Blinded in battle, these Ukrainian soldiers will never see their new babies
On the front lines of Russia’s bloody war, Ukrainian troops are killed and wounded daily, scarring and maiming a generation of young people.
Severe eye injuries are pervasive. At least 1,000 soldiers have been blinded in the past two years, said Anna Purtova, a lawmaker who is advocating for soldiers who have lost their vision. Tetiana Lytvynenko, head of ophthalmology at a Kyiv hospital that treats soldiers and civilians, said the 30 beds in her ward are always full.
While medical advances have improved treatment for many war injuries, including with enhanced prosthetic limbs, little can be done for those who lose vision in both eyes and must learn to navigate the world without sight. Ukraine has not yet adapted to its growing blind population. Guide dogs are uncommon, many streetlights do not beep for pedestrians, and drivers often park on city sidewalks, creating dangerous obstacles.
Read the full story here.
On the front lines of Russia’s bloody war, Ukrainian troops are killed and wounded daily, scarring and maiming a generation of young people.
Severe eye injuries are pervasive. At least 1,000 soldiers have been blinded in the past two years, said Anna Purtova, a lawmaker who is advocating for soldiers who have lost their vision. Tetiana Lytvynenko, head of ophthalmology at a Kyiv hospital that treats soldiers and civilians, said the 30 beds in her ward are always full.
While medical advances have improved treatment for many war injuries, including with enhanced prosthetic limbs, little can be done for those who lose vision in both eyes and must learn to navigate the world without sight. Ukraine has not yet adapted to its growing blind population. Guide dogs are uncommon, many streetlights do not beep for pedestrians, and drivers often park on city sidewalks, creating dangerous obstacles.
Read the full story here.
U.K. lifts restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons against Russia
KYIV — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced that Britain has given Ukraine permission to strike targets on Russian territory with the weapons in a new $3 billion multiyear aid package it is providing.
Cameron’s remarks mark a sharp reversal in the position of one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters.
Kyiv’s Western allies, including the United States, have so far forbidden Ukrainian forces from using Western-supplied arms to target locations within Russia, for fear of escalation and possibly being drawn further into the conflict. Ukraine has used its own weapons systems, such as long-range self-destructing drones, to strike critical infrastructure deep inside Russia.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced that Britain has given Ukraine permission to strike targets on Russian territory with the weapons in a new $3 billion multiyear aid package it is providing.
Cameron’s remarks mark a sharp reversal in the position of one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters.
Kyiv’s Western allies, including the United States, have so far forbidden Ukrainian forces from using Western-supplied arms to target locations within Russia, for fear of escalation and possibly being drawn further into the conflict. Ukraine has used its own weapons systems, such as long-range self-destructing drones, to strike critical infrastructure deep inside Russia.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian men abroad voice anger over pressure to return home to fight
KYIV — With Ukraine desperate for soldiers to reinforce its crumbling defenses against Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian embassies have temporarily suspended consular services for fighting-age men, placing new pressure on them to go home to fight.
The suspension of citizen services, such as passport renewals, is intended as a preliminary step to a new mobilization law that will go into force on May 18. It will require all men ages 18 to 60 to update their personal information with a local draft office within 60 days.
Martial law, in effect since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, prohibits men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country. But many men who were afraid of being sent to the front have fled. Thousands of others were already living abroad. Now, all of them face pressure under the new rules, which could restrict their movements.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — With Ukraine desperate for soldiers to reinforce its crumbling defenses against Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian embassies have temporarily suspended consular services for fighting-age men, placing new pressure on them to go home to fight.
The suspension of citizen services, such as passport renewals, is intended as a preliminary step to a new mobilization law that will go into force on May 18. It will require all men ages 18 to 60 to update their personal information with a local draft office within 60 days.
Martial law, in effect since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, prohibits men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country. But many men who were afraid of being sent to the front have fled. Thousands of others were already living abroad. Now, all of them face pressure under the new rules, which could restrict their movements.
Read the full story here.
Under Putin, a militarized new Russia rises to challenge U.S. and the West
MOSCOW — As Vladimir Putin persists in his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian leader is directing an equally momentous transformation at home — re-engineering his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy.
Putin’s inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term will not only mark his 25-year-long grip on power but also showcase Russia’s shift into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a “revolutionary power,” set on upending the global order, making its own rules, and demanding that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world redivided by big powers into spheres of influence.
Read the full story here.
MOSCOW — As Vladimir Putin persists in his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian leader is directing an equally momentous transformation at home — re-engineering his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy.
Putin’s inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term will not only mark his 25-year-long grip on power but also showcase Russia’s shift into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a “revolutionary power,” set on upending the global order, making its own rules, and demanding that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world redivided by big powers into spheres of influence.
Read the full story here.
To please Putin, universities purge liberals and embrace patriots
Two weeks before the start of his 25th year as Russia’s supreme political leader, Vladimir Putin made a sweeping proclamation: “Wars are won by teachers.”
The remark shed light on a campaign he is waging that has received little attention outside wartime Russia: to imbue the country’s education system with patriotism, purge universities of Western influences, and quash any dissent among professors and students on campuses that are often hotbeds of political activism.
In a radical reshaping of Russia’s education system, curriculums are being redrawn to stress patriotism and textbooks rewritten to belittle Ukraine, glorify Russia and whitewash the totalitarian Soviet past. These changes — the most sweeping to schooling in Russia since the 1930s — are a core part of Putin’s effort to harness the war in Ukraine to remaster his country as a regressive, militarized state.
Read the full story here.
Two weeks before the start of his 25th year as Russia’s supreme political leader, Vladimir Putin made a sweeping proclamation: “Wars are won by teachers.”
The remark shed light on a campaign he is waging that has received little attention outside wartime Russia: to imbue the country’s education system with patriotism, purge universities of Western influences, and quash any dissent among professors and students on campuses that are often hotbeds of political activism.
In a radical reshaping of Russia’s education system, curriculums are being redrawn to stress patriotism and textbooks rewritten to belittle Ukraine, glorify Russia and whitewash the totalitarian Soviet past. These changes — the most sweeping to schooling in Russia since the 1930s — are a core part of Putin’s effort to harness the war in Ukraine to remaster his country as a regressive, militarized state.
Read the full story here.
Triumphal Putin is inaugurated for fifth term as Russian president
In the gilded Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace where Russian czars were once crowned, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday swore the oath of allegiance on Russia’s constitution at his inauguration for a fifth term as president. The traditional pomp and ceremony conveyed his might as Russia’s supreme, uncontested leader for the past quarter-century.
Bristling with optimism about his ongoing war against Ukraine, Putin, 71, declared he would place Russia’s security above all else and promised that the country would be victorious. Russia is seeking to conquer and annex four regions of southeastern Ukraine, in addition to Crimea, which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014.
“We are one, great nation,” Putin declared in his inauguration speech. “Together we will overcome all obstacles. We will fulfill everything we have planned. Together we will win.” A 30-gun salute followed his remarks.
Read the full story here.
In the gilded Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace where Russian czars were once crowned, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday swore the oath of allegiance on Russia’s constitution at his inauguration for a fifth term as president. The traditional pomp and ceremony conveyed his might as Russia’s supreme, uncontested leader for the past quarter-century.
Bristling with optimism about his ongoing war against Ukraine, Putin, 71, declared he would place Russia’s security above all else and promised that the country would be victorious. Russia is seeking to conquer and annex four regions of southeastern Ukraine, in addition to Crimea, which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014.
“We are one, great nation,” Putin declared in his inauguration speech. “Together we will overcome all obstacles. We will fulfill everything we have planned. Together we will win.” A 30-gun salute followed his remarks.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine arrests two colonels in protective service in plot to kill Zelensky
Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that they have arrested two officers in the agency responsible for protecting senior government leaders and accused them of developing a plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials — as a “gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his inauguration.
The two suspects were colonels in Ukraine’s State Protection Department, roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Secret Service, and were recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, according to Ukraine’s State Security Service.
The State Security Service, known as the SBU, announced the arrests in a post on the Telegram social media platform. The statement did not identify the suspects, and their faces were obscured in photos showing the arrests and in a subsequent video of an interrogation.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that they have arrested two officers in the agency responsible for protecting senior government leaders and accused them of developing a plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials — as a “gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his inauguration.
The two suspects were colonels in Ukraine’s State Protection Department, roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Secret Service, and were recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, according to Ukraine’s State Security Service.
The State Security Service, known as the SBU, announced the arrests in a post on the Telegram social media platform. The statement did not identify the suspects, and their faces were obscured in photos showing the arrests and in a subsequent video of an interrogation.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine orders nationwide electricity rationing after Russian airstrikes
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday said they were preparing to order electricity rationing measures across the country following a major overnight missile strike by Russia — the latest in a relentless bombing campaign against civilian infrastructure.
Brownouts “are possible throughout Ukraine” between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., the state energy provider, Ukrenergo, said in a statement posted on the Telegram social media platform. The statement cited a “shortage of electricity in the power system.”
The Russian strikes, which lasted more than three hours, targeted energy infrastructure in six Ukrainian regions. Ukraine’s power plants, electrical grid and other infrastructure have become particular vulnerable as Western countries have struggled to supply Kyiv with sufficient air defense systems and ammunition.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday said they were preparing to order electricity rationing measures across the country following a major overnight missile strike by Russia — the latest in a relentless bombing campaign against civilian infrastructure.
Brownouts “are possible throughout Ukraine” between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., the state energy provider, Ukrenergo, said in a statement posted on the Telegram social media platform. The statement cited a “shortage of electricity in the power system.”
The Russian strikes, which lasted more than three hours, targeted energy infrastructure in six Ukrainian regions. Ukraine’s power plants, electrical grid and other infrastructure have become particular vulnerable as Western countries have struggled to supply Kyiv with sufficient air defense systems and ammunition.
Read the full story here.
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Opinion | Read Vladimir Kara-Murza’s Pulitzer Prize-winning commentary on Russia
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Washington Post contributing columnist who has been imprisoned in Russia since April 2022, was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Arrested voicing his opposition to the war in Ukraine, Kara-Murza courageously continued to send his incisive, historically informed columns about the Russian system to The Post from his prison cell. The Pulitzer judges recognized Kara-Mura’s “passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country.”
In April 2023, Kara-Murza received a 25-year prison sentence. He is being held in a prison colony in Omsk in central Russia. Evgenia Kara-Murza, his wife, gave this speech in The Washington Post newsroom on his behalf.
Read the seven columns for which he was honored.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Washington Post contributing columnist who has been imprisoned in Russia since April 2022, was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Arrested voicing his opposition to the war in Ukraine, Kara-Murza courageously continued to send his incisive, historically informed columns about the Russian system to The Post from his prison cell. The Pulitzer judges recognized Kara-Mura’s “passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country.”
In April 2023, Kara-Murza received a 25-year prison sentence. He is being held in a prison colony in Omsk in central Russia. Evgenia Kara-Murza, his wife, gave this speech in The Washington Post newsroom on his behalf.
Read the seven columns for which he was honored.
Emboldened Russia marks Victory Day with parade of nuclear-capable weapons
With his armies grinding forward in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin on Thursday marked Victory Day, the World War II commemoration that is Russia’s most significant holiday, with an unusually harsh speech, accusing the West of “hypocrisy and lies” and of inciting global conflicts, and warning that Russia’s nuclear weapons are always ready for war.
Appearing confident and confrontational at the ceremony on Red Square, two days after his inauguration for a fifth term as president, Putin accused Russia’s former allies against Nazi Germany of distorting the truth about World War II. After his speech, the traditional parade showcased Russia’s military prowess, including the Yars and Iskander-M nuclear-capable missile systems.
“Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash, but at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in combat readiness,” Putin said.
Read the full story here.
With his armies grinding forward in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin on Thursday marked Victory Day, the World War II commemoration that is Russia’s most significant holiday, with an unusually harsh speech, accusing the West of “hypocrisy and lies” and of inciting global conflicts, and warning that Russia’s nuclear weapons are always ready for war.
Appearing confident and confrontational at the ceremony on Red Square, two days after his inauguration for a fifth term as president, Putin accused Russia’s former allies against Nazi Germany of distorting the truth about World War II. After his speech, the traditional parade showcased Russia’s military prowess, including the Yars and Iskander-M nuclear-capable missile systems.
“Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash, but at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in combat readiness,” Putin said.
Read the full story here.
Opinion | Fulbright scholars are trapped in a Catch-22
Two years ago, when I received the email accepting me into the Fulbright exchange program, it felt like a dream come true. With fully paid tuition at Syracuse University, plus a monthly stipend, I could envision my plan to study instructional design, then return to Russia to create an innovative textbook for teaching English as a second language.
Today, that dream is history. Today, I am regarded as a security threat and potential fifth columnist by my own country. If I return home — as I am required to do under the Fulbright rules — I face the very real possibility of arrest and a 15-year prison sentence. Roughly 150 fellow Russian scholars are in the same boat.
Our situation demands a more urgent response. We have appealed to the State Department and Congress to assist us in dealing with our Catch-22: being forced to return to a country that, by virtue of who we are, regards us as traitors.
Read the full op-ed here.
Two years ago, when I received the email accepting me into the Fulbright exchange program, it felt like a dream come true. With fully paid tuition at Syracuse University, plus a monthly stipend, I could envision my plan to study instructional design, then return to Russia to create an innovative textbook for teaching English as a second language.
Today, that dream is history. Today, I am regarded as a security threat and potential fifth columnist by my own country. If I return home — as I am required to do under the Fulbright rules — I face the very real possibility of arrest and a 15-year prison sentence. Roughly 150 fellow Russian scholars are in the same boat.
Our situation demands a more urgent response. We have appealed to the State Department and Congress to assist us in dealing with our Catch-22: being forced to return to a country that, by virtue of who we are, regards us as traitors.
Read the full op-ed here.
Russia unleashes new attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv border region
KYIV — Russian forces opened a heavy assault on Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, prompting Kyiv to send reinforcements on Friday to defend its border — and territory that had been occupied and liberated — even as Kyiv’s troops are already outnumbered and losing ground across other sections of the front line.
The attack started at about 5 a.m. on Friday, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, with intense aerial bombardment and shelling followed by armored columns trying to break through at several points along the border.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Russian forces opened a heavy assault on Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, prompting Kyiv to send reinforcements on Friday to defend its border — and territory that had been occupied and liberated — even as Kyiv’s troops are already outnumbered and losing ground across other sections of the front line.
The attack started at about 5 a.m. on Friday, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, with intense aerial bombardment and shelling followed by armored columns trying to break through at several points along the border.
Read the full story here.
Putin reassigns defense minister Shoigu in shakeup of Kremlin security team
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has removed Sergei Shoigu from his longtime position as defense minister and appointed him to lead the country’s security and defense council, a consultative body that advises the president — a major government shake-up of the Kremlin’s security team, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Putin has nominated former vice prime minister Andrei Belousov as defense minister, according to a statement posted by the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, on its official Telegram channel.
The shake-up comes days after Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term, and as Russian forces have launched major new attacks in northeast Ukraine.
Read the fully story here.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has removed Sergei Shoigu from his longtime position as defense minister and appointed him to lead the country’s security and defense council, a consultative body that advises the president — a major government shake-up of the Kremlin’s security team, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Putin has nominated former vice prime minister Andrei Belousov as defense minister, according to a statement posted by the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, on its official Telegram channel.
The shake-up comes days after Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term, and as Russian forces have launched major new attacks in northeast Ukraine.
Read the fully story here.
Putin taps economist Andrei Belousov to lead defense ministry in wartime
Vladimir Putin’s surprise selection of Andrei Belousov, an economist, as defense minister is the clearest sign yet that Russia has shifted its economy onto a war footing and that the fate of Russian forces in Ukraine depends heavily on winning an arms manufacturing race with the West.
“Belousov’s appointment is, in part, a recognition of how central the war has become to the economy, and how central the economy is to the war,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London.
Beluosov, 65, a former economic development minister who began his career in academia and has no background in military or law enforcement, was nominated by Putin on Sunday to replace Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister since 2012, in a dramatic reshuffle of Kremlin security chiefs.
Read the full story here.
Vladimir Putin’s surprise selection of Andrei Belousov, an economist, as defense minister is the clearest sign yet that Russia has shifted its economy onto a war footing and that the fate of Russian forces in Ukraine depends heavily on winning an arms manufacturing race with the West.
“Belousov’s appointment is, in part, a recognition of how central the war has become to the economy, and how central the economy is to the war,” said Sam Greene, a professor of Russian politics at King’s College London.
Beluosov, 65, a former economic development minister who began his career in academia and has no background in military or law enforcement, was nominated by Putin on Sunday to replace Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister since 2012, in a dramatic reshuffle of Kremlin security chiefs.
Read the full story here.
Blinken visits Ukraine to push U.S. support as Russia pummels Kharkiv
KYIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday in Ukraine’s capital, part of a mission to display Washington’s continued support for the country’s faltering war effort after months of congressional inaction choked off military assistance. The delay in aid weakened Ukraine’s ability to repel renewed Russian attacks.
Blinken’s two-day trip is the first high-level visit by a Biden administration official since Congress last month approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine after seven months of obstruction by Republicans. The visit was intended as a show of solidarity as the Pentagon speeds antiaircraft defenses, artillery and other key equipment into the country to try to stabilize Kyiv’s front lines. But officials concede that given Ukraine’s sizable challenges, its military may not regain a battlefield advantage before 2025 at the earliest.
Read the full story.
KYIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday in Ukraine’s capital, part of a mission to display Washington’s continued support for the country’s faltering war effort after months of congressional inaction choked off military assistance. The delay in aid weakened Ukraine’s ability to repel renewed Russian attacks.
Blinken’s two-day trip is the first high-level visit by a Biden administration official since Congress last month approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine after seven months of obstruction by Republicans. The visit was intended as a show of solidarity as the Pentagon speeds antiaircraft defenses, artillery and other key equipment into the country to try to stabilize Kyiv’s front lines. But officials concede that given Ukraine’s sizable challenges, its military may not regain a battlefield advantage before 2025 at the earliest.
Read the full story.
Second Russian invasion is worse than the first, Kharkiv region evacuees say
A new Russian offensive into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has forced more than 6,000 people to evacuate this small city since Friday, fearing for their lives and racing to escape a second occupation more than two years after Moscow’s troops first crossed the border with columns of tanks.
The wave of displaced people from Vovchansk, located just five miles from the Russian border, and surrounding settlements is reminiscent of those early days of the invasion in February 2022 — but this attack by Russia is even worse, the evacuees said.
Russian glide bombs weighing half a ton each have been dropped repeatedly from aircraft on Vovchansk and neighboring border towns for days. The sound of artillery shelling has been constant. Self-destructing drones can be heard buzzing overhead before crashing into vehicles. So much is on fire that the heavy smoke makes it hard to breathe.
Read the full story here.
A new Russian offensive into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has forced more than 6,000 people to evacuate this small city since Friday, fearing for their lives and racing to escape a second occupation more than two years after Moscow’s troops first crossed the border with columns of tanks.
The wave of displaced people from Vovchansk, located just five miles from the Russian border, and surrounding settlements is reminiscent of those early days of the invasion in February 2022 — but this attack by Russia is even worse, the evacuees said.
Russian glide bombs weighing half a ton each have been dropped repeatedly from aircraft on Vovchansk and neighboring border towns for days. The sound of artillery shelling has been constant. Self-destructing drones can be heard buzzing overhead before crashing into vehicles. So much is on fire that the heavy smoke makes it hard to breathe.
Read the full story here.