Category Archives: Ukraine

Nearly 600 people detained in torture chambers in Kherson, says Ukraine

Ukraine has accused the Russian army of abducting residents in the Kherson region in the south of the country and keeping them in torture chambers.

Tamila Tacheva, the Ukrainian presidencys permanent representative in Crimea, said in a briefing:

According to our information, about 600 people are detained in specially equipped basements, in torture chambers, in the Kherson region.

About 300 people are in the basement in Kherson city and the rest are in other settlements of the region, Tacheva said, according to Ukrainian state news agency, Ukrinform.

She added:

They are detained in inhuman conditions and are victims of torture.

Those being detained are mainly journalists and activists who organised pro-Ukrainian rallies in Kherson and its region after Russian troops occupied the territory, as well as prisoners of war, Tacheva said.

Some Ukrainians held in the Kherson region civilians but also detained combatants have been sent to jails in Crimea, she added.

It was not possible to independently verify these claims.

Updated at 12.01EDT

Thats all from me, Samantha Lock, for now. Please join me a little a later when we launch our new live blog covering all the latest developments from Ukraine.

Here is a comprehensive run-down of where things currently stand as of 3am.

Ukraine is launching a Book of Executioners, a system to collate evidence of war crimes Kyiv says were committed during Russias occupation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they have registered more than 12,000 alleged war crimes involving more than 600 suspects since the Kremlin started its invasion on 24 February.

Next week, a special publication is to be launched - The Book of Executioners - an information system to collect confirmation of data about war criminals, criminals from the Russian army, Zelenskiy said in a video address.

Zelenskiy said this would be a key element in his longstanding pledge to bring to account Russian servicemen who have committed what Ukrainian authorities have described as murders, rape and looting.

These are concrete facts about concrete individuals guilty of concrete cruel crimes against Ukrainians, Zelenskiy said.

He cited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where investigators found what they say is evidence of mass executions.

Moscows Chief Rabbi has reportedly fled Russia, after coming under pressure to support Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt tweeted late on Tuesday: Can finally share that my in-laws, Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt, have been put under pressure by authorities to publicly support the special operation in Ukraine and refused.

More than 31,000 Russian servicemen have already died in Ukraine, president Zelenskiy has claimed, adding that the frontline situation has not changed significantly over the past 24 hours.

The hottest spots are the same. First of all, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, he said in his latest address.

More than 31,000 Russian servicemen have already died in Ukraine. Since February 24, Russia has been paying almost 300 lives a day for a completely pointless war against Ukraine. And still the day will come when the number of losses, even for Russia, will exceed the permissible limit.

Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also provided an update as to Ukraines application to join the EU.

In his latest address, he said he held a meeting on Tuesday on communication with the European Union and with individual EU member states on Ukraines application and candidate status.

Diplomatic activity in this direction does not stop even for a day. I hear daily reports, including on the preparation of procedural decisions in the European Union.

The team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our diplomats, the team of the government in general - all, absolutely all are working to achieve a significant historical decision already in June, which we all expect. For its part, Ukraine has done all, absolutely all the necessary work for this.

As they say in such cases: the ball is in the court of European structures, European countries.

A stalemate with Russia is not an option, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, reiterating a plea for foreign help in the war.

Ukraines fierce resistance of Russias invasion led to a stalemate in parts of the country, with Moscow re-focussing its forces in the east.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday, he said:

Victory must be achieved on the battlefield.

We are inferior in terms of equipment and therefore we are not capable of advancing.

We are going to suffer more losses and people are my priority.

Asked what Ukraine would consider a victory, Zelenskiy said restoring the borders Ukraine controlled before Russias invasion on 24 February would be a serious temporary victory.

But he said the ultimate aim was the full de-occupation of our entire territory.

Asked about talks with Russia, which have been suspended since late March, Zelenskiy said he had not changed his position, adding that war should be ended at the negotiating table.

He said he was ready for direct talks with Vladimir Putin, adding that there was nobody else to talk to but the Russian president.

Its not long before 2am on Wednesday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

News continues to come in about Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by Russian invading forces in Mariupol.

Well have more coming up, so please stay tuned as the blogging passes from the Guardian US team over to our colleagues in Australia, where Samantha Lock will keep you abreast as things happen.

Heres where things stand:

Breaking news is coming through from Tass, the Russian state-owned news agency, declaring that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the southern port city of Mariupol after weeks taking a last stand have been transferred to Russia, Reuters reports.

More Ukrainian prisoners of war will be taken to Russia later on, Reuters is further reporting, with Tass citing a Russian law enforcement source.

Ukraine has said it is working for all the prisoners to be returned while some Russian legislators say they should be put on trial.

More details will be forthcoming, no doubt, and well bring them to you as they emerge.

Previously, the Guardians Pjotr Sauer had reported, more than 900 Ukrainian troops who had been trapped at Mariupols besieged Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian forces held out for weeks, had been sent to a prison colony on Russian-controlled territory within Ukraine, Moscow has said, and their fate had been uncertain.

Now, it appears, they and more of their comrades, have been taken to Russia proper.

Its probably fair to say that, if that is confirmed, their fate is currently even more uncertain.

Surrender at the besieged steel works came in the middle of last month, after it became clear that any remaining troops would, in fairly short order, be obliterated by Russian forces, with hope of rescue or reinforcements expired.

Just a few days earlier in May, the last remaining civilians holed up at the steel works were evacuated, and my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison sent this dispatch.

What remains of Mariupol is now under Russian control, and there are reports of an epidemic of cholera among those remaining in the occupied city, with sewage and water supply problems and dead bodies rotting in the streets.

Updated at 18.21EDT

The World Bank said on Tuesday its board of executive directors approved $1.49 billion of additional financing for Ukraine to help pay wages for government and social workers, expanding the banks total pledged support for Kyiv to over $4 billion.

The World Bank said in a statement that the latest round of funding for Ukraine is supported by financing guarantees from Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Latvia.

Ukraines economy is in tatters.

The project is also being supported by parallel financing from Italy and contributions from a new Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

The news came as the bank also warned that the global economy faces a protracted period of weak growth and high inflation reminiscent of the 1970s as the impact of a two-year pandemic is compounded by Russias invasion of Ukraine, my colleague Larry Elliott reported earlier.

In its half-yearly economic health check, the Washington-based Bank said echoes of the stagflation of four decades ago had forced it to cut its growth forecast for this year from 4.1% to 2.9%.

David Malpass, the Banks president, said: The war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China, supply chain disruptions and the risk of stagflation are hammering growth. For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.

Read more of Larrys report here.

Rubizhne, on the outskirts of the embattled industrial hub of Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk area of the Donbas that invading Russian forces are trying to subdue, some new satellite images are emerging showing severe damage.

The US satellite firm Maxar Technologies has just tweeted these pictures.

The Kyiv Independent news outlet reminds us that there has been heavy fighting over Rubizhne for weeks.

Also this:

Fighters with the resisting Ukrainian forces and the invading Russians appear to be bogged down in some key parts of southern and south-eastern Ukraine, fighting old-school trench warfare amid the boom of artillery.

Footage is often hard to verify in terms of exact location and time of filming in this 100+ days of conflict, but the sight and sound in this clip is in some way timeless.

CNNs Matthew Chance just aired a dispatch from Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine, where he reported on forces dug in and grinding front lines as the bone-shaking artillery guns pound away at each side.

He indicated that from what he was witnessing, in an exclusive report, that the Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought themselves to a standstill right now.

That was despite messages coming out from the Ukrainian authorities that Ukraine was making progress. But officers on the ground were also expressing grim satisfaction that Russia had not toppled the country within days as they claimed Vladimir Putin must have envisioned.

Here was Chances recent online report about Russia striking the capital Kyiv again after a long hiatus.

Continued here:

Zelenskiy says stalemate with Russia is not an option as it happened - The Guardian

Biden to send longer-range rockets to Ukraine to combat Russian forces

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in "Donbas remains extremely difficult" as Russian forces continue to attack Ukraine.

Cody Godwin, USA TODAY

U.S. authorities moved Monday to seize a $350 million Boeing jet believed to be one of the worlds most expensive private airplanes from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

A federal magistrate judge signed a warrant authorizing the seizure of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that authorities said was worth less than $100 million before a lavish customization. The warrant also authorized seizure of a $60 million Gulfstream jet.

An FBI agent wrote in an affidavit that the planesare subject to seizure because they hadbeen moved between March 4 and March 15 without licenses being obtained, in violation of sanctions placed against Russia.According to the affidavit, Abramovich controlled the Gulfstream through a series of shell companies. The plane is believed to have been in Moscow since March 15.

The Boeing is believed to be in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, following a roundtrip March 4 flight from Dubai to Moscow, the affidavit said.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our Russia-Ukraine war channel to receive updates straight to your phone

Latest developments:

Russias Foreign Ministry said it's sanctioning 61 U.S. nationals in response to the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business. Those on the list include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Mass burials and lack of access to drinking water have led toa "critical" risk of cholera in Russian-occupied Mariupol, Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin said.

Russias ambassador in Rome was summoned to the Italian foreign ministry after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov derided Italian counterpart LuigiDi Maios peace plan. The plan calls for incremental cease-fires and humanitarian corridors; Lavrov also insinuated that Di Maio was out for self-promotion to gain votes.

Russias foreign ministry has called U.S. news media to a meeting to warn that their accreditations and visas could be withdrawn if the U.S. does not rescind measures limiting Russian journalists in America.

Ukraine has added another general to the list of high-ranking Russian officers it has killed in the war.

Russian state media and the Ukraine military confirmed Monday the death ofMaj. Gen. Roman Kutuzov during fighting in the Donbas region, the BBC reported. The Russian defense ministry has not commented.

Reporter Alexander Sladkov of state-owned Rossiya 1 said on the Telegram social media app thatKutuzov had been commanding troops from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic."The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels," Sladkov wrote.

Ukraine has targeted Russia's top officers and says it haskilled 12, although some of those claims have been disputed. Westernintelligence officials have confirmed the death of at least seven senior commanders, the BBC said.

While the fate of the Ukrainian prisoners taken from the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol remains uncertain, some information is emerging about the fighters killed defending the sprawling plant thatbecame a symbol of resistance against the Russian invasion.

Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mills ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

Ukraine said over the weekend the warring sides had exchanged the bodies of 320 military dead -- 160 each -- andAzov Regiment spokeswoman Anna Holovko said all the Ukrainian remains were from the Azovstal ruins.It's not known how many bodiesremain at the plant.

Some Western politicians and the media are pushing Ukraine to end the war with a result not beneficial for Ukraine, but his nation won't be swayed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.

"I do not have any negotiations on any plans," he said of peace talks. "Such negotiations are currently at zero."

Still, Zelenskyy said he believes Ukraine should work "with all European countries, world powers" to end the conflict on positive terms. But heremained defiant as Russian troops blew up bridges and shelled apartments in Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk, the last two major cities of the Luhansk province still held by Ukraine. If captured, Russian would take control of the contested area.

"Fatigue is growing, people want a result for themselves," he said in a speech to his countrymen."You and I need a resultfor us."

Sexual violence in Ukraineremains prevalent and underreported, with women and girls the primary victims, theU.N. envoy on those abuses during conflicttold the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

Pramila Patten said attempts at preventing rape and other sexual attacks during conflicts fall short of protecting the most vulnerable women and children.

Patten said Ukraines prosecutor general informed her during a visit in May that a national hot line reported the following forms of conflict-related sexual violence between the start of the war Feb. 24 and April 12: rape, gang rape, pregnancy following rape, attempted rape, threats of rape, coercion to watch an act of sexual violence committed against a partner or a child, and forced nudity.

The Russiansare zeroing in onthe southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, calling their attack on the region of 1.6 million people "the most threatening situation there.

CapturingZaporizhzhia, pop. 722,000, and its surroundings may allow theinvading forces to advance closer to the center of the country. Russia has alreadyseized the large cities of Kherson and Mariupol in the south and is engaged in ferocious battle for Sievierodonetsk in the east.

There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on there, Zelenskyy said of Sievierodonetsk.

Zelenskyy also said in a news conference that he's talking tocountries like Turkey and the U.K. about establishing a secure corridor for Ukrainian ships totransport the 22-25 million tons of grain being blockaded by the Russians andprevent food shortages in Africa and Asia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the front lines Sundayin the hotly contested Donbas,getting an up-close look at his military operation,awardingmedals for heroic efforts and leading moments of silence to honor fallen troops.

"I want to thank you for your great work, for your service, for protecting all of us, our state," Zelenskyy said at one gathering. "I am grateful to everyone. I want to wish you and your families good health. Take care of yourselves."

Zelenskyy's tour included Luhansk, whereGov. Serhiy Haidai said Monday that fierce fighting was continuing in the crucial city of Sievierodonetsk.

Our defenders managed to conduct counteroffensive and free nearly half of the city, but the situation has worsened again now," Haidai said. Our guys are defending the positions in the industrial zone on the outskirts of the city.

Zelenskyy journeys outside Kyiv area to meet with first responders

Ukraines President Zelenskyy visited areas partly controlled by Russia to meet with soldiers, police, and other military officials.

Ariana Triggs, USA TODAY

Serbia and Russia confirmed Monday that a planned visit by Russia's foreign minister will not take place after Serbia's neighbors Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro refused to allow Sergey Lavrov's plane to fly through their airspace en route to Serbia. While formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has maintained friendly ties with Russia and has refusedWestern sanctions against Moscow.

"The unthinkable has happened," Lavrov said. "What has happened is basically a deprivation of a sovereign state's right to conduct foreign policy.''

Army Gen. Mark Milley, marking the 78th anniversary of D-Day atthe American Cemetery in France overlooking Omaha Beach, said Ukrainians are experiencing the same horrors as the French citizens went throughin World War II.Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said large countries can't use their superior military might to invade smaller ones without consequences.

"The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II, he said.Its about maintaining the so called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery.

The United Kingdomwill provide Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems capable of striking targets 50 miles away with "pinpoint accuracy," Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced. Ukraine troops will be trained to use the system in Britain. The movehas been coordinated closely with the U.S. decision to provide a variant of the system.

The decision comes in response to requests from Ukrainian forces for longer-range precision weapons to defend themselves from Russian heavy artillery, which has been used to devastating effect in the eastern Donbas region.

"As Russias tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine," Wallace said in a statement. "These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which (Russian leader Vladimir) Putins forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities."

A Ukraine commander leading the effort to wrest the crucialcity of Sievierodonetsk from the Russian military says fierce street battles are underway and the city is being battered. Petro Kuzyk told Radio Svoboda that his forces must constantly maneuver to avoid being crushed. Each side gains and loses territory multiple times in a day, he said.

"The enemy prevails to a certain degree in cannon artillery, quantity of tanks, maybe, in personnel, and is actively using this advantage," he said. "They are constantly attacking, shelling, ruining houses and our fortifications."

Graduating students waltzed in front of the ruins of their high school in Kharkiv, reviving a tradition that has been put on hold because ofthe war. In Ukrainian schools, the graduating class traditionally dances a waltz in front of the entire school as students hear the bell being rung for the last time, Pravda Ukraine reports.

Olena Mosolova, a geography teacher whose daughter is also graduating this year, said that the last waltz was an opportunity to at least somehow recreate the atmosphere of the "last bell" for the students.

"We had imagined a different last bell for our kids, but it is what it is, and we want to have a celebration for the kids," she said.

The school was the site of heavy fighting in February between Russian forces and the Ukrainian military. Pravda reported that at one point 30 Russian soldiers occupied the school until they were driven out by Ukraine forces.

Russia has been concentrating its military might on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. ButRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an online newsconference Monday that Russia will push deeper into Ukraine so longer-range missiles provided by the Westcan't reach its cities. Ukraine has sought thosemissile because Russia has severely damaged several cities by firing long-range missiles from a distance Ukraine weapons can't reach.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has already commented on the situation that will emerge with the arrival of new armaments," Lavrov said. "I can only add that the longer the range of armaments that you will supply, the further away we will move from our territory."

Contributing: The Associated Press

Excerpt from:

Ukraine kills another Russian general; US moves to seize $350M plane from Russian oligarch: Live Ukraine updates - USA TODAY

After long eschewing marriage, Pyotr Kolyadin and Tatyana Neustroyeva wed in April in St. Petersburg, Russia. It's "sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out," Pyotr says. Tatyana Neustroyeva hide caption

After long eschewing marriage, Pyotr Kolyadin and Tatyana Neustroyeva wed in April in St. Petersburg, Russia. It's "sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out," Pyotr says.

About a year ago, some friends asked Tatyana Neustroyeva and Pyotr Kolyadin that fateful couple question: Would they get married? In unison, they gave their replies: He said yes and she said no.

The two hadn't discussed it. At 40, they'd known each other half their lives and been together almost two years, living in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tatyana viewed marriage a bit of an archaic convention; Pyotr was into it, but wanted the time to be right.

Then, on Feb. 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine. The couple felt they couldn't breathe, floating in a fog, with one clarity: They should get married, now.

"To me, we are facing a world apocalypse," Pyotr says, "and this is sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out. It's kind of an island of order in a world of chaos."

Soon, they began noticing on social media, on local news lots of other couples holding rushed, quick ceremonies. In St. Petersburg, articles noted long lines for fast-track registration. In Moscow, some 9,000 couples married in April in a 12-year record.

"The more people think that whatever is coming could seriously upend their life, the more likely they are to make relationship decisions," says William Hiebert, a marriage counselor in Illinois and general secretary of the International Family Therapy Association.

Hiebert points out other big disasters had spurred waves of weddings, such as the much-studied 1989 Hurricane Hugo, the 2011 tsunami in Japan and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychologists explain that when uncertainty meets fear in a way that's too big to grasp, people crave closure in this case by defining and sealing their love.

Tatyana and Pyotr got married on a Tuesday among six friends and, afterward, captured the memory at a photo booth. Tatyana Neustroyeva hide caption

Tatyana and Pyotr got married on a Tuesday among six friends and, afterward, captured the memory at a photo booth.

"It's sort of trying to grab time and put it to a standstill," Hiebert says, "an attempt to control what little you can control."

In fact, for Russian couples, the war in Ukraine became a marriage catalyst for reasons both psychological and practical.

After about two years of dating, Kirill Gorodnii and his now-wife Katya were looking for a shared apartment in Moscow when Russia invaded Ukraine, the birthplace of Kirill's father.

"The first day of the war, we were shocked," says Kirill, 27. "The second day of the war, we were scared. The third day of the war, we decided that we have to move elsewhere."

To this day, the Kremlin insists its attacks on Ukraine are a "special military operation," with new laws threatening a decade in prison for protests that call it a war. At one point, Kirill and Katya found themselves finally discussing marriage in case one of them got arrested.

"So the spouse can get visits," Kirill explains. It was a grim joke, he says, except not really a joke.

Other couples mention rumors that Russia's military could mobilize all men in a nationwide draft. Wives get more access than girlfriends to hospital visitation, military hotlines, financial support and to morgues, as Tatyana noted in passing.

Kirill and Katya joined tens of thousands of Russians who fled to neighboring Armenia and Georgia. Then, Katya's international employer shuttered its Russian office and offered her a new job in Dubai. Kirill could reside there only as her husband.

The two rushed to marry in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. On the way to register, by pure chance, they ran into some friends, who got recruited as witnesses. Six guests joined for dinner to toast their unexpected matrimony. Given the circumstances, Kirill says, it was a perfect wedding.

Tatyana and Pyotr, too, did not plan to invite anyone to their surprise wedding. But, as these things go, friends found out and the event, as Pyotr put it, began sprouting its usual accouterments of bouquets and champagne bottles.

On a city portal, the couple picked an available location for their Tuesday evening registration: incidentally, St. Petersburg's most historic, palatial marriage hall. They wed under its soaring ornate ceilings, surrounded by ancient marble and a handful of closest friends, Tatyana in white linen, Pyotr in jeans, giggling.

"I guess we're coping with the help of love," Tatyana says. Amid despair, disorder and discord, "at least we'll know that we are a family."

View post:

The Ukraine war is spurring more Russian couples to marry - NPR

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) From the battlefronts of Ukraine comes rap music filled with the anger and indignation of a young generation that, once the fighting is done, will certainly never forget and may never forgive.

Ukrainian rapper-turned-volunteer soldier Otoy is putting the war into words and thumping baselines, tapping out lyrics under Russian shelling on his phone, with the light turned low to avoid becoming a target. It helps numb the nerve-shredding stress of combat.

Russian soldiers drink vodka, we are making music, says the rapper, whose real name is Viacheslav Drofa, a sad-eyed 23-year-old who hadnt known he could kill until he had a Russian soldier in his sights and pulled the trigger in the wars opening weeks.

One of the ironies of the Feb. 24 invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin is that in ordering the destruction of Ukrainian towns and cities, he is fueling one of the very things he wanted to extinguish: a rising tide of fierce Ukrainian nationalism, forged in the blood of tens of thousands of Ukrainian dead and the misery of millions who have lost loved ones, homes, livelihoods and peace.

Just as many people in France found it impossible to absolve Germany after two invasions a quarter-century apart in World Wars I and II, young Ukrainians say three-plus months of brutality have filled them with burning hatred for Russia.

In France, antipathy for all things German lasted a generation or more. Only in 1984 four decades after Nazi Germanys capitulation were French and German leaders Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl able to stand hand-in-hand in reconciliation at a WWI monument in France filled with bones of the dead.

In Ukraine, the young generation born after the countrys declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 likewise say they cannot imagine feeling anything but disgust for Russia for the duration of their lifetimes.

Otoys lyrics, with choice expletives directed at Russia and stark descriptions of Russian war dead, speak from the heart he lost his older brother, a soldier, in the siege of the Azovstal steel mill in the devastated port city of Mariupol.

But they also give voice to the cold fury shared by many of his peers, now pouring out in song, in art and tattoos, online in hashtags proclaiming, death to the enemies, and memes targeting Putin, and in fundraising activism for the war effort.

In Enemy, one of four new tracks that Otoy penned between and during stints on the battlefield driving ammunition and weaponry to front-line troops, he snarls of Russian soldiers: Were not scared but we are nauseous, because you smell stale even when your heart still beats. Bullets await you, you sinners.

He imagines a taunting conversation with the widow of a dead Russian soldier, singing: Well, Natasha, where is your husband? Hes a layer in a swamp, face-down. Natasha, he wont come home.

Others are riffing off the war, too.

In the furious heavy metal track We will kill you all, the band Surface Tension screams: We will dance on your bones. Your mom wont come for you. The expletive-laced track has accumulated more than 59,000 views since its April 5 release on Youtube.

Iryna Osypenko, 25, was among concertgoers at a fundraising music festival last weekend in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where Otoy gave a fiery performance. She broke down in tears as she explained how the growing reservations shed had about Russia before the invasion have scaled up into rage.

I hate them and, Im sorry, it will never change, she said. I will explain it to my children and I hope that my children will explain to their children.

Otoy says that if he has kids, hell do likewise, telling them, the Russians were killing my family, killing my brothers, my sisters, bombing our theaters, hospitals.

Its not just that I dont like Russia, I hate this country, and I hate Russian people as much as I can, he said in an interview in his Kyiv apartment, where he records and stores his guns and combat gear.

If I had the ability to save the life of a dog or the ability to save the life of a Russian soldier, I would pick the dog.

His older brother, Dmitry Lisen, is missing, believed dead in the bombed-out ruins of Mariupols Azovstal steelworks. He was a fighter with the Azov Regiment, among the units that clung doggedly to the surrounded plant for nearly three months, becoming an enduring symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Otoy dedicated his song, Find My Country, to Azovstals defenders rapping in English with the aim, he says, of reaching people all around the world.

This is my lands, you boys should leave, he sings, holding a rifle and dressed in combat gear in the tracks video on YouTube. Miss those Fridays we used to have, kisses, twilights, refuse to sleep. Now we soldiers.

His duties of late have included helping at a military hospital with the triage of bodies from Azovstal, turned over by Russian forces in an exchange. His brothers remains are still missing.

Hes also working on his collection of songs largely penned during repeated ammunition runs to troops in the east, where fighting has raged since Russian forces were pushed back in their initial assault on Kyiv.

Themes include life on the front and the camaraderie of soldiers, war-time life for civilians, enmity and fighting for Ukrainian freedom. He says the mini-album reeks of the smell of war dust.

I was actually lying on the ground under the airstrikes and bomb shelling, he said. You can actually the feel the smell of, you know, like bombs, dead bodies, and dust, blood and other stuff.

This is the best way to show your hate, I think.

___

Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

See the article here:

War rap: In Ukraine, an angry voice for a furious generation - The Associated Press

Ukraines former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has described Vladimir Putin as absolutely rational, cold, cruel, black evil and claimed he is determined to go down in Russian history alongside Stalin and Peter the Great.

In an exclusive interview, Tymoshenko dismissed the suggestion that the Russian president was crazy. He acts according to his own dark logic, she said. Hes driven by this idea of historic mission and wants to create an empire. Thats his hyper-goal. It comes from a deep inner desire and belief.

Tymoshenko, a leader of the 2004 Orange revolution and twice prime minister, had several one-on-one meetings with Putin. They held negotiations in 2009 after Putin, then prime minister, turned off the gas supply to Ukraine. Tymoshenko stood for president in 2010, 2014 and 2019, finishing second twice and then third.

Close up, Putin was always cautious in what he said and always suspicious that he might be being taped, she said. He is from a KGB school, she said. Before Russias full-scale invasion in February, he made no secret of his belief that there was no such nation as Ukraine, and no such people as Ukrainians, she said.

His ambitions went beyond seizing Ukrainian territory and toppling its pro-western, pro-Nato government, Tymoshenko suggested. His geopolitical aim was to take over Belarus, Georgia and Moldova as well, and to control central and eastern Europe including the Baltic states, just as Moscow did in Soviet times, she said.

Tymoshenko was in Kyiv on 24 February when Russia launched a multi-pronged attack in the early hours. She said peacetime political rivalries and grudges immediately vanished. That morning she went to the presidential administration together with other senior opposition figures and met Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whom she ran against in 2019.

We hugged each other and shook hands. Everyone was shocked, pale and afraid. None of us planned to leave Kyiv, she said. Everyone knew we should stand until the last. We agreed to support our president and our army and to work for victory. Zelenskiys decision to remain in the capital and to overcome his fear was important, she said.

As Russian bombs fell, Tymoshenko took refuge in the basement of the modern office building belonging to her Batkivshchyna political party in Kyivs Podil district, which was hit several times by missiles. Asked if she was ready to shoot Russian soldiers, she said: Yes. I have legal weapons. The Kremlin put me on a kill list, according to sources. We were prepared.

The Russian government had always considered her an enemy, Tymoshenko said. She pointed to her support for Ukraines membership of the EU and Nato. In the 2010 presidential election she stood against Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Moscow. She blamed her defeat on the outgoing president at the time, Viktor Yushchenko, a one-time Orange revolution ally.

The following year Yanukovych had Tymoshenko jailed in a case widely seen as politically motivated. Putin and Yanukovych imprisoned me. Yanukovych was never an independent player. He was always Putins puppet, she said. She got out of prison in 2014 when Yanukovych fled to Moscow after the Maidan anti-corruption protests. Weeks later Putin annexed Crimea and instigated a separatist uprising in the east of Ukraine.

Tymoshenko spoke in her downtown office decorated with the Ukrainian flag and photos showing her with western leaders including Margaret Thatcher. She praised the unbelievable unity of the anti-Putin coalition and singled out the UK and Boris Johnson for special mention, as well as the US, Canada and Poland. We see Britain as a part of the broader Ukrainian family, she said.

Last weekend Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, said it was important not to humiliate Putin a phrase interpreted as meaning Ukraine should sacrifice some of its territory in exchange for a realpolitik deal with Moscow. Tymoshenko said France and Germany criticised for slow-pedalling on arms deliveries should not be ostracised as Europe grappled with its worst security crisis in decades.

But she said Ukraines international partners had to understand that the only way to end the war was to crush Russian forces on the battlefield. Without naming anybody, she said they should not become co-conspirators with evil. She added: There is no such thing as a peace agreement with Putin because it doesnt lead to peace. It would lead to a new war several years later.

The stakes for her country were existential, she said. The Kremlins objective was to depersonify Ukraine, stripping it of its language and culture, and leaving it weak and atomised. The civilised world had a unique opportunity to stop Russia and to prevent it from spreading war, corruption, blackmail, disinformation and unfreedom, she said.

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Russia had largely given up on the pretence that it was only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure, Tymoshenko said. The murder of civilians in cities in the Kyiv region such as Bucha and Irpin, as well as in other areas was cruel and deliberate, she said, with Russian soldiers following Moscows instructions.

Its an inseparable part of their genocide against the Ukrainian nation, she said. What happened in Mariupol was even worse than in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel. Im convinced we will be able to take back Mariupol and to uncover the scale of the horrible killings there. It was a tragedy, a human catastrophe of an unthinkable scale.

Considering her words, the veteran politician concluded: This is a great battle for our territory and our freedom. Its a historic chance for the free world to kill this evil.

Read more:

Yulia Tymoshenko on war in Ukraine: 'It's a chance for the free world to kill this evil' - The Guardian

Under constant, heavy shelling, thousands of civilians in Ukraines east have been confined to the tenuous safety of basements and garden cellars for weeks or months. Time spent in the open means exposing oneself to weapons of war that figuratively and literally tear people apart.

Life under Russian assault is measured in minutes, steps and millimeters; the difference between life and death here has narrowed to a sliver. Those who try to flee do so at great risk to their personal safety; some interviewed by POLITICO during a week of reporting along the frontline described being forced to dash down contested roads while under fire or crawl through fields littered with landmines.

Others, like Tykhomirova, are too fragile to leave under their own power. Many more lack the means, whether money or a vehicle, to flee. Though disenchanted with the Ukrainian government for what some say is a lack of respect and attention paid to the eastern regions, almost no one wants to take their chance with the Russians.

Thousands have died while contemplating their meager options.

To be precise, between Feb. 24 and May 30, at least 4,149 civilians were killed, including 267 children, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. The true numbers of civilian casualties are much higher but cant yet be fully counted because of active fighting and lack of access to areas under the control of Russian forces, the organization added.

The deaths bring the total number of civilians killed as a result of Russian military aggression in Ukraine to more than 7,500 over the course of eight years. Prior to Feb. 24, 3,404 civilians had been killed in the war in the Donbas, which broke out in April 2014. A vast majority of those casualties occurred in the first nine months of the war, when the fighting was at its peak. Several ceasefire agreements that never fully materialized kept the fighting at a simmer, with each side trading pot shots from well-worn trenches.

Lyman, a once-quiet town surrounded by a forested nature reserve and the bone-white chalk mountains, was once home to 20,000 residents more than 43 percent of which were ethnic Russians, according to local data until people began spilling out in recent weeks. It had largely avoided hostilities, save for some street fighting with automatic rifles and grenade launchers in 2014.

Now its synonymous with Russias brutal new military campaign in the Donbas, demolished homes and shattered lives.

We can never go back. There is nothing left there for us, cried a woman brought to the Raihorodok staging area carrying several bags of clothing and possessions, her two young children in tow. They are bombing everything. Our city is dying.

Her husband interjected: No, the city is already dead.

The family, who declined to be identified, said their home had been partially destroyed in mid-May. They spent nearly two weeks living in a neighbors basement with little food and water, no toilet, electricity and gas until Holtsyev and the other rescuers came to pick them up. Everything they had to begin their new lives fit into four duffel bags. Asked about what they would do next and where they would go, the husband tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth; he just shook his head and shrugged.

Days later, on May 27, Russian forces declared Lyman captured.

More:

'Everything is gone': Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map - POLITICO

Throughout more than three months of war, Ukrainian troops have largely held Russian forces at bay. With skilful tactics and grim determination, Ukrainian defenders have pushed Moscow's troops away from the capital, Kyiv, and forced them to abandon designs for capturing the entire country.

But in the country's east, where Russian forces are intensifying efforts on the embattled Donbas region, weeks of brutal combat have pushed the defenders to a breaking point.

Now, under ceaseless bombardment and after immense casualties, some Ukrainian troops say they are feeling abandoned by their leadership left to die in hopeless conditions.

On a sunny day last week in Bakhmut, the Eastern Ukrainian city was preparing for a seemingly imminent siege. Buses streamed out of the city heading west, carrying loads of the most vulnerable: the elderly and mothers with children. Heavy military equipment passed them in the other direction, with a pair of BM-27 Uragan rocket launchers carrying deadly cargo toward the front lines with Russia.

The region is no stranger to war. Ukrainian forces have been battling Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014, long before this most recent invasion.

At one of the city's few open businesses, a shawarma stand, a steady stream of exhausted soldiers and emergency workers returning from the front paused for a quick break, as artillery boomed in the near distance.

Alexey, a 28-year-old paramedic, had just returned from his latest journey. He and a colleague spent most of the day dashing to and from the town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, which is under direct Russian shelling.

"There were 23 shells that hit Soledar in the last day alone," recalled Alexey. "We were bringing a wounded civilian back he didn't make it."

(As active-duty servicemen, none of the soldiers or emergency workers CBC spoke with were authorized to give their last names.)

Despite worsening conditions in the region, some people who had fled earlier in the fighting have since returned to the area, driven by simple economic necessity.

Alexey estimates that about 30 per cent of Bakhmut'spre-war population of about 75,000 remains, before mentioning a nine-storey building that was recently hit by a missile.

"At least 10 apartments are inhabited the people came back and just patched up their flats as best they could," he said. "They're afraid, but they've got no money."

Despite the war around him, Alexey's spirits seem high enough. It's a different story for other soldiers and volunteers returning from the front.

Two fighters Nikita, 35, and his companion, Mikhail, 56, both members of a Ukrainian army unit stationed nearby just returned from the front line east of Bakhmut, about five kilometres from the city.

"The front just comes closer and closer," said Nikita. "We keep getting pushed back, further and further."

Nikita has been fighting in this region for more than a month now, pushing back against a Russian assault that broke through Ukrainian lines in mid-May and continues to close in on Bakhmut.

His colleague, Mikhail, had also fought in 2014, against the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine. This time, he says, is different.

"[In 2014], I could fight well enough with my rifle," said Mikhail. "Now, I can't. They hit us with planes, helicopters, mortars, tanks, GRADs [rocket artillery]."

"In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing," said Nikita. "Now it's all artillery and heavy weapons. The average soldier, he can't do anything."

"We are just cannon fodder," Mikhail interjects.

Ukraine's forces are taking massive casualties in the region. In a May 31 interview, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was losing between 60 to 100 soldiers every day on the eastern front, with about another 500 people wounded daily.

On June 5, he met with some of the soldiersin Bakhmutduring a visit to the eastern front and thanked them for their service. "I am grateful to everyone," he said, according to Agence France-Presse. "Take care of yourselves."

While Russian forces are likely suffering heavy losses as well roughly 10,000 Russian soldiers are believed to have been killed in the war to date this has not yet blunted their assault in the Donbas.

Despite the thousands of pieces of Western military aid delivered to Ukraine, Nikita said he and his men have seen nothing of them.

"We have just our rifles. Maybe an RPG [launcher] or two. Against a tank or an armoured vehicle? What am I supposed to do?" he said rhetorically.

In his view, the leadership in Kyiv cares little for those fighting out here.

"[Kyiv] has not sent us any new weapons and they're not going to," said Nikita.

"Everything new and fancy has been reserved for those other places: Kyiv, Kharkiv, the big cities. Headquarters thinks, 'Well, you [in the east] have been fighting the Russians for eight years already. You'll be fine.'"

Nikita shakes his head, before turning to even harsher words for his superiors.

"You have to understand that there are two castes in this country," he said. "There's the upper caste, and then there's us: the lower caste. We are just pawns. Nothing more. The upper caste gets the money, and we get the command: 'Forward!'

"That's how it's always worked here [in Ukraine]," he said, before emphasizing that he doesn't expect anyone to believe him.

"No one here wants to hear the truth," said Nikita. "They just want the beautiful story of how Ukraine is united. But here, we're f--ked."

Other soldiers filtering through the shawarma stand also tell dire tales of being outgunned and outnumbered as fighting in the region intensifies.

Two scouts with Ukraine's naval infantry, both in their early 20s and both named Sergei, have been fighting since the first days of the war.

They arrived in the Donbas after escaping the most difficult battle of Ukraine's war to date: Mariupol, the port city destroyed during a brutal two-month siege.

"We've been [fighting] along the entire eastern front line," said the younger Sergei, 21.

"We were sent all over in the Mariupol area, in Nikolne, Rozivka, Zachativka," he said, listing villages north of the port city.

One of their assignments involved being sent to cover the retreat of Ukrainian forces pulling out of Mariupol a task they say nearly saw them killed as they were overwhelmed by a Russian force they were not equipped to fight.

"Our guys [in Mariupol] were almost encircled, so we were sent there to guard the exodus," said the younger Sergei. "The Russians put out 200 vehicles against us. They caught us and surrounded us in a village. [It was] just 70 of us against all that."

The only weapons on hand for that fight, said the older Sergei, 24, were machine guns and a few N-LAWs, British-made anti-tank missiles.

"We held out for six days. We managed to destroy the first tank in their column and that held them up, as the others were stuck behind it," he said.

"But they brought up their artillery. We had almost nothing to fight them with. Finally, we managed to escape at night we snuck out on foot."

Ukraine's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the soldiers' allegations, including the claims that at least some units were not receiving the donated weapons.

Over the course of the war, Zelensky has repeatedly called on allies to supply Ukraine with more and better weapons, at times accusing the West of moving too slowly.

The U.S., the U.K. and Germany recently pledged some of the most advanced weapons yet, including helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery pieces.

The U.S. military has also begun training Ukrainian forces on the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a sophisticated medium-range multiple rocket launcher though officials have said it would take about three weeks of training before they could go to the battlefront.

WATCH |Canada committed to supporting Ukraine 'as long as it takes,' defence minister says:

There is evidence that some of the new weaponry has made it to Eastern Ukraine. Reports show American-made M777 advanced howitzers in use at Lysychansk, at the northern edge of the Donbas front. A Politico report further describes M777s at Kramatorsk, about 30 kilometres northwest of Bakhmut.

Still, for these soldiers, the fight is not getting any easier.

Dmitry, a 41-year-old member of Ukraine's Territorial Defence, uses a little humour to confront the grim reality of the situation. "Bakhmut, it's like Monte Carlo," he said, laughing. "Russian roulette on every corner!"

Then his eyes darken, and his smile fades.

"I can describe the situation here in a few short words," Dmitry said. "Very f--king awful."

Excerpt from:

'In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing': Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas feel abandoned and outgunned - CBC News

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, ordered the removal of a Soviet monument in April, after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The monument was erected in 1982 as a symbol of unification and friendship between Ukraine and Russia under the Soviet government. Officials have also ordered some streets linked to Russia to be renamed. Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, ordered the removal of a Soviet monument in April, after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The monument was erected in 1982 as a symbol of unification and friendship between Ukraine and Russia under the Soviet government. Officials have also ordered some streets linked to Russia to be renamed.

LVIV and ODESA, Ukraine In prewar Ukraine, Svitlana Panova spoke her native Russian without giving it much thought. But now, she has lost her home to Russia twice fleeing Crimea after Russia's 2014 annexation of it and then fleeing eastern Ukraine after Russia's invasion this year and the Russian language no longer feels quite right.

"It's hard for me to switch to Ukrainian, but I will learn it for sure," says Panova, one of millions of Ukrainians displaced by Russia's war, as she makes her way through the train station in the western city of Lviv.

On the streets and on social media, at family gatherings and at work, in interviews and in political journals, people across Ukraine are having a tense conversation over the place of Russian language and culture in Ukraine's social fabric. Can they even have a place now? Is this inescapable part of the country's history inherently toxic?

About a third of Ukrainians have named Russian as their mother tongue in the last census, in 2001, and in more recent surveys and the majority of Ukrainians say they speak it. Conversations often combine both languages, and some people even speak a Spanglish-type mashup called Surzhyk. Russian and Ukrainian are closely related but not enough for speakers to fully understand each other. Ukraine was Russified for centuries, under the Russian Empire and then under the Soviet Union, when Russian was the lingua franca mandated in schools.

Interest in speaking Russian has been declining, particularly after Ukraine's pivotal 2014 pro-Western revolution. The Ukrainian language emerged as a cornerstone of the nation's push toward a strong post-Soviet self-identity. After Russia commenced its violent invasion this Feb. 24, many began viewing language as a matter of national survival.

"It is a question of our existence," says Oleh Myrhorodskyy, 57, a Russian-speaker from the southern city of Odesa, who quickly signed up for a Ukrainian-language class. "That's why everyone needs to put some effort into building a national foundation. And the language is that national foundation."

The remote class, launched online from Lviv shortly after the invasion started, filled up instantly. More than 800 people signed up within three days, organizers said.

Ihor and Olha Lysenko fled to western Ukraine when the war began. Olha initially ditched the Russian language in anger, but weeks later, she resumed using it. Russian is the language of her children and her family. "For me, language is not attached to a nation. It's not attached to certain territory," she says. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption

For example, a large share of the interviews with Ukrainian refugees that foreign viewers might see on TV or hear on the radio are in Russian. Ihor Lysenko, who fled west when the war began, points out it's the shared language with millions of people elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Lysenko's wife, Olha Lysenko, ditched Russian in anger after Russia attacked Ukraine. Weeks later, she returned to using it. Russian is the language of her children and her family it does not belong to the Russian government or its leader, Vladimir Putin, she says.

"For me, language is not attached to a nation. It's not attached to certain territory," she says. "And so the Russian language, like English, doesn't make me feel disgust. In the first week of the war, it did, and I switched entirely to Ukrainian. But over time, that first anger has passed, and as my relative says, whatever it may be, it's the language of the heart."

At a cafe in Odesa, Artyom Dorokhov voices another common view that Ukraine's cosmopolitan diversity of languages and cultures is a strength. He says he has always celebrated his Russian roots, never feeling anti-Russian bias, but the war brought a shift: He feels new pressure to speak Ukrainian and signal to friends and co-workers that his loyalties lie here, not with Russia.

"Silence is very close right now to a hostile act," Dorokhov says. "All the good stuff that we know about Russian art and literature, it's been wiped out by the current deeds of [Putin's] regime."

Oleksandr Babich, a historian from Odesa, Ukraine, sits on a commission that's considering the future of city landmarks that honor Russian figures, including the possible removal of statues and monuments. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption

Some cities, including the capital city of Kyiv, have begun removing Russian-related monuments, markers and even road signs. Odesa once a key port in imperial Russia has created a commission to consider the future of some of the city's most significant landmarks.

"My own mother tongue is Russian," says historian Oleksandr Babich, an Odesa native who sits on the monument commission. "But the war makes us want to become more Ukrainian. We don't want to have anything in common with the Russians who are killing us."

The city's Russian history is rich and won't be easy to disentangle. Walking past sandbag barricades and soldiers with assault rifles, Babich points to a house where Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol wrote the Russian literary classic Dead Souls and then a house where Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, once lived.

Local landmarks now in question include the Potemkin Stairs featured in a classic Soviet silent film about a 1905 mutiny on an eponymous Russian battleship in the Odesa harbor. Then there's the giant statue to Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who ordered the founding of modern Odesa in 1794 but who also eroded Ukraine's autonomy with oppressive imperial politics.

Dorokhov compared this debate to the reckoning over Confederate statues and monuments in the American South: a cultural reckoning over a history of oppression. Except this one is happening amid a brutal war, with missile strikes erasing neighborhoods and cities and with Russian troops facing accusations of mass killings of civilians and other war crimes.

A Ukrainian tank sits near the Potemkin Stairs in the center of Odesa after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

In 2014, Moscow claimed persecution of Russian-speakers to justify its annexation of Crimea. Similar claims have factored heavily into the eight years of bloody conflict between Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and the Ukrainian army.

In the late 2010s, Ukraine's government passed new mandates and quotas to boost the use of Ukrainian in education, the media and professional communication. The Kremlin launched a wave of propaganda, claiming Western anti-Russian forces were pushing ethnocentric mandatory Ukrainization.

In July 2021, Putin penned a now-infamous historical screed claiming that Russians and Ukrainians were "one people a single whole," bound by the shared language and culture of the Russian World (Russkiy Mir). With the war, the concept has taken on a sinister meaning and is loathed in Ukraine.

"Russia itself is doing everything to ensure that de-Russification takes place on the territory of our state," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself a native Russian-speaker, said in a March address. "You are doing it. In one generation. And forever."

A statue of a Soviet soldier lies facedown in Chervonohrad, in western Ukraine. The monument from the city's Eternal Flame memorial complex is among those that were dismantled following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Pavlo Palamarchuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

A statue of a Soviet soldier lies facedown in Chervonohrad, in western Ukraine. The monument from the city's Eternal Flame memorial complex is among those that were dismantled following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Many here call Russian soldiers "orcs" or "Rushists," the latter a twist on "fascists." Ukrainian officials frequently warn that there is a threat from Russian-speakers in Ukraine who sympathize with Moscow.

"It's hard to say, but the [Russians] aren't people for us anymore," says Julia Bragina, a Russian-speaker who co-owns a jazz club and theater in Odesa. She adds: "Yeah, that's mean that's gross to say."

Before the war, Bragina regularly hosted performances by Russian musicians and counted many of them as her friends. Now, she says she views their cultural influence as tainted, in part because many Russian artists have been silent about the invasion or support it publicly.

Moscow has passed new laws that criminalize even referring to Russia's presence in Ukraine as a "war" or "invasion." The Kremlin insists it's engaged in a "special military operation" to "denazify" Ukrainian leadership and protect the Russian-speakers of the eastern Donbas region.

At the same time, Bragina and many others say they believe the difficult conversation about undoing centuries of Russification in Ukrainian culture can unfold peacefully and with nuance. Babich says it's a sign that Ukrainian society is free and capable of wrestling with complicated problems the kind of open debate that would be instantly stifled by Putin's regime.

Ievgen Afanasiev reported from Lviv; Brian Mann reported from Odesa; Alina Selyukh is based in Washington, D.C.; Elissa Nadworny reported from Chervonohrad. Tim Mak contributed reporting from Odesa.

Read more from the original source:

Ukraine agonizes over Russian culture and language in its social fabric - NPR

An increasingly bitter diplomatic row over Germanys unwillingness to supply heavy weaponry to Ukraine threatened to spill into a wider dispute between allies over whether they are prepared to accept a peace settlement that leaves Vladimir Putin capable of claiming victory.

One western official said western leaders are divided between those who think they can work with Vladimir Putins Russia once the war is over, and those who think they cannot.

The row is leading to disputes over the arming of Ukraine, the feasibility of enforcing a Russian oil import embargo and whether Kyiv will have to accept a further loss of territory at the end of the war as the price for peace.

The immediate point of conflict between Ukraine and some of its allies focusses on the supply of weaponry to Ukraine, and the heavy weather Germany seems to be making in setting up an elaborate chain that would see the country supplying armaments to its Eastern neighbours principally Poland and the Czech Republic that would in turn send armoury on to Ukraine.

Kyiv is suffering serious losses due to the absence of long-range weaponry. The commander-in-chief of Ukraines armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said the delivery of weapons could not be delayed: We are in great need of weapons that will make it possible to hit the enemy from a long distance.

Citing its sources in Nato, the national news agency, Deutsche Presse Agentur, reported that alliance members have informally agreed not to supply certain weaponry to Ukraine, fearing Russia could see the delivery of tanks and combat aircraft as the west entering the war and take retaliatory measures. Quite what this decision means in practical terms is disputed.

There were also US-sourced reports that Israel had rejected a US request to allow Germany to send Spike anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Spike missiles are produced in Germany with Israeli technology under an Israeli licence. Since the beginning of Russias large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Israel has taken a neutral stance and refused to supply weapons to Ukraine.

The disputes come as some influential US voices, from veteran diplomat Henry Kissinger to the New York Times, have urged Ukraine to realise it may have to lose territory to Putin.

In a reference to the tensions, the UK foreign secretary Liz Truss, a staunch war hawk, warned the West against backsliding and appeasement, insisting the need to supply arms was urgent in a speech in Sarajevo: What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term. She insists private sanctions on Russia cannot be lifted until Putin has completely left Ukraine, and his army is irreversibly weakened. She has strong allies in eastern Europe, and the Baltics, but not in Paris or Berlin.

Truss has argued that any backsliding would result in a more prolonged and painful conflict.

Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, adopted an ironic, almost uncomprehending tone at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week about the slowness of arms deliveries: We are pursuing this with strategic patience. I dont understand why this is so difficult. The president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sensed German reticence stemmed from a desire to rebuild relations with Putin once the war ends. No matter what the Russian state does, there is someone who says: Lets take his interests into account, said Zelenskiy.

Poland has also heavily criticised Germanys slowness, and within Germany the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has come under attack for appearing not to want either side to emerge victorious from the war, a stance Scholz denies.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the Bundestag Defense Committee and a member of the Free Democrat party, said: It must not be that at the end of the war the world sees Germany as a complete brakeman and loser just because we are unable to organise and communicate.

Early in the conflict Germany proposed quickly supplying Ukraine with heavy weaponry in a ring system whereby eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic would provide Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine, with these being replenished by modern German Leopard tanks. Whether the failure to achieve this yet is due to bureaucratic inertia, cynical procrastination or a reflection of the depleted state of the German armed forces is hard to unravel. If you are on the frontline, it probably matters little.

In a speech in Davos, Scholz tried to dismiss claims that he did not understand the scale of the issues at stake. He said the 24 February invasion had come like a thunderclap.

He described Putins war as imperialism that is trying to bomb us back to a time when war was a common tool. It is not only the statehood of Ukraine at stake but a world order that binds might to law. He claimed Putin had already missed all of his strategic goals. A capture of all of Ukraine by Russia seems further away today than it was at the beginning of the war. More than ever, Ukraine is emphasising its European future.

He added that our goal is clear. Putin must not win this war. His remarks, insisting there can be no peace dictated by Putin, contrast with those of Boris Johnson, who has always insisted Putin must lose the war and be seen to lose the war.

Truss was one of the first European figures to echo Ukrainian claims that it cannot lose territory in the war, but must regain land lost to Russian separatists since 2014. The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, in Kyiv this week said: Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future. No decisions can be taken about its future without it. Although there are different voices within the Ukrainian diplomatic landscape, Zelenskiys public position appears to be broadly the same. He told a meeting at Davos that he joined by video link: When Ukraine says it is fighting to regain its territories, it means that Ukraine will fight until it restores all of its territory. It doesnt mean anything else. Its about our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our independence.

He added: This state of hot hostilities, of bloody war, can only move into diplomatic negotiations with the authentic participation of the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, supported by our strategic partners, when we see that the Russian Federation shows real willingness and desire to move from bloody war to diplomacy. This will be possible only when Russia concedes at least something, such as pulling back troops to the borders as they were on February 24.

At present there does not seem to be any likelihood of Russia signalling such a retreat. Quite the opposite.

But that does not mean countries are not coming forward to offer their mediation services. Italys prime minister, Mario Draghi, for instance, has assembled a complex four-point plan that was formally presented to the UN secretary general, Antnio Guterres.

The first step in the plan would involve a supervised ceasefire and demilitarisation of the frontline. This would be a multilateral negotiation at a conference on the future status of Ukraine, resuscitating the proposal of future Ukrainian neutrality backed by security guarantees provided by major powers. This could give a security umbrella to Ukraine before the end of the peace process, and act as a substitute for Ukraines one-time aspiration to Nato membership.

The next stage would be a bilateral treaty between Ukraine and Russia on border issues. The language of the proposal points to free movement of people and economic life, de facto autonomy for the occupied territories and a single economic zone, as well as civil guarantees for Russian minorities, including over language. This would be very close to the Minsk agreement, a format that France and Germany oversaw and the Ukrainians never liked.

The final stage would be a grand bargain on EU/Nato-Russia relations, revival of strategic stability talks, a new role for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and a revisiting of some of the other issues that were being discussed between the US and Russia last summer.

Russia seemed to take great pleasure in ridiculing both the plan and its proponent. The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev blasted Draghis proposals: It seems that it was prepared not by diplomats, but by local political scientists who have read provincial newspapers and operate only with Ukrainian fakes. Yet other voices in Russia think there are aspects of the plan that could be adopted later, when both sides have fought themselves to a standstill.

Read the rest here:

What hope is there for diplomacy in ending the Russia-Ukraine war? - The Guardian

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Moscow pressed the West on Thursday to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis that has been worsened by Kyivs inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products while under attack.

Britain immediately accused Russia of trying to hold the world to ransom, insisting there would be no sanctions relief, and a top U.S. diplomat blasted the sheer barbarity, sadistic cruelty and lawlessness of the invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that Moscow is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilizer on the condition that politically motivated restrictions imposed by the West are lifted, according to a Kremlin readout of the call.

Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but the war and a Russian blockade of its ports have halted much of that flow, endangering world food supplies. Many of those ports are now also heavily mined.

Russia also is a significant grain exporter, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the West must cancel the unlawful decisions that hamper chartering ships and exporting grain. His comments appeared to be an effort to lump the blockade of Ukrainian exports with what Russia says are its difficulties in moving its own goods.

Western officials have dismissed those claims. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted last week that food, fertilizer and seeds are exempt from sanctions imposed by the U.S. and many others and that Washington is working to ensure countries know the flow of those goods should not be affected.

With the war grinding into its fourth month, world leaders have ramped up calls for solutions. World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said about 25 million tons of Ukrainian grain is in storage and another 25 million tons could be harvested next month.

European countries have tried to ease the crisis by moving grain out of the country by rail but trains can carry only a small fraction of what Ukraine produces, and ships are needed for the bulk of the exports.

At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry proposed corridors to allow foreign ships to leave ports along the Black Sea, as well as Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

Mikhail Mizintsev, who heads Russias National Defense Control Center, said 70 foreign vessels from 16 countries were in six ports on the Black Sea, including Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv. He did not specify how many might be ready to carry food.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country was ready to agree on safe corridors in principle, but it was not sure it could trust Russia to allow safe passage and not send its military vessels sneaking into the harbor to attack Odesa.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Putin was trying to hold the world to ransom by demanding some sanctions be lifted before allowing Ukrainian grain shipments to resume.

Hes essentially weaponized hunger and lack of food among the poorest people around the world, Truss said on a visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for imposing even tougher sanctions on Russia, including for the European Union to ban Russian oil and gas.

Pressuring Russia is literally a matter of saving lives, he said in his nightly video address. And every day of delay, weakness, various disputes or proposals to appease the aggressor at the expense of the victim is new Ukrainians killed. And these are new threats to everyone on our continent.

Putin said its impossible, utterly unrealistic in the modern world to isolate Russia. Speaking via video to members of the Eurasian Economic Forum, which is comprised of several ex-Soviet nations, he said those who try would primarily hurt themselves, citing broken food supply chains.

Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, urged its members to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Putins revanchist delusions.

If Russia achieved success in Ukraine, there would be more horrific reports from filtration camps, more forcibly displaced people, more summary executions, more torture, more rape, and more looting, Carpenter said in Vienna.

On the battlefield, Russian forces pressed their offensive in several parts of the eastern Donbas region, Ukraines military said. That industrial heartland of coal mines and factories is now the focus of fighting after Russia suffered a series of setbacks and shifted to more limited goals.

The enemy is storming the position of our troops simultaneously in several directions, said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. We have an extremely difficult and long stage of fighting ahead of us.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, also came under renewed shelling on Thursday. Zelenskyy said at least nine people were killed and 19 wounded. Among those killed were a five-month-old baby and its father, and the mother was in serious condition.

Military officials said Russian forces continued to try to gain a foothold in the area of Sievierodonetsk, the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbas under Ukrainian government control.

A senior U.S. defense official said Russia is making incremental progress in the Donbas, with fighting centered on towns and villages as Russian and Ukrainian forces trade control over scraps of land. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment, said those smaller artillery duels could be prolonged.

Russia has 110 battalion tactical groups, each with 800 to 1,000 troops, committed to Ukraine, amounting to 80% of Moscows total force, the official said, adding that it has lost 1,000 tanks and three dozen fighter jets and other fixed-wing aircraft.

Zelenskyy pleaded with the West to send multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine as soon as possible to give it a fighting chance against the Russian offensive in the Donbas.

In other developments:

In the northwestern town of Kotelva, two Russian soldiers accused of war crimes pleaded guilty to shelling civilian infrastructure with a multiple rocket launcher. Alexander Ivanov and Alexander Bobykin could face up to 12 years in prison; the defense asked for eight, saying they were following orders. Bobykin said, I regret the actions our troops committed.

In the ravaged port city of Mariupol, Russia began broadcasting state television news, about a week after the Russian military declared it had completely liberated the city.

A leader of Russia-backed separatists suggested there might be more Ukrainian fighters hiding in Mariupols sprawling Azovstal steelworks, which for weeks stood as the citys last bastion of resistance. The Russian military says 2,439 fighters surrendered from the plant last week. The separatist leader, Denis Pushilin, said more may have been hiding or lost or lagged behind, adding there are already those that have been found and captured.

Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Russian ally Belarus, said he was sending troops to the border with Ukraine, raising the possibility that he may agree to wider participation in the war. Belarus allowed Russian troops to invade Ukraine from its soil but has not taken part in ground operations.

The Pentagon said one American military officer has gone back to Ukraine as the U.S. reopens its embassy in Kyiv. But Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the colonel is there for diplomatic work, and no other U.S. troops are going into Ukraine at this point.

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Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Andre Rosa in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed.

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Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis - The Associated Press