An apartment building in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, targeted by the Russians forces on March 12, 2022. (Evgeniy Maloletka)
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It is widely believed that Russian leadership expected its all-out invasion of Ukraine to succeed within days.
Twenty days later, Ukraine still stands, and Russia has no major victories to claim. It seized only one large city and regional center, Kherson in southern Ukraine.
To force Ukraine to surrender, Russia has shelled civilians in residential areas and attacked military and civilian infrastructure, including schools, kindergartens, and hospitals all across the country. Photos of Kharkiv's wrecked downtown and a destroyed maternity hospital in Mariupol have appeared on the front pages of newspapers all over the world.
Since Feb. 24, Russia's aggression has killed thousands of Ukrainians, forced some three million to flee, and left cities and villages in ruins.
Ukrainian emergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman after Russian troops shelled a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast on March 9, 2022. The woman and her unborn baby have died. (Evgeniy Maloletka)A mass grave in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, on March 9, 2022. According to local authorities, over 2,000 residents have been killed in the city since Feb. 24, 2022. (Mstyslav Chernov)Firefighters rescue people from an apartment building in Kyiv that was shelled on March 14, 2022. At least one person was killed and dozens were injured. (Getty Images)A woman in despair after an apartment building was destroyed by shelling in the northwestern Obolon district of Kyiv on March 14, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Firefighters extinguish fire at a destroyed shoe factory following an airstrike in Dnipro on March 11, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A burned tank and a damaged building in Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast on March 12, 2022. The city was occupied by Russian forces after 16 days of heavy fighting. (Getty Images)Funeral ceremony held for three Ukrainian servicemen Taras Didukh, 25, Andrii Stefanyshyn, 39, and Dmytro Kabakov, 58, in Lviv on March 11, 2022. (Getty Images)A resident prays by a candle while sheltering in the basement as Russian forces move through the city on March 7, 2022 in Irpin, Kyiv Oblast. (Getty Images)Andriy says goodbye to his partner Yarina before boarding a train to Dnipro on March 9, 2022 in Lviv. As civilian Ukrainians flee to western Ukraine and abroad to escape Russia's assault, military personnel are heading east to fight. (Getty Images)Firefighters put out the fire after a Russian missile hit downtown Kharkiv on March 14, 2022. (Getty Images)The bodies of two civilians killed by Russian shelling are seen in the central park of Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, on March 10, 2022. Irpin, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, had experienced days of sustained shelling by Russian forces advancing toward the capital. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)A family walks down a stairwell pocked with shrapnel from an earlier rocket strike in Mykolayiv. The regional capital in southern Ukraine has been under frequent bombardment by Russian forces trying to advance along the Black Sea coast. (Getty Images)People walk amid destruction as they evacuate from Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, on March 10, 2022. A body of a civilian man killed by Russian forces is seen nearby. (Getty Images)A rescuer pushes a trolley with an elderly woman during an evacuation in Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, on March 8, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A Ukrainian soldier stands near the blown-up bridge in Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, as Territorial Defense volunteers help civilians cross the river and flee on March 7, 2022. (Volodymyr Petrov)A man stands inside his house wrecked by Russian shelling in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. The city has been under Russian siege for over two weeks. (Evgeniy Maloletka)
In a conversation following Pope Francis's funeral, Trump promised to "do everything" to maintain peace negotiations, Estonian President Alar Karis said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral on April 26.
Ignat Kuzin was detained for allegedly planting a bomb that killed a senior Russian general, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on April 26, alleging that Kuzin is a Ukrainian agent.
The diplomatic meetings come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met privately with U.S. President Donald Trump at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican earlier on April 26.
The Russian military had lost 62,400 soldiers in Kursk Oblast since the start of the Ukrainian army's military operation there last year, Ukraine's General Staff said on April 26.
Mahuchikh won the most prestigious commercial athletics competition with a jump of 1.97 meters, beating her main rivals - Australians Nicola Olislagers and Eleanor Patterson, who won silver and bronze at the 2024 Olympics.
Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns signal that the Russian leader may not be interested in ending the war, U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 26, again threatening sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed for the U.S. his readiness to launch negotiations with Ukraine without preconditions, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on April 26, state news agency TASS reported.
The helicopter was tracked by Polish military radar systems and civilian systems of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency over Poland's territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
Since launching in 2022, Alabuga Start has recruited around 350 women from over 40 countries to work in Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan and aims to bring 8,500 more this year, according to Bloomberg.
Russian forces have fully retaken the territory of Kursk Oblast, the Russian border region partially held by Ukraine since last August, the Kremlin claims.
De Novo CEO Maksym Ahieiev emphasized that there were "no signs of hacking or external interference," and the outage was due to a "combination of technical factors."
Yevgeny Rytikov was killed when he and his colleague entered a car in the Russian city of Bryansk, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Russia-Ukraine border, RBC-Ukraine wrote, citing undisclosed Ukrainian Defense Forces sources.
Investigators said the vessel had loaded around 5,000 tons of stolen Ukrainian wheat from the Russian-occupied port city of Sevastopol in late 2024 and attempted to disguise its operations by sailing under the flag of an Asian country.
A Russian space satellite that U.S. officials tie to its nuclear anti-satellite weapon program seems to be spinning uncontrollably and may no longer be functioning, Reuters reported on April 25, citing U.S. experts.
Russian attacks against Ukraine killed at least three people and injured at least 22, including a child, over the past day, regional authorities reported on April 26.
U.S. President Donald Trump believes the Ukrainian leader “really has no choice” but to agree to the terms, according to a source close to U.S Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The son of a deputy head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was killed "while fighting in the conflict in Ukraine" in 2024, a CIA spokesperson said on April 25, according to NBC News.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to commit American troops, U.S. officials have reportedly opened the door to providing intelligence-sharing and logistical aid to the so-called "coalition of the willing."
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