’s bloodiest battle.
They arrived in the eastern city and faced off against a ferocious army of Russian mercenaries and soldiers. They left with life-altering injuries.
And in recent weeks, they watched Russian forces declare victory and claim control of the ruined city. In a new counteroffensive, Ukrainian troops are already pushing to take it back.
Read the full story here.
LVIV, Ukraine — A Buddhist chef was sent to Bakhmut to cook for soldiers on the front line and ended up joining the men in the trenches instead, losing nearly all his hearing when a drone crashed into his chest.
A 24-year-old foundry worker turned soldier lost both of his legs and an arm when Russian shelling landed by his feet. A 28-year-old IT worker lasted less than two weeks defending the city before a rocket blasted off the lower part of his left leg.
They are among the soldiers who fought in Bakhmut — and are now living with the cost of the war’s bloodiest battle.
They arrived in the eastern city and faced off against a ferocious army of Russian mercenaries and soldiers. They left with life-altering injuries.
And in recent weeks, they watched Russian forces declare victory and claim control of the ruined city. In a new counteroffensive, Ukrainian troops are already pushing to take it back.
Read the full story here.
Analysis: Ukraine’s current counteroffensive may dictate the fate of the war
Few military campaigns have been as anticipated in recent memory as the current Ukrainian counteroffensive that appears to be underway. For months, speculation built over when and how Ukraine’s forces would strike back across the front lines in the south and east of their country. Kyiv shared little publicly about its plans to retake territory seized in the Russian invasion, though it clamored for Western tanks, infantry vehicles and other sophisticated military aid as it made its preparations.
Spring began to melt into summer. The brutal fighting over the eastern city of Bakhmut captured attention; so, too, the incessant barrage of Russian missiles and drones on civilian areas of Ukraine, including cities far from the main battlefields of the war. The specter of a nuclear escalation loomed darkly over the conflict. And in the past week, we saw a new horror.
Read the full analysis here.
Few military campaigns have been as anticipated in recent memory as the current Ukrainian counteroffensive that appears to be underway. For months, speculation built over when and how Ukraine’s forces would strike back across the front lines in the south and east of their country. Kyiv shared little publicly about its plans to retake territory seized in the Russian invasion, though it clamored for Western tanks, infantry vehicles and other sophisticated military aid as it made its preparations.
Spring began to melt into summer. The brutal fighting over the eastern city of Bakhmut captured attention; so, too, the incessant barrage of Russian missiles and drones on civilian areas of Ukraine, including cities far from the main battlefields of the war. The specter of a nuclear escalation loomed darkly over the conflict. And in the past week, we saw a new horror.
Read the full analysis here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukraine has claimed advances covering a little more than 40 square miles of territory in its counteroffensive. Russia occupies more than 800 times that amount, roughly 33,000 square miles, about half of which was seized before the February 2022 invasion.
- During his visit to Beijing, Blinken will reiterate the U.S. expectation that China not provide lethal aid to Russia, officials said Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic planning.
- St. Petersburg will host a second Russia-Africa summit, the Kremlin said Sunday. A Telegram post from the Foreign Ministry did not say when the summit would be held, but it would follow Saturday’s meeting between African leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
More live updates here.
- Ukraine has claimed advances covering a little more than 40 square miles of territory in its counteroffensive. Russia occupies more than 800 times that amount, roughly 33,000 square miles, about half of which was seized before the February 2022 invasion.
- During his visit to Beijing, Blinken will reiterate the U.S. expectation that China not provide lethal aid to Russia, officials said Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic planning.
- St. Petersburg will host a second Russia-Africa summit, the Kremlin said Sunday. A Telegram post from the Foreign Ministry did not say when the summit would be held, but it would follow Saturday’s meeting between African leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
More live updates here.
Russia aims to defeat counteroffensive with mines, artillery and aviation
As Ukraine readied its counteroffensive by gathering Western weapons and sending its troops for NATO training, Russia spent at least seven months preparing for this potentially definitive stage of the war — by readying reserves, artillery and aviation support, stockpiling ammunition and fuel, and procuring more drones.
Russian forces also burrowed into the territory they occupy in southeast Ukraine, digging lines of trenches and erecting fortifications along the entire 900-mile-long front line, from Zaporizhzhia to Russia’s Belgorod region.
The massive network of defenses has weaknesses, according to military experts who described Russia’s preparations, but it is already slowing offensive operations and creating bottlenecks for the Ukrainian army, forcing it to try to break through on narrow paths, which allows Russia to regroup and aim more precisely.
Read the full story here.
As Ukraine readied its counteroffensive by gathering Western weapons and sending its troops for NATO training, Russia spent at least seven months preparing for this potentially definitive stage of the war — by readying reserves, artillery and aviation support, stockpiling ammunition and fuel, and procuring more drones.
Russian forces also burrowed into the territory they occupy in southeast Ukraine, digging lines of trenches and erecting fortifications along the entire 900-mile-long front line, from Zaporizhzhia to Russia’s Belgorod region.
The massive network of defenses has weaknesses, according to military experts who described Russia’s preparations, but it is already slowing offensive operations and creating bottlenecks for the Ukrainian army, forcing it to try to break through on narrow paths, which allows Russia to regroup and aim more precisely.
Read the full story here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
- The United States remains concerned that “Chinese companies” may be providing technology to help Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, Blinken said during a Monday news conference, adding that he is continuing to discuss this issue with his Chinese counterparts.
- Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported several offensive actions in the south of the country and said that while fighting in the east is ongoing, the overall intensity decreased last week.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the war in Ukraine “will take a long time” and the world should be prepared. Scholz said Germany is adapting its policies for a long-term conflict and will “support Ukraine as long as it is necessary.”
More live updates here.
- The United States remains concerned that “Chinese companies” may be providing technology to help Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, Blinken said during a Monday news conference, adding that he is continuing to discuss this issue with his Chinese counterparts.
- Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported several offensive actions in the south of the country and said that while fighting in the east is ongoing, the overall intensity decreased last week.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the war in Ukraine “will take a long time” and the world should be prepared. Scholz said Germany is adapting its policies for a long-term conflict and will “support Ukraine as long as it is necessary.”
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
- There is “significant” water contamination in areas affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said in a report on Monday. There are reports of salmonella, rotavirus and E. coli, among other contaminants, and people are prohibited from swimming or fishing in the Odessa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
- There is no water supply to 167,000 subscribers in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and more than 800 houses remain flooded as a result of the dam collapse, which killed at least 17 Ukrainians, according to the Interior Ministry.
- Ukraine conducted counteroffensive operations in at least three front-line areas and made gains on Monday, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report.
- China has reassured the U.S. and other governments that it is not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
More live updates here.
- There is “significant” water contamination in areas affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said in a report on Monday. There are reports of salmonella, rotavirus and E. coli, among other contaminants, and people are prohibited from swimming or fishing in the Odessa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
- There is no water supply to 167,000 subscribers in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and more than 800 houses remain flooded as a result of the dam collapse, which killed at least 17 Ukrainians, according to the Interior Ministry.
- Ukraine conducted counteroffensive operations in at least three front-line areas and made gains on Monday, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report.
- China has reassured the U.S. and other governments that it is not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
More live updates here.
Ukraine clamps down on corruption as Western supporters cast watchful eye
The photos showed hundred-dollar bills lying in piles on furniture — the results of what officials from Ukraine’s main anti-corruption body said last month was a $2.7 million bribery scheme involving the chief justice of the country’s Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazyev.
Last month, anti-corruption investigators said they caught Knyazyev “red-handed” receiving a payment of about $450,000 — a “second tranche of illegal benefits” in a corruption scheme potentially involving other members of Ukraine’s Supreme Court and judiciary. The cash was found at his home and office, officials said. Knyazyev was arrested and dismissed from his position, and a criminal investigation is ongoing.
“This is huge,” said Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer with the Anti-Corruption Action Center, an anti-graft watchdog in Kyiv. “This is not an ordinary judge in a local court taking a bribe — it’s the highest judge in the system.”
Read the full story here.
The photos showed hundred-dollar bills lying in piles on furniture — the results of what officials from Ukraine’s main anti-corruption body said last month was a $2.7 million bribery scheme involving the chief justice of the country’s Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazyev.
Last month, anti-corruption investigators said they caught Knyazyev “red-handed” receiving a payment of about $450,000 — a “second tranche of illegal benefits” in a corruption scheme potentially involving other members of Ukraine’s Supreme Court and judiciary. The cash was found at his home and office, officials said. Knyazyev was arrested and dismissed from his position, and a criminal investigation is ongoing.
“This is huge,” said Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer with the Anti-Corruption Action Center, an anti-graft watchdog in Kyiv. “This is not an ordinary judge in a local court taking a bribe — it’s the highest judge in the system.”
Read the full story here.
Navalny’s new trial on ‘extremism’ is held in secret, in a prison
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was put on trial Monday on extremism charges that could result in extending his existing prison sentences by decades. The proceedings swiftly turned Kafkaesque.
Navalny is already serving sentences totaling more than a decade on charges widely viewed as trumped up for political retribution.
In the new case, he is accused of leading an extremist group — his Anti-Corruption Foundation, which battled graft and theft by Russian officials until it was bankrupted by lawsuits brought by allies of President Vladimir Putin.
The trial was held in an unidentified room in the bowels of Penal Colony Number 6 in the Vladimir region. News media and even Navalny’s parents were barred from attending.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was put on trial Monday on extremism charges that could result in extending his existing prison sentences by decades. The proceedings swiftly turned Kafkaesque.
Navalny is already serving sentences totaling more than a decade on charges widely viewed as trumped up for political retribution.
In the new case, he is accused of leading an extremist group — his Anti-Corruption Foundation, which battled graft and theft by Russian officials until it was bankrupted by lawsuits brought by allies of President Vladimir Putin.
The trial was held in an unidentified room in the bowels of Penal Colony Number 6 in the Vladimir region. News media and even Navalny’s parents were barred from attending.
Read the full story here.
As Modi visits White House, India’s reliance on Russian arms constrains him
NEW DELHI — One of India’s most highly regarded weapons is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from sea, sky and land. Its name, BrahMos, is a portmanteau of the Brahmaputra River in India and the Moskva River in Russia, which began jointly developing the missile after the fall of the Soviet Union. Indian defense officials call it their “Brahmastra” — a Hindu mythological weapon that can destroy the entire universe.
India sees the missile as an essential part of a military capability that could survive a nuclear attack and has deployed it along its tense border with China. The missile has been supplied to the Philippines, and potential sales to Vietnam and Indonesia are underway.
Read the full story here.
NEW DELHI — One of India’s most highly regarded weapons is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from sea, sky and land. Its name, BrahMos, is a portmanteau of the Brahmaputra River in India and the Moskva River in Russia, which began jointly developing the missile after the fall of the Soviet Union. Indian defense officials call it their “Brahmastra” — a Hindu mythological weapon that can destroy the entire universe.
India sees the missile as an essential part of a military capability that could survive a nuclear attack and has deployed it along its tense border with China. The missile has been supplied to the Philippines, and potential sales to Vietnam and Indonesia are underway.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukraine’s armed forces said they shot down dozens of drones, most of them targeting the capital Kyiv in a fresh round of overnight attacks on the country.
- In eastern Ukraine, residents are still grappling with water contamination and hundreds of flooded homes nearly two weeks after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, which killed dozens and displaced thousands.
- Air defense systems took down 32 of 35 drones after Russian forces launched “another massive air and missile attack" early Tuesday, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said.
- There is “significant” water contamination in areas affected by the dam collapse, according to the Ukrainian Health Ministry.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak by phone as London prepares to host the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Wednesday and Thursday.
More live updates here.
- Ukraine’s armed forces said they shot down dozens of drones, most of them targeting the capital Kyiv in a fresh round of overnight attacks on the country.
- In eastern Ukraine, residents are still grappling with water contamination and hundreds of flooded homes nearly two weeks after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, which killed dozens and displaced thousands.
- Air defense systems took down 32 of 35 drones after Russian forces launched “another massive air and missile attack" early Tuesday, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said.
- There is “significant” water contamination in areas affected by the dam collapse, according to the Ukrainian Health Ministry.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak by phone as London prepares to host the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Wednesday and Thursday.
More live updates here.