Ukrainian

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 18 SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian of the murders of 298 people who died in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine. One Russian was acquitted for lack of evidence. Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said that evidence presented by prosecutors at a trial that lasted more than two years proved that the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down by a Buk missile fired by pro-Moscow Ukrainian rebels on July 17, 2014. None of the defendants appeared for the trial that began in March 2020 and if they are convicted, it’s unlikely they will serve any sentence anytime soon. Prosecutors had sought life sentences for all four. Prosecutors and the suspects have two weeks to file an appeal. THIS IS A … [Read more...] about MH17 verdicts: 2 Russians, 1 Ukrainian convicted of murders

KYIV, Ukraine - So many missiles were fired by Russia and Ukraine during the Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure Tuesday that the missile fragments that struck Poland could have been of either Russian or Ukrainian origin, Ukraine air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said. In an interview Friday, he described an intense battle during which at least 50 missiles were flying through the air within a matter of minutes near the Polish border in western Ukraine, with at least 20 fired by Russia and 30 fired by Ukrainian air defenses as Russia launched its biggest attack yet on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. They were among a total of 96 missiles fired by Russia that day, 77 of which were shot down, he said. "Anything could be the result of this air defense battle," he said, acknowledging that at least some of the missile parts could have been Ukrainian. His comments appeared to signal a further softening of Ukraine's insistence that the missile parts that killed two Polish grain … [Read more...] about Ukraine: Missile parts that landed in Poland could have been Ukrainian

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 15 KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian sniper adjusted his scope and fired a.50-caliber bullet at a Russian soldier across the Dnieper River. Earlier, another Ukrainian used a drone to scan for Russian troops. Two weeks after retreating from the southern city of Kherson, Russia is pounding the town with artillery as it digs in across the Dnieper River. Ukraine is striking back at Russian troops with its own long-distance weapons, and Ukrainian officers say they want to capitalize on their momentum. The Russian withdrawal from the only provincial capital it gained in nine months of war was one of Moscow's most significant battlefield losses. Now that its troops hold a new front line, the army is planning its next move, the Ukrainian military said through a spokesman. Ukrainian forces can now strike deeper … [Read more...] about After Russian retreat, Ukrainian military plans next move

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 11 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians could face rolling blackouts from now through March in frigid, snowy weather because Russian airstrikes have caused “colossal” damage to the power grid, officials said. To cope, authorities are urging people to stock up on supplies and evacuate hard-hit areas. Sergey Kovalenko, the CEO of private energy provider DTEK Yasno, said the company is under instructions from Ukraine’s state grid operator to resume emergency blackouts in the areas it covers, including the capital, Kyiv, and the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. “Although there are fewer blackouts now, I want everyone to understand: Most likely, Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts until at least the end of March,” Kovalenko warned on Facebook. “We need to be prepared for different options, even the worst ones. Stock up on warm clothes and … [Read more...] about ‘Stock up on blankets’: Ukrainians brace for horrific winter

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 11 KIVSHARIVKA, Ukraine - Not far from this village on the east bank of the Oskil River, Ukrainian forces have hit a wall of Russian resistance as they try to extend a counteroffensive that just two months ago was sweeping across nearby lands at a stunning clip. Andriy, a soldier with Ukraine's 92nd Mechanized Brigade, was not sure what to say on a recent day, when a group of Ukrainian intelligence officers showed up and asked about his unit's push toward Svatove, a small city in Luhansk region occupied since March. "How honest should I be?" Andriy said, declining to give his surname or rank because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. A long pause followed. "It has been very hard," he admitted. After a string of autumn victories for Kyiv, the war in Ukraine is grinding down to another inflection point. Over two and a … [Read more...] about Ukraine confronts tougher fight in push to extend battlefield wins

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 23 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities have started evacuating civilians from recently-liberated areas of the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, fearing that Russian damage to the infrastructure and the lack of heat, power and water is too severe for people to endure the upcoming winter, officials said Monday. The evacuations come as rolling blackouts plague most of the country. Residents of the two southern regions, which have been shelled for months by Russian forces, have been advised to move to safer areas in the central and and western parts of the country, said Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. The government will provide “transportation, accommodation, medical care," she said. The evacuations come more than a week after Ukraine … [Read more...] about Ukraine: Civilians should leave liberated areas this winter

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 14 KHERSON, Ukraine - When the Russians occupying her city came for the maritime college where she worked, Maryna Ivanovka refused to fall in line. The 60-year-old administrator was fired and banned from campus. Her house was raided and her phone, computers and passport were confiscated. A pro-Russian underling was installed in her place. Months later, the occupation of Kherson suddenly began to crumble. Russian soldiers fled. And so, too, did the woman who had taken her job and office. No sooner had Ukrainian authorities swept the college for booby traps than Ivanovka was back at her desk on Wednesday, sifting through the evidence her Russian-backed replacement had left behind: a ledger of employees who had worked for the Russians, a list of students who had voluntarily gone to Crimea and, peering from beside a potted … [Read more...] about In Kherson city, sympathies for Russia complicate reintegration into Ukraine

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An investigation of a centuries-old monastic complex in Ukraine’s capital and other religious sites has underscored Ukrainian authorities' suspicions about some Orthodox Christian clergymen they see as loyal to Russia despite Moscow's nine month-old war on the country. The search by security service and police personnel at the Pechersk Lavra monastery, one of the most revered Orthodox sites in Kyiv, was unusual but did not happen in isolation. The Ukrainian counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism service reported Wednesday that its agents searched more than 350 church buildings in all — also including sites at another monastery and a diocese in the Rivne region, 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Kyiv. And the service, known by its Ukrainian initials SBU, accused the bishop of yet another diocese of pro-Moscow activity last week after searching … [Read more...] about With searches, Ukraine focuses suspicions on Orthodox clergy

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The play finishes. The actors take their bows. Then they let loose with wartime patriotic zeal. “Glory to Ukraine!” they shout. “Glory to the heroes!” the audience yells back, leaping to its feet. The actors aren't done. More yells follow, X-rated ones, cursing all things Russian and vowing that Ukraine will survive. More cheers, more applause. Bundled up against the cold, everyone then troops out of the dark, unheated theater, barely lit with emergency generators. They head back to the hard realities of Ukraine's capital — a once comfortably livable city of 3 million, now beginning a winter increasingly shorn of power and sometimes water, too, by Russian bombardments. But hope, resilience and defiance? Kyiv has all those in abundance. And perhaps more so now than at any time since Russia invaded Ukraine … [Read more...] about Hardship and hope: Winter, missile storms show Kyiv’s mettle