A young kid gives an offering of food to his mother grave as his younger brother and a neighbor stand next to it, in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 4, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv Oblast in previous days. (Getty Images)
April 14 marks 50 days since Russia launched its brutal all-out war against Ukraine.
Moscow's unprovoked military aggression has already cost it approximately 19,900 servicemen and 5,260 units of weapons and other equipment, according to Ukraine's government estimates.
Russia hasn't achieved any significant success in its offensive, having captured only one regional capital, Kherson, which has been actively resisting the occupation.
Yet Ukraine can hardly celebrate this interim victory, as Russian forces are regrouping and preparing to focus on advancing in the country's east.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the upcoming Battle of Donbas will be similar to World War II, as Ukraine expects large-scale operations and maneuvers involving thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, and artillery.
Russia's war has already killed 1,964 and injured 2,613 civilians in Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The true numbers, however, are expected to be much higher, as data about casualties from the occupied territories and the front-line cities is hardly accessible. In Mariupol, a besieged seaport in southeastern Ukraine alone, "tens of thousands" of people have been killed, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine still doesn't publish its military personnel losses.
Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, Donbas Oblast, on April 7, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. Six weeks after invading its neighbor, Russia's troops have withdrawn from Kyiv and Ukraine's north and are focusing on the country's southeast, where desperate attempts are under way to evacuate civilians. (AFP/Getty Images)Cemetery workers unload bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before they are transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 7, in Bucha. The Ukrainian government has accused Russian forces of committing a "deliberate massacre" as they occupied and eventually retreated from Bucha, 25 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies have been found in the days since Ukrainian forces regained control of the town. (Getty Images)Two men stand in front of a residential building destroyed by Russian bombing in early March, in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 9. (Getty Images)Mourners attend a memorial service for serviceman officer of Right Sector, Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, Taras Bobanych, call sign Hammer, at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 13, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A man embraces his wife as she is about to board a train at Slovyansk central station, in Donetsk Oblast on April 12, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbas have asked civilians to evacuate west in reaction to an anticipated Russian offensive to take the eastern region. (AFP/Getty Images)People walk down an avenue in Mariupol on April 12, 2022, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city, part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv on April 4. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Dmytro Sadofiev goes through his belongings in his kitchen in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. The town has suffered from a Russian bombing in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Emergency personnel walks among injured people lying on the sidewalk in the aftermath of a rocket attack on the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Oblast, on April 8. More than 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack. (AFP/Getty Images)A five-story residential building destroyed by Russian bombardment in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, as seen on April 10. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainian soldiers on the front line with Russian troops in Luhansk Oblast on April 11. (AFP/Getty Images)Olga Antonova cries next to the grave of civilian man who was killed by Russian soldiers on the street near her house few weeks ago in Bucha, near Kyiv, on April 4. Days later, Russian soldiers allowed her to bury the man in her yard. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Thousands of people carrying banners and Ukrainian flags lie down on the ground to represent war victims during a protest against ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine, in front of the German Federal Assembly in Berlin, Germany on April 6. (Getty Images)Residents run near a burning house following a shelling of Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, on April 6, as Ukraine tells residents in the country's east to evacuate "now" or "risk death" ahead of a feared Russian onslaught on the Donbas region, which Moscow has declared its top prize. NATO believes Moscow aims to take control of the whole Donbas region in eastern Ukraine with the aim of creating a corridor from Russia to annexed Crimea. (AFP/Getty Images)Natalia Blyzniuk (L) and her sister Liudmila, local residents who spent last month in the city, take water from the river in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A resident searches for the graves of relatives in a cemetery in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on April 5. Chernihiv, just 50 kilometres from the border with Belarus, was swiftly encircled in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. City officials estimate around 350 civilians have been killed in Chernihiv since the start of the Russian invasion. (AFP/Getty Images)
"No matter how difficult it is for us, we need to protect as many people as possible, protect Odesa and our other regions as much as possible," President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the planned replacement.
"I believe such strength exists in the United States and in President Trump. And I believe we should not look for an alternative to the United States, because all alternatives are uncertain as to whether they can end the war)," President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters.
Liberated in 2022, Kherson is still under daily attack from Russian forces across the Dnipro River. The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko report from a city living under anti-drone nets and constant surveillance, showing how everyday life, from hospitals and schools to aid deliveries and cultural events, continues under threat, and why residents refuse to leave.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry is working on establishing a mechanism for providing Ukrainian citizen living abroad the ability to vote in the country's next election, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 20.
Sea drones have become a crucial component of Ukraine's defense toolkit, and co-production with a NATO ally could enhance long-term output and deepen European defense-industrial cooperation at sea.
According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Russia had mobilized 18,092 foreigners from 128 countries as of October.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy, met with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Reuters reported on Dec. 20, citing a Russian source.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with three Iskander-M ballistic missiles launched from occupied Crimea and 51 attack drones.
SSO drones also hit a Russian oil platform located at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea. The platform is owned by Russian oil company Lukoil and is used for oil and gas extraction.
"Yesterday evening, Russia carried out a missile strike on a port infrastructure facility in Odesa Oblast. Some of the victims were on a bus that was at the epicenter of the strike," the State Emergency Service reported.
"We agreed with our American partners on further steps and the continuation of our joint work in the near future," delegation leader Rustem Umerov said after the meeting.
"We're not concerned about an escalation with Russia, with regards to Venezuela ... I think they have their hands full in Ukraine," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Dec. 19.
