Ukraine

‘Ambulances are a target’: Irish volunteers detail peril and resolve in Ukraine’s east As the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, two volunteers from County Clare describe a battlefield transformed by drones, a frontline that stretches for hundreds of miles and a civilian life that continues in uneasy parallel with nightly air raids. For Oran McInerney of Doonbeg, the job is speed and nerve. An emergency medical technician who has traveled to Ukraine repeatedly over the past four years, he worked with a U.S.-based…

‘Giselle’ underground: Kharkiv’s ballet keeps dancing as war grinds on KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a city battered by missiles and winter blackouts, the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre has found its stage a few floors below ground. The company’s last performance in its grand auditorium above street level took place on Feb. 23, 2022. Hours later, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and tried to seize Kharkiv. What followed remade the life of one of Ukraine’s leading ballet companies: shattered…

BUDAPEST/KYIV/DUBLIN — Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Ukraine on Wednesday of preparing to disrupt Hungary’s energy system and ordered soldiers and equipment deployed to protect critical infrastructure, escalating a dispute over a shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline that has choked Russian crude deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia. Orban, speaking in a video posted to his Facebook page, said the Druzhba outage was for “political, not technical, reasons,” and cited intelligence reports pointing to possible…

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with an urgent appeal for an “immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire,” calling the war “a stain on our collective conscience” and warning of escalating global risks if the fighting continues. Speaking at a United Nations Security Council session convened to commemorate the anniversary, Guterres said “the cascading consequences of this blatant violation of international law” have rippled far beyond…

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine marks a grim anniversary as President Volodymyr Zelensky declares that Vladimir Putin has failed to break the country and vows to seek a “strong, dignified, and lasting” peace on Ukraine’s terms. In a video address to the nation on the fourth anniversary of the February 2022 invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine had “preserved” its statehood and would “do everything to achieve peace — and to ensure there is justice.” Any agreement, he added, “must not simply be signed, it must…

KYIV, Ukraine — On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Putin has not achieved his goals,” reaffirming Kyiv’s message of defiance as the war grinds into a fifth year. The anniversary underscores the scale and persistence of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Russia launched its full-scale assault on Feb. 24, 2022, expanding an eight-year war that began with the Kremlin’s seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The…

Ukraine will need roughly €500 billion to rebuild from Russia’s war, a joint assessment by the World Bank, United Nations and European Union said, putting a price tag nearly three times the country’s annual economic output on nationwide recovery as the conflict enters its fifth year. The estimate — about $588 billion — is 12% higher than last year’s figure, reflecting a winter of relentless strikes on the power grid that left millions without heat or electricity. The damage tally runs through the end of December, the report…

Russian strikes kill at least 3 in Ukraine as Hungary threatens EU sanctions veto over Druzhba pipeline Russian drone and missile attacks overnight killed at least three people and wounded several others in Ukraine, regional officials said today, as European Union ministers clashed over a fresh package of sanctions targeting Moscow. In the Odesa region, two people were killed when drones struck, and three others were wounded, regional governor Oleg Kiper said. In Zaporizhzhia, a drone attack on industrial facilities killed a…

Policewoman killed, 15 wounded in Lviv explosions local authorities call ‘act of terror’; Kyiv rattled by predawn blasts LVIV, Ukraine — A 23-year-old policewoman was killed and at least 15 people were wounded in a pair of explosions that struck central Lviv overnight, an incident local authorities on Sunday called an “act of terror.” Hours later, a separate wave of predawn blasts shook Kyiv amid warnings of a ballistic missile attack. The Lviv regional prosecutor’s office said the blasts occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m.,…

Analysis: Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine faces its hardest winter as U.S.-brokered talks inch forward and Moscow hardens demands Four years after Russia launched its full-scale assault by land, sea and air, Ukraine enters a fifth year of war under punishing pressure: nightly missile and drone attacks on power stations, a slow-moving battlefield that chews through men and machines, and a diplomatic track that shows glimmers of structure but scant substance. A U.S.-led initiative that began a year ago…