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.
Russia presses criminal case against award-winning journalist Masha Gessen
RIGA, Latvia — Russia has opened a criminal case against the prominent Russian American writer and journalist Masha Gessen, accusing them of spreading “false information” about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine — part of a continuing crackdown by the Kremlin on voices critical of its war.
Russian authorities have charged Gessen, a staff writer for the New Yorker who holds dual Russian and U.S. citizenship but lives in the United States, with spreading “knowingly false information” about atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
Gessen made the remarks in an interview with popular Russian YouTuber and journalist Yury Dud, in which they discussed a reporting trip to several Ukrainian cities to document potential war crimes in the first months of the war.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russia has opened a criminal case against the prominent Russian American writer and journalist Masha Gessen, accusing them of spreading “false information” about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine — part of a continuing crackdown by the Kremlin on voices critical of its war.
Russian authorities have charged Gessen, a staff writer for the New Yorker who holds dual Russian and U.S. citizenship but lives in the United States, with spreading “knowingly false information” about atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
Gessen made the remarks in an interview with popular Russian YouTuber and journalist Yury Dud, in which they discussed a reporting trip to several Ukrainian cities to document potential war crimes in the first months of the war.
Read the full story here.
Russia extends detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich
RIGA, Latvia — A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich until at least Jan. 30, prolonging his imprisonment since March on charges of spying, which he, his employer and the State Department forcefully deny.
It is the third time Gershkovich’s detention has been extended since Federal Security Service (FSB) agents seized him from a restaurant in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals where he was on a reporting trip. Gershkovich then was flown to Moscow and has been in Lefortovo high security prison since.
Gershkovich, 32, held Russian Foreign Ministry accreditation to work as a reporter in Russia, but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova swiftly condemned the reporter just hours after his arrest, claiming without evidence that his activities were “not related to journalism.”
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich until at least Jan. 30, prolonging his imprisonment since March on charges of spying, which he, his employer and the State Department forcefully deny.
It is the third time Gershkovich’s detention has been extended since Federal Security Service (FSB) agents seized him from a restaurant in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals where he was on a reporting trip. Gershkovich then was flown to Moscow and has been in Lefortovo high security prison since.
Gershkovich, 32, held Russian Foreign Ministry accreditation to work as a reporter in Russia, but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova swiftly condemned the reporter just hours after his arrest, claiming without evidence that his activities were “not related to journalism.”
Read the full story here.
Ukraine military intelligence chief’s wife was poisoned, Kyiv officials say
KYIV — The wife of Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has been hospitalized after being poisoned with heavy metals, a top Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
Marianna Budanova, who is married to Ukrainian military spymaster Kyrylo Budanov, is undergoing treatment after a lengthy period of illness, local media reported.
Marianna Budanova “is undergoing a course of treatment, which is already coming to an end,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry’s intelligence directorate, told Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“I can confirm the information, unfortunately, it is true,” Yusov told Reuters.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — The wife of Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has been hospitalized after being poisoned with heavy metals, a top Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
Marianna Budanova, who is married to Ukrainian military spymaster Kyrylo Budanov, is undergoing treatment after a lengthy period of illness, local media reported.
Marianna Budanova “is undergoing a course of treatment, which is already coming to an end,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry’s intelligence directorate, told Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“I can confirm the information, unfortunately, it is true,” Yusov told Reuters.
Read the full story here.
Most Russians back war in Ukraine and buy Putin’s case for it, report says
RIGA, Latvia — Russians are growing weary of the war against Ukraine but are divided about how much harm it has done and how to end it, according to a report based on polling and focus groups by the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and the Levada Center, an independent polling group.
Notably, however, as President Vladimir Putin appears poised to run in a highly managed presidential election in March, the nation has not turned against him, and Western efforts to punish Russia for the war have not weakened his grip on power.
“All the naïve predictions that popular discontent triggered by sanctions and the wartime restrictions imposed on daily life would bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have come to nothing,” the report states.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russians are growing weary of the war against Ukraine but are divided about how much harm it has done and how to end it, according to a report based on polling and focus groups by the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and the Levada Center, an independent polling group.
Notably, however, as President Vladimir Putin appears poised to run in a highly managed presidential election in March, the nation has not turned against him, and Western efforts to punish Russia for the war have not weakened his grip on power.
“All the naïve predictions that popular discontent triggered by sanctions and the wartime restrictions imposed on daily life would bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have come to nothing,” the report states.
Read the full story here.
Russia bans international LGBT movement as ‘extremist’
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT public movement” as an extremist organization — even though the alleged movement has no organizational structure, leaders, membership, website or address.
The Russian ban, which was approved in a closed hearing, nonetheless could have sweeping implications for LGBT people in Russia. It could be used to prosecute any LGBT organization, activity, communication, or mutual support initiative, including those online.
While critics called the ruling legal nonsense, the Kremlin appears to be banking on global homophobia as a unifying ideology that will align intolerant countries — particularly in the Middle East and Africa — against the liberal West.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT public movement” as an extremist organization — even though the alleged movement has no organizational structure, leaders, membership, website or address.
The Russian ban, which was approved in a closed hearing, nonetheless could have sweeping implications for LGBT people in Russia. It could be used to prosecute any LGBT organization, activity, communication, or mutual support initiative, including those online.
While critics called the ruling legal nonsense, the Kremlin appears to be banking on global homophobia as a unifying ideology that will align intolerant countries — particularly in the Middle East and Africa — against the liberal West.
Read the full story here.
Russian deserters tell of blood, betrayal and hope in escaping Ukraine war
MOSCOW — When Igor, a Russian soldier, was conscripted to go to war in Ukraine, he reacted with a fatalistic shrug. But deserting the army amid staggering casualties, he said, required determination and a plan.
The 28-year-old Muscovite, who was mobilized in September 2022 and left Russia this September, never supported the war and claims he never met a conscripted soldier who did.
“The mobilized do not want to go to war and to fight,” Igor said in an interview. “There is no motivation. How can we even talk about any motivation for a Russian person to kill a Ukrainian?”
He felt guilty leaving comrades fighting as he skipped out of Russia during his two-week home leave.
Amid appalling casualty rates, many Russian soldiers are desperate to escape. One Russian underground antiwar network, Go by the Forest, says it has helped more than 400 men to desert, and advised nearly 20,000 how to avoid being drafted.
Read the full story here.
MOSCOW — When Igor, a Russian soldier, was conscripted to go to war in Ukraine, he reacted with a fatalistic shrug. But deserting the army amid staggering casualties, he said, required determination and a plan.
The 28-year-old Muscovite, who was mobilized in September 2022 and left Russia this September, never supported the war and claims he never met a conscripted soldier who did.
“The mobilized do not want to go to war and to fight,” Igor said in an interview. “There is no motivation. How can we even talk about any motivation for a Russian person to kill a Ukrainian?”
He felt guilty leaving comrades fighting as he skipped out of Russia during his two-week home leave.
Amid appalling casualty rates, many Russian soldiers are desperate to escape. One Russian underground antiwar network, Go by the Forest, says it has helped more than 400 men to desert, and advised nearly 20,000 how to avoid being drafted.
Read the full story here.
In second act, Russian activist group Pussy Riot protests Ukraine war
RIGA, Latvia — More than a year after members of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein escaped from Moscow disguised as food couriers, the feminist punk-protest band is touring the United States with a new antiwar anthem that howls in rage at Kremlin propagandists they accuse of poisoning Russian minds.
The group borrows from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — music wedded in Russian minds as synonymous with sinister official censorship — for their song about the poison of state television in a nation where, according to the lyrics, “the happiness of the Motherland is more precious than life.”
Alyokhina was imprisoned in 2012 with two other Pussy Riot members for nearly two years for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over a punk performance that year in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — More than a year after members of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein escaped from Moscow disguised as food couriers, the feminist punk-protest band is touring the United States with a new antiwar anthem that howls in rage at Kremlin propagandists they accuse of poisoning Russian minds.
The group borrows from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — music wedded in Russian minds as synonymous with sinister official censorship — for their song about the poison of state television in a nation where, according to the lyrics, “the happiness of the Motherland is more precious than life.”
Alyokhina was imprisoned in 2012 with two other Pussy Riot members for nearly two years for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over a punk performance that year in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Read the full story here.
Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine
On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv.
Austin asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault.
Reznikov said Ukraine’s military commanders were the ones making those decisions. But he noted that Ukraine’s armored vehicles were being destroyed by Russian artillery with every attempt to advance.
The meeting in Brussels illustrates how a counteroffensive has failed to deliver its expected punch, generating friction and second-guessing between Washington and Kyiv and raising deeper questions about Ukraine’s ability to retake decisive amounts of territory.
Read the full story here.
On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv.
Austin asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault.
Reznikov said Ukraine’s military commanders were the ones making those decisions. But he noted that Ukraine’s armored vehicles were being destroyed by Russian artillery with every attempt to advance.
The meeting in Brussels illustrates how a counteroffensive has failed to deliver its expected punch, generating friction and second-guessing between Washington and Kyiv and raising deeper questions about Ukraine’s ability to retake decisive amounts of territory.
Read the full story here.
White House warns Congress of urgent need for Ukraine funding
The White House issued an urgent warning to Congress on Monday about the need for additional aid for Ukraine’s war with Russia, with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young bluntly writing in a letter to congressional leaders that the United States is “out of money to support Ukraine in this fight.”
In the letter, Young wrote that “without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks.”
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.”
A Biden administration request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel and other needs remains stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
The White House issued an urgent warning to Congress on Monday about the need for additional aid for Ukraine’s war with Russia, with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young bluntly writing in a letter to congressional leaders that the United States is “out of money to support Ukraine in this fight.”
In the letter, Young wrote that “without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks.”
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.”
A Biden administration request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel and other needs remains stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
In Ukraine, a war of incremental gains as counteroffensive stalls
Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.
The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne. However, nothing went as planned.
This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.
This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line.
Read the full story here.
Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.
The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne. However, nothing went as planned.
This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.
This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line.
Read the full story here.
Russia to release six more Ukrainian children after Qatar mediation
Russia has agreed to free an additional six Ukrainian children and allow them to reunite with their families in Ukraine following Qatari mediation, Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said Tuesday.
The children are among the thousands Ukraine says have been forcibly displaced to Russia or trapped in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. The group of six is scheduled to leave Moscow on Tuesday and travel through Belarus to Ukraine, according to an official briefed on the operation.
The mother of one 11-year-old boy in the group is a Ukrainian soldier being held as a prisoner of war in Russia, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. His father died around a decade ago, and he will now stay with a maternal aunt. Until now, he had been living with relatives in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, the official said.
Read the full story here.
Russia has agreed to free an additional six Ukrainian children and allow them to reunite with their families in Ukraine following Qatari mediation, Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said Tuesday.
The children are among the thousands Ukraine says have been forcibly displaced to Russia or trapped in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. The group of six is scheduled to leave Moscow on Tuesday and travel through Belarus to Ukraine, according to an official briefed on the operation.
The mother of one 11-year-old boy in the group is a Ukrainian soldier being held as a prisoner of war in Russia, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. His father died around a decade ago, and he will now stay with a maternal aunt. Until now, he had been living with relatives in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, the official said.
Read the full story here.