Ukraine

On March 31, 2022, Russian forces withdrew from this city in the Kyiv region, after 33 days of occupation marked by indiscriminate executions, rapes and killings of civilians. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, 1,173 bodies have been exhumed in the district. Suddenly, after one last burst of laughter, Yuriy Kurus' face went blank. His features froze and his eyes filled with tears. Svytlana, his wife, stopped her emotional recounting of their evacuation from the city then occupied by the Russian forces of Bucha, on March 12, 2022. The couple's silence lasted for a few seconds, then Yuriy spoke…

A Ukrainian serviceman of 12 aviation brigade sits inside an Mi-8 combat helicopter before flight during a combat mission in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s Western allies have sent the country 65 billion euros ($70 billion) in military aid to help thwart Russia’s full-scale invasion, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday, and with no peace negotiations on the horizon the alliance is gearing up to send more. “We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security,” Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, adding “there are no…

Eight senators argue that modern fighters “could prove to be a game changer on the battlefield.” The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is "now at a critical juncture," the senators wrote, arguing F-16 fighters could give Kyiv an edge as Moscow's full-tilt invasion enters a second year. | Alik Keplicz/AP Photo A group of senators from both parties is pressing the Pentagon for more information on what it would take to send F-16 jets to Ukraine. The fresh push came in a letter Tuesday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin from eight senators, and obtained by POLITICO, as top administration officials…

The following is the March 17, 2023 Congressional Research Service report, Transferring Fighter Aircraft to Ukraine: Issues and Options for Congress. From the report Since Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some defense analysts, U.S. defense officials, and Members of Congress have debated whether or not to enable the transfer of U.S. or NATO military aircraft, including fighter jets and unmanned aircraft, to Ukraine. In general, the debate has centered around two broad questions: (1) Is providing advanced military fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force necessary to helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, and (2)…

As of March 30, no Western country has agreed to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has called on Ukraine's allies to provide them with F-16 fighter jets. The corresponding appeal was published on Valerii Zaluzhnyi's Telegram channel. "Ukraine needs F-16s," the message says. The video also features footage of Air Force pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who explain how the full-scale invasion of Russian aggressors began for them. https://t.me/CinCAFU/435

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a warning to the West as it steps up military support for Ukraine. Putin said the move was triggered by Britain’s decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield and have a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles. Russia plans to maintain control over those it sends to Belarus, and construction of storage facilities for…

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a warning to the West as it steps up military support for Ukraine. Putin said the move was triggered by Britain’s decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield and have a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles. Russia plans to maintain control over those it sends to Belarus, and construction of storage facilities for them will be…

German Federal Foreign Office said Russia’s announcement on Saturday was akin to ‘nuclear intimidation.’nt Officials in Kyiv and Berlin condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Moscow would station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. The Kremlin “took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, tweeted on Sunday. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, added that the move was a violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, something that Putin denied in his announcement on Saturday. Podolyak tweeted that Putin “is afraid of losing & all he can…

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official involving allegations of war crimes around the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. The arrest warrant is thought to mark one of the first charges against Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, part of a global effort to hold the Russian president and the Russian Federation accountable for atrocities beginning with the full-scale February 2022 invasion. An arrest warrant was also issued for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the…

g https://youtu.be/35nms0N3ux8?t=6 Thousands of people have been gathering in downtown Kyiv for the funeral of a decorated young Ukrainian military commander known as "Da Vinci," who was killed this week in Bakhmut. Military and civilian mourners gathered at the golden-domed St. Michael’s Monastery, many of them bringing flowers to pay their last respects to Dmytro Kotsiubaylo, who died at the age of 27. The Orthodox church reached full capacity, so hundreds of people listened in to the ceremony from the courtyard outside. After the funeral, a military procession carried Kotsiubaylo's casket to the Maidan (Independence Square) for a larger public…