
Minister: France delivers second ship to help Ukraine with grain export
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Dec. 26. "Our commitment is total, our solidarity will not stop," Beaune said on X, formerly Twitter.
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Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Dec. 26. "Our commitment is total, our solidarity will not stop," Beaune said on X, formerly Twitter.
Russian forces attacked a railway station full of people in Kherson late on Dec. 26, killing at least one person and wounding four others, Ukrainian officials said.
Well-known Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko said on Dec. 26 that an Odesa court closed a case against him for the death of a man who attacked him in 2018. The decision means his guilt was not proven, according to Sternenko.
Editor’s note: Full names and the deployment locations of the soldiers interviewed for this story are not disclosed since they weren't authorized to speak to the press. KHERSON OBLAST – Mortars are the first things that greet the Ukrainian soldiers who are lucky enough to make it across the Dnipro
Tarnavskyi said on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were holding on to Avdiivka despite Russia's endless attempts to encircle the embattled city.
In its intelligence bulletin on X, the Defense Ministry said that Russian forces had likely used Tu-95 planes to fire Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles on Dec. 7 – the first time they were used since Sept. 21.
The emergency measure, used by President Joe Biden's administration to bypass Congress, comes amid more reports that the U.S. could be running out of funds to help Ukraine.
The two women killed, aged 67 and 71, were in Kupiansk, a city located just 40 kilometers from the Russian border and liberated by Ukrainian troops in 2022.
Russian troops on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River targeted residential areas on the outskirts of Kherson and damaged an educational institution in the city, the governor said.
Lysak added that there were no casualties and said that civilians should seek shelter during air raid sirens even if air defense is working.
Ukrainian military operations have destroyed 15 Russian warships in the Black Sea and damaged 12 others since the start of the full-scale invasion, Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk reported on Nov. 17.
Naftogaz, Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas giant, said on Nov. 17 that a new natural gas deposit was discovered in the Carpathians, offering what could be a promising outlook for Ukraine's domestic gas production amid war.
Bulgaria has had to walk a fine line, trying to covertly support Ukraine without provoking Russia. The Balkan state has been historically influenced by Moscow. Opinions on Ukraine are split among its 6.7 million people, many of whom buy into Kremlin propaganda. The new coalition government elected in June
"With this substantial amount, we send a clear signal that we are determined to continue our support to Ukraine, now and in the future," Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on X.
Ukraine needs more powerful air defense systems, such as Patriot and IRIS-T air defense systems, to better protect its critical infrastructure from Russian attacks, Maksym Timchenko, CEO of Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK, said on Nov. 17.
The sale of alcohol has been banned in most of the areas on the western bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, excluding the city of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Nov. 17.
One of Ukraine's worst fears appears to have come to pass: a key ally announced a halt to military aid. Slovakia, Ukraine's small eastern neighbor of 5.4 million people, gave generously from its Soviet-era arsenal and welcomed Ukrainian refugees after the full-scale war began. Now, a recent election handed
Yet even the announcement itself appeared to nudge the citizens to respond negatively, presenting the potential accession of Ukraine as an undesirable event.
The explosion was allegedly carried out by representatives of the local resistance movement.
The attack took place in the part of Kherson close to the Dnipro River. These areas suffer the worst from Russian shelling.
KHERSON – Sitting in a pitch-dark kitchen with just the flashlight on, 70-year-old Viacheslav Bezprozvanyi warned of an incoming shelling as soon as he heard a swish over him. Split seconds later, a thick thud of shelling hit the ground a few hundred meters away. The house shook, knocking off a
Editor’s note: Some soldiers interviewed for this story declined to give their last names due to security issues amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. DONETSK OBLAST – More than a month after his first assault operation near Bakhmut, 23-year-old soldier Oleksandr Mikulak still blames himself for not saving a comrade.
Key developments on Oct. 23: * Ukraine conducts 'high-value' assassinations inside Russia, says media * Military enlistment officials suspected of illegally acquiring $7 million * Official: 5 victims of Russian attack on postal depot in intensive care * Bild: German defense ministry concerned about insufficient funds for Ukraine in 2024 * Lithuanian Foreign Minister: Russia
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg closed day one of the defense ministerial meeting on Oct. 11, welcoming allies’ newly pledged military aid for Ukraine – which includes F-16 fighter jets, crucial air defense systems for winter, and much-needed ammunition. Speaking at a press conference at Brussels’ NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg applauded the
“As we look at what it will take to provide initial capability, this will take months, as we've said before. The earliest is next spring when we can begin to see additional capability,” Austin said in response to a question from the Kyiv Independent at a press conference in Brussels on Oct. 11.
The National Guard of Ukraine's 5th Separate Slobozhanska Brigade awarded their service dogs for helping protect the country amid war, the Interior Ministry said on Oct. 7.
Russian forces launched a cluster bomb attack on southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, killing a woman and wounding two people, regional governor Yurii Malashko reported on Oct. 7.
More than 200 Ukrainian companies began developing drones, growing domestic production by a hundredfold in a year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Oct. 7.
Four people were wounded in Russia's overnight missile strike on southern Odesa Oblast, regional governor Oleh Kiper reported on Oct. 7.
Russia plans to reverse the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Mikhail Ulyanov, the country's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said on Oct. 6.
Key developments on Sept. 17: * Ukraine’s military says it liberated village of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut * US senators: 'Not sending ATACMS to Ukraine will only prolong war’ * UK Defense Ministry: Russia likely reinforcing defenses around Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast * Canada pledges nearly $25 million to bolster Ukraine's air defense Ukraine’
Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair announced on Sept. 17 that Canada will provide $33 million CAD ($24.4 million) to a U.K.-led partnership delivering much-needed air defense equipment to Ukraine.