A view of the buildings in the city center in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 11, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Valentyna Polishchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
At least seven explosions were heard in Kharkiv as the air raid alert was announced for the region, Suspilne Kharkiv reported at 6:48 p.m. local time on Jan. 3.
Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov warned residents to take cover.
Russian forces struck Kharkiv several times with Iskander missiles on Jan. 2, killing a woman and wounding 52 civilians, including six children. Later in the evening, Russia again attacked the city, damaging an educational facility.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Ukraine’s Security Service used Sea Baby naval drones to hit the sanctioned tanker Dashan in the Black Sea, the latest strike in a campaign targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a source told the Kyiv Independent.
Novgorod Governor Alexander Dronov said 19 drones were shot down over the region — located between Moscow and St. Petersburg — amid what Russia described as a major Ukrainian drone attack.
Local energy facilities once again became the target of the Russian attack, Poltava Oblast Governor Volodymyr Kohut reported on the morning of Dec. 11.
The $900 billion spending package upholds many of U.S. President Donald Trump's national security policies but places limits on his ability to reduce American troops in Europe and withhold support to Ukraine.
At least 31 drones have been shot down over the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. All four airports in the region have suspended operations.
Trump did not discuss specific conditions of the peace deal but said Zelensky needs to be "realistic" and asked when Ukraine would hold presidential elections.
As Ukraine negotiates a peace agreement with the U.S., soldiers on the ground face a different reality: holding the line with shrinking infantry numbers and almost no rotation. For nearly six months, two Ukrainian soldiers, Oleksandr Tishaiev and Oleksandr Aliksieienko, were trapped in the same battered position on the Zaporizhzhia front, unable to rotate as Russian drones monitored every path in and out.
Thirteen children were illegally sent abroad and placed with foreign families for adoption, while law enforcemented intercepted the transfer of another 12.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained Russia's "shadow fleet" ship, which illegally transported agricultural products from the Russian-occupied Crimea, SBU said on Dec. 10.
Alexander Query
