Putin, eyeing reelection, signs law to allow voting in occupied Ukraine
RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cleared the way to hold Russia’s presidential election in occupied Ukrainian territory in March — part of a highly managed process to keep him in office until at least 2030, even as Russia’s war has forced Ukraine to delay its own national elections because the country is living under martial law with millions of citizens displaced.
Putin, who has been Russia’s paramount leader since Dec. 31, 1999, is expected to formally announce in coming weeks that he will run for a fifth term as president. (He also served one term as prime minister from 2008 to 2012.) Putin is certain to win, given a rigged electoral system in which anti-regime opposition figures have been jailed or forced to flee the country to avoid arrest.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cleared the way to hold Russia’s presidential election in occupied Ukrainian territory in March — part of a highly managed process to keep him in office until at least 2030, even as Russia’s war has forced Ukraine to delay its own national elections because the country is living under martial law with millions of citizens displaced.
Putin, who has been Russia’s paramount leader since Dec. 31, 1999, is expected to formally announce in coming weeks that he will run for a fifth term as president. (He also served one term as prime minister from 2008 to 2012.) Putin is certain to win, given a rigged electoral system in which anti-regime opposition figures have been jailed or forced to flee the country to avoid arrest.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian lawmaker with ties to Giuliani arrested on treason charges
KYIV — Ukrainian law enforcement officials on Tuesday jailed Oleksandr Dubinsky, a member of parliament who four years ago helped Rudy Giuliani in his failed attempts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden on behalf of then-president Donald Trump.
Dubinsky is accused of treason for allegedly working to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. His arrest restores a spotlight on the efforts by Trump and his associates to gain political advantage by discrediting Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump, despite facing numerous legal prosecutions, is the overwhelming Republican favorite to challenge Biden in next year’s election.
Authorities from the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, and the State Bureau of Investigations informed Dubinsky on Monday that a criminal case had been opened against him on charges of state treason, the agencies said in statements posted on the Telegram messaging platform.
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KYIV — Ukrainian law enforcement officials on Tuesday jailed Oleksandr Dubinsky, a member of parliament who four years ago helped Rudy Giuliani in his failed attempts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden on behalf of then-president Donald Trump.
Dubinsky is accused of treason for allegedly working to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. His arrest restores a spotlight on the efforts by Trump and his associates to gain political advantage by discrediting Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump, despite facing numerous legal prosecutions, is the overwhelming Republican favorite to challenge Biden in next year’s election.
Authorities from the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, and the State Bureau of Investigations informed Dubinsky on Monday that a criminal case had been opened against him on charges of state treason, the agencies said in statements posted on the Telegram messaging platform.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine liberated Kherson city. A year later, Russian bombs still rain down.
Oleksandr Andrienko lay in a hospital ward in Kherson, his face pale and exhausted, blood still seeping from the bandage around the stump of what had been his lower left leg.
Andrienko is one of scores of civilians who have been maimed or killed in recent months as Russia has continued to relentlessly bombard the southern city of Kherson and the surrounding region — an area that it once occupied and that Russian President Vladimir Putin, defying reality and international law, still insists is now part of Russia, a year after Ukraine pushed his troops back across the river.
Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have stepped up their dangerous river crossings, aiming to establish new positions and push Russian lines on the east bank back even farther. Moscow, meanwhile, seems to have given up on the idea of winning popular support for reoccupation.
Read the full story here.
Oleksandr Andrienko lay in a hospital ward in Kherson, his face pale and exhausted, blood still seeping from the bandage around the stump of what had been his lower left leg.
Andrienko is one of scores of civilians who have been maimed or killed in recent months as Russia has continued to relentlessly bombard the southern city of Kherson and the surrounding region — an area that it once occupied and that Russian President Vladimir Putin, defying reality and international law, still insists is now part of Russia, a year after Ukraine pushed his troops back across the river.
Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have stepped up their dangerous river crossings, aiming to establish new positions and push Russian lines on the east bank back even farther. Moscow, meanwhile, seems to have given up on the idea of winning popular support for reoccupation.
Read the full story here.
Jailed for 7 years, pacifist artist to Russian court: ‘I’m freer than you’
RIGA, Latvia — Alexandra Skochilenko, a pacifist Russian artist and musician with no prior history of political activism, was sentenced to seven years in prison by a St. Petersburg court on Thursday, for a trivial antiwar protest: covering five supermarket price tags in March of last year with stickers giving information about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Skochilenko, wearing one of her trademark bright hippie shirts with a red heart emblazoned on the front, fixed her eyes on Judge Oksana Demyasheva and told her: “Everyone sees and knows that you are not judging a terrorist. You are not judging an extremist. You are not even judging a political activist. You are judging a pacifist.”
The judge prohibited video coverage of Skochilenko’s final statement before pronouncing a guilty verdict on the charge of spreading “fake news” about the military.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Alexandra Skochilenko, a pacifist Russian artist and musician with no prior history of political activism, was sentenced to seven years in prison by a St. Petersburg court on Thursday, for a trivial antiwar protest: covering five supermarket price tags in March of last year with stickers giving information about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Skochilenko, wearing one of her trademark bright hippie shirts with a red heart emblazoned on the front, fixed her eyes on Judge Oksana Demyasheva and told her: “Everyone sees and knows that you are not judging a terrorist. You are not judging an extremist. You are not even judging a political activist. You are judging a pacifist.”
The judge prohibited video coverage of Skochilenko’s final statement before pronouncing a guilty verdict on the charge of spreading “fake news” about the military.
Read the full story here.
Cops in the trenches: Ukrainian police key to fight against Russia
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — Some of the riskiest battles in Ukraine are being fought not by soldiers but by cops.
In many recent operations on the eastern front — including the liberation of a key village near Bakhmut — police officers boldly advanced on occupying Russian forces, attacking with grenades and gunfire.
Ukrainian police have long been reviled as corrupt and ineffective, and citizens united against them during the Maidan revolution of 2013-14, which led to a sweeping overhaul and rebranding.
Now, Russia’s war has carved out new and unexpected roles for the Ukrainian police, moving some officers from squad cars into trenches.
Read the full story here.
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — Some of the riskiest battles in Ukraine are being fought not by soldiers but by cops.
In many recent operations on the eastern front — including the liberation of a key village near Bakhmut — police officers boldly advanced on occupying Russian forces, attacking with grenades and gunfire.
Ukrainian police have long been reviled as corrupt and ineffective, and citizens united against them during the Maidan revolution of 2013-14, which led to a sweeping overhaul and rebranding.
Now, Russia’s war has carved out new and unexpected roles for the Ukrainian police, moving some officers from squad cars into trenches.
Read the full story here.
Russia frees killers from prison to go to war and kill in Ukraine
Vladislav Kanyus, a young man from Kemerovo in southwestern Siberia, brutally killed his ex-girlfriend Vera Pekhteleva, torturing, suffocating and stabbing her for hours.
He was sentenced in July 2022 to 17 years after a high-profile trial that reignited a national conversation in Russia about the lack of protections against domestic violence and law enforcement indifference to such cases. But then Pekhteleva’s bereaved mother, Oksana, received a photo of Kanyus — not in prison but in a military uniform surrounded by other Russian soldiers.
Her daughter’s murderer was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in exchange for taking up arms in Ukraine.
Read the full story here.
Vladislav Kanyus, a young man from Kemerovo in southwestern Siberia, brutally killed his ex-girlfriend Vera Pekhteleva, torturing, suffocating and stabbing her for hours.
He was sentenced in July 2022 to 17 years after a high-profile trial that reignited a national conversation in Russia about the lack of protections against domestic violence and law enforcement indifference to such cases. But then Pekhteleva’s bereaved mother, Oksana, received a photo of Kanyus — not in prison but in a military uniform surrounded by other Russian soldiers.
Her daughter’s murderer was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in exchange for taking up arms in Ukraine.
Read the full story here.
He proposed in a bomb shelter. They died together in a Russian strike.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — It began, as many modern love stories now do, with a swipe on a dating app. It ended, a little over a year later, in a roar of exploding glass and concrete from a Russian missile strike.
Six months into Russia’s invasion, Danylo Kovalenko, 22, and Diana Haidukova, 19, were looking for a shred of normality, a distraction — anything to take their minds off the war and the petrifying bombardments of their city, Zaporizhzhia.
Diana messaged first. She said Danylo, with his long blonde hair and angular jaw line, reminded her of an anime character she liked. They met for a walk, then went to dinner and, hours later, back to his place.
The next months were a blur. The couple quickly became inseparable — beautiful, ambitious and creative, madly in love in a country under daily attack. Their relationship was intense from the get-go, and they didn’t want to waste a second.
Read the full story here.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — It began, as many modern love stories now do, with a swipe on a dating app. It ended, a little over a year later, in a roar of exploding glass and concrete from a Russian missile strike.
Six months into Russia’s invasion, Danylo Kovalenko, 22, and Diana Haidukova, 19, were looking for a shred of normality, a distraction — anything to take their minds off the war and the petrifying bombardments of their city, Zaporizhzhia.
Diana messaged first. She said Danylo, with his long blonde hair and angular jaw line, reminded her of an anime character she liked. They met for a walk, then went to dinner and, hours later, back to his place.
The next months were a blur. The couple quickly became inseparable — beautiful, ambitious and creative, madly in love in a country under daily attack. Their relationship was intense from the get-go, and they didn’t want to waste a second.
Read the full story here.
Russian and Chinese executives discuss Russia-Crimea tunnel project
KYIV — Russian and Chinese business executives with government ties have held secret discussions on plans to build an underwater tunnel connecting Russia to Crimea in hopes of establishing a transportation route that would be protected from attacks by Ukraine, according to communications intercepted by Ukraine’s security services.
The talks, which included meetings in late October, were triggered by mounting Russian concerns over the security of an 11-mile bridge across the Kerch Strait that has served as a key logistics line for the Russian military but has been bombed twice by Ukraine and remains a vulnerable war target.
The negotiations underscore Russia’s determination to maintain its grip on Crimea, a peninsula that it annexed illegally in 2014, as well as Moscow’s growing dependence on China as a source of global support.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Russian and Chinese business executives with government ties have held secret discussions on plans to build an underwater tunnel connecting Russia to Crimea in hopes of establishing a transportation route that would be protected from attacks by Ukraine, according to communications intercepted by Ukraine’s security services.
The talks, which included meetings in late October, were triggered by mounting Russian concerns over the security of an 11-mile bridge across the Kerch Strait that has served as a key logistics line for the Russian military but has been bombed twice by Ukraine and remains a vulnerable war target.
The negotiations underscore Russia’s determination to maintain its grip on Crimea, a peninsula that it annexed illegally in 2014, as well as Moscow’s growing dependence on China as a source of global support.
Read the full story here.
Fierce Russian drone attack shatters Kyiv’s calm
KYIV — Russia launched a fierce swarm of explosive drones at Kyiv and other targets early Saturday, interrupting a weeks-long relative lull in the Ukrainian capital and adding to its darkening mood.
Ukraine’s military said air defenses destroyed 74 of 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones during a six-hour attack that included dozens of the weapons aimed at Kyiv in what the city’s mayor said was the largest drone attack since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
All of the pilotless craft headed for Kyiv were intercepted and destroyed, although falling debris struck a kindergarten, ignited a few fires and injured five people, including an 11-year-old child, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Russia launched a fierce swarm of explosive drones at Kyiv and other targets early Saturday, interrupting a weeks-long relative lull in the Ukrainian capital and adding to its darkening mood.
Ukraine’s military said air defenses destroyed 74 of 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones during a six-hour attack that included dozens of the weapons aimed at Kyiv in what the city’s mayor said was the largest drone attack since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
All of the pilotless craft headed for Kyiv were intercepted and destroyed, although falling debris struck a kindergarten, ignited a few fires and injured five people, including an 11-year-old child, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram.
Read the full story here.
Russia held these Ukrainian teens captive. Their testimonies could be used against Putin.
KYIV — The Russian missing child poster went up in Crimea soon after Rostyslav Lavrov escaped last month.
“HELP FIND,” it read. “17 years old, born 2006 … Height 160 cm, thin build, dark hair, blue eyes.”
The attached photo — which Lavrov said was taken several months ago when Russian authorities holding him against his will tried to issue him a Russian ID card — showed the Ukrainian teen sullen in a white shirt and tie.
He is one of three Ukrainian teenagers who fled Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea this summer and shared their experiences with The Washington Post in lengthy interviews in Kyiv and Kherson. They each described systematic efforts by Russian officials to keep them in Russian-controlled territory.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — The Russian missing child poster went up in Crimea soon after Rostyslav Lavrov escaped last month.
“HELP FIND,” it read. “17 years old, born 2006 … Height 160 cm, thin build, dark hair, blue eyes.”
The attached photo — which Lavrov said was taken several months ago when Russian authorities holding him against his will tried to issue him a Russian ID card — showed the Ukrainian teen sullen in a white shirt and tie.
He is one of three Ukrainian teenagers who fled Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea this summer and shared their experiences with The Washington Post in lengthy interviews in Kyiv and Kherson. They each described systematic efforts by Russian officials to keep them in Russian-controlled territory.
Read the full story here.