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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
U.S. bans Russian uranium imports, key to nuclear fuel supply
President Biden on Monday evening signed a bipartisan bill prohibiting Russian imports of enriched uranium, the main fuel used by nuclear power plants, a move intended to cut off one of the last significant flows of money from the United States to Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Congress took swift action to ban Russian oil and gas imports a month after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But sanctions on uranium imports have taken much longer, in part because Russia supplies roughly 20 percent of U.S. nuclear fuel, leading some lawmakers to fear disruptions to the nation’s 93 nuclear reactors.
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President Biden on Monday evening signed a bipartisan bill prohibiting Russian imports of enriched uranium, the main fuel used by nuclear power plants, a move intended to cut off one of the last significant flows of money from the United States to Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Congress took swift action to ban Russian oil and gas imports a month after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But sanctions on uranium imports have taken much longer, in part because Russia supplies roughly 20 percent of U.S. nuclear fuel, leading some lawmakers to fear disruptions to the nation’s 93 nuclear reactors.
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U.S. offers aid as Zelensky drops foreign trip due to Russian advance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday scrapped a planned trip to Spain in order to stay in his capital and address Russia’s expanding front-line assault, his spokesman said, a measure of the rapidly increasing anxieties over the Kremlin’s military advances in recent days.
The decision came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another $2 billion in U.S. military aid as he wrapped a two-day visit to Ukraine that was intended to demonstrate Washington’s continued support for the war-hit country.
Blinken’s trip was planned before Russia’s weekend advances on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. But it also served to highlight the lingering consequences of Washington’s seven-month delay in approving more military aid for Ukraine. Stocks of artillery shells and other long-range munitions have run perilously low, leaving Ukrainian troops on the back foot.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday scrapped a planned trip to Spain in order to stay in his capital and address Russia’s expanding front-line assault, his spokesman said, a measure of the rapidly increasing anxieties over the Kremlin’s military advances in recent days.
The decision came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another $2 billion in U.S. military aid as he wrapped a two-day visit to Ukraine that was intended to demonstrate Washington’s continued support for the war-hit country.
Blinken’s trip was planned before Russia’s weekend advances on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. But it also served to highlight the lingering consequences of Washington’s seven-month delay in approving more military aid for Ukraine. Stocks of artillery shells and other long-range munitions have run perilously low, leaving Ukrainian troops on the back foot.
Read the full story here.
Second Russian invasion of Kharkiv caught Ukraine unprepared
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Russia’s new offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months — yet it still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there to defend against it.
Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade — stretched thin along a roughly 27-mile stretch of the Kharkiv region’s border with Russia — used reconnaissance drones to monitor, daily, how Moscow was steadily building up forces for a possible attack. But the morning it happened, May 10, the brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming.
Read the full story here.
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Russia’s new offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months — yet it still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there to defend against it.
Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade — stretched thin along a roughly 27-mile stretch of the Kharkiv region’s border with Russia — used reconnaissance drones to monitor, daily, how Moscow was steadily building up forces for a possible attack. But the morning it happened, May 10, the brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming.
Read the full story here.
With its energy network nearly destroyed, Ukraine already fears the winter
KYIV — While the rolling plains of Ukraine’s countryside are in full spring bloom, officials already fear what the distant winter will bring as a major energy crisis grips the country and power companies resort to phased blackouts to conserve supplies.
Russian territorial gains over the past months have been mirrored by successful missile barrages against Ukraine’s power plants, both abetted by faltering supplies of weapons and ammunition from the country’s foreign backers.
Ukraine’s energy companies are scrambling to repair the power stations damaged by Russian missiles before frigid temperatures set in — and avoid plunging the cities into the cold and dark when winter comes.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — While the rolling plains of Ukraine’s countryside are in full spring bloom, officials already fear what the distant winter will bring as a major energy crisis grips the country and power companies resort to phased blackouts to conserve supplies.
Russian territorial gains over the past months have been mirrored by successful missile barrages against Ukraine’s power plants, both abetted by faltering supplies of weapons and ammunition from the country’s foreign backers.
Ukraine’s energy companies are scrambling to repair the power stations damaged by Russian missiles before frigid temperatures set in — and avoid plunging the cities into the cold and dark when winter comes.
Read the full story here.
Zelensky’s chief aide flexes power, irks critics — and makes no apologies
KYIV — If actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky’s top credential when he was elected in 2019 was that he’d played a president on TV, the top qualification of his all-powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was being Zelensky’s friend.
The head of the office of the president, as Yermak’s post is formally known, has always wielded enormous influence in Ukraine. Wartime conditions, including martial law, have concentrated extraordinary authority in the presidential administration, making Yermak perhaps the most powerful chief of staff in the country’s history — virtually indistinguishable from his boss.
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KYIV — If actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky’s top credential when he was elected in 2019 was that he’d played a president on TV, the top qualification of his all-powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was being Zelensky’s friend.
The head of the office of the president, as Yermak’s post is formally known, has always wielded enormous influence in Ukraine. Wartime conditions, including martial law, have concentrated extraordinary authority in the presidential administration, making Yermak perhaps the most powerful chief of staff in the country’s history — virtually indistinguishable from his boss.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine’s allies debate how to squeeze more from frozen Russian assets
BRUSSELS — The European Union has taken a small step toward its pledge to “make Russia pay” for the war in Ukraine, formally agreeing Tuesday to use windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to get Kyiv about $3 billion more this year.
But with Ukraine in serious trouble and questions about U.S. funding looming, there is already a fresh push to unlock much more of the nearly $300 billion seized in 2022 — and quickly.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen will try this week to rally finance ministers from the Group of Seven wealthiest countries around proposals to squeeze more money from the assets.
Read the full story here.
BRUSSELS — The European Union has taken a small step toward its pledge to “make Russia pay” for the war in Ukraine, formally agreeing Tuesday to use windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to get Kyiv about $3 billion more this year.
But with Ukraine in serious trouble and questions about U.S. funding looming, there is already a fresh push to unlock much more of the nearly $300 billion seized in 2022 — and quickly.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen will try this week to rally finance ministers from the Group of Seven wealthiest countries around proposals to squeeze more money from the assets.
Read the full story here.
Russia slams Kharkiv with missile barrage, killing printing plant workers
KYIV — Russian forces pounded the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv with 15 missiles Thursday, local officials said — the latest brutal attack in a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
At least seven people were killed when a missile hit a printing plant in Kharkiv city, the regional capital, and at least 40 others were injured in the strikes, local officials said.
Russia’s new offensive has displaced thousands and has increased pleas by Kyiv for Western partners to provide more air defense systems.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Russian forces pounded the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv with 15 missiles Thursday, local officials said — the latest brutal attack in a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
At least seven people were killed when a missile hit a printing plant in Kharkiv city, the regional capital, and at least 40 others were injured in the strikes, local officials said.
Russia’s new offensive has displaced thousands and has increased pleas by Kyiv for Western partners to provide more air defense systems.
Read the full story here.
Exclusive: Russian jamming leaves some high-tech U.S. weapons ineffective in Ukraine
Many U.S.-made satellite-guided ammunitions in Ukraine have failed to withstand Russian jamming technology, prompting Kyiv to stop using certain types of Western-provided armaments after effectiveness rates plummeted, according to senior Ukrainian military officials and confidential internal Ukrainian assessments obtained by The Washington Post.
Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers.
Russia’s ability to combat the high-tech munitions has far-reaching implications for Ukraine and its Western supporters — potentially providing a blueprint for adversaries such as China and Iran — and it is a key reason Moscow’s forces have regained the initiative and are advancing on the battlefield.
Read the full story here.
Many U.S.-made satellite-guided ammunitions in Ukraine have failed to withstand Russian jamming technology, prompting Kyiv to stop using certain types of Western-provided armaments after effectiveness rates plummeted, according to senior Ukrainian military officials and confidential internal Ukrainian assessments obtained by The Washington Post.
Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers.
Russia’s ability to combat the high-tech munitions has far-reaching implications for Ukraine and its Western supporters — potentially providing a blueprint for adversaries such as China and Iran — and it is a key reason Moscow’s forces have regained the initiative and are advancing on the battlefield.
Read the full story here.
Russia bombs market in Kharkiv, killing at least 4 and wounding 40
KYIV — Russian bombs struck a commercial facility in Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least four people and wounding 40, local officials said. The deadly attack on Ukraine’s second largest city comes amid a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine and two days after a barrage of missiles killed seven people at a printing plant.
Around 4 p.m. local time, two glide bombs hit an Epicenter store — a home improvement and supplies chain similar to Home Depot in the U.S. — launched from Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region, Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor’s office said in a post on Telegram.
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KYIV — Russian bombs struck a commercial facility in Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least four people and wounding 40, local officials said. The deadly attack on Ukraine’s second largest city comes amid a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine and two days after a barrage of missiles killed seven people at a printing plant.
Around 4 p.m. local time, two glide bombs hit an Epicenter store — a home improvement and supplies chain similar to Home Depot in the U.S. — launched from Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region, Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor’s office said in a post on Telegram.
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These Ukrainians were musicians before the war. Now they fight with song.
After Yurii Ivaskevych, 51, lost a leg when his unit came under shelling, he was recruited by another branch of Ukraine’s military: the Cultural Forces.
The members of the Cultural Forces, all professional musicians before the invasion, are now back at their craft, traveling across Ukraine’s increasingly pressured front lines to try to give people a flake of their old lives and some diversion from the grinding Russian assault. They play everything from Ukrainian folk songs to Metallica, tapping into a Ukrainian tradition of using music as a form of resistance to Russian rule.
Read the full story here.
After Yurii Ivaskevych, 51, lost a leg when his unit came under shelling, he was recruited by another branch of Ukraine’s military: the Cultural Forces.
The members of the Cultural Forces, all professional musicians before the invasion, are now back at their craft, traveling across Ukraine’s increasingly pressured front lines to try to give people a flake of their old lives and some diversion from the grinding Russian assault. They play everything from Ukrainian folk songs to Metallica, tapping into a Ukrainian tradition of using music as a form of resistance to Russian rule.
Read the full story here.