Category Archives: Ukraine

They were tears of happiness at first, says 23-year-old Oksana Balandina of her first dance with her new husband, captured on video by a nurse and now shared across the world.

Six weeks ago, Oksana stood on a mine as she was returning home with her then partner, Viktor Vasyliv, also 23, after venturing out to collect some supplies for elderly neighbours on their street in Lysychansk, an east Ukrainian town on the frontline of the war with Russia.

Oksana, a paediatric nurse, and mother of Diana, 5, and Illia, 7, was, according to medics, fortunate to survive the blast, but she lost both her legs and four fingers on her left hand. Since then she has had moments of utter despair, screaming out that she wants to die, says Viktor, a carpenter, as he crouches by her wheelchair.

Today, however, drinking a takeaway coffee and taking in the sun outside Lvivs municipal hospital, Oksana quick to smile says she feels stronger and grateful, as she dusts some tree blossom off her husbands cheek.

In part, she says, that is due to an outpouring of support from strangers around the world touched by that moment two weeks ago in the hospital ward when her husband gently lifted his bride, dressed in white, and held her tight as she buried her face in his shoulder and they swayed to tinny music playing on a laptop.

Oksana posted the video on the social media site TikTok and she has since put up other short pieces of film of her trying to keep fit to music since the incident. They have been viewed many thousands of times, provoking the vital comments of support that Viktor says his wife has so treasured during these hard weeks.

The dance was a complete surprise, she says. We had come back to the hospital from the registry office and Natalia and Olesia [hospital volunteers] had brought a dress and a laptop for music. Natalia said, What kind of wedding is that without a dance?

It was pure joy and happiness, she adds of her response to Viktor picking her up. But then the realisation came. Its not how I wanted my first dance to be.

There have, of course, been innumerable other difficult moments, not least explaining the injuries to her children, who are staying with their grandfather in the Poltava region to the east.

Oksana and Viktor, who are waiting to be taken for rehabilitation at a specialist hospital somewhere in the European Union, have not been able to see the children for weeks. But the memory of that day, and the precariousness of life in Ukraine today, is itself hard to get over, the couple say. The retelling only emphasises Oksanas extraordinary strength.

We were coming back home and theres a stream at the back of our garden, so we wanted to make a shortcut and took a dirt road, says Oksana. We knew this way very well. I was in front and my husband and friend behind, and I saw there was a missile not far from us, I turned towards Viktor, I yelled, Honey, look. He looked at me and I just suddenly flew into the air, I heard a loud noise in my ears. I looked at my feet and they werent there. Just bones.

Viktor ran to her. He was breathless, caught in a panic, he says. In my head I thought it was over for a moment, he recalls. Then she started to move; she yelled to me to call the ambulance. But they refused to come close because they were afraid of the mines. They said it needed to be cleared.

The couples friend called Oksanas stepfather on the phone. So we carried her with her stepdad and our friend, we carried her to the ambulance. Oksana, despite all the shock she was in, was in charge of everything. She pushed me and I went out of shock, she was the one who told me to call the ambulance. I dont know when would I have come to my senses if she didnt tell me. Then she helped the paramedic.

Oksana explains: The paramedic was a young inexperienced girl apparently she had never seen anything like this. So I helped her. I knew my veins better. I asked for oxygen but they didnt have any. When we came to the hospital, I saw my mom. I saw her and cried Mummy, and I lost consciousness.

Oksana does recall brief snippets of the conversations of the medics working to save her life. When we were on the way to the hospital, the paramedics were saying, If only she was able to make it to the hospital. When we came to the hospital, the doctors were saying, If only she was able to make it through the surgery. But when the anaesthesia wore off and I came back to my senses, I realised thats it. I have nothing. I was panicking, I didnt want to live, I didnt want my children to see me like this.

Oksana was transferred from Lysychansk to the city of Dnipro, 200 miles farther west. The doctors did an amazing job. They helped me a lot, Oksana says. I realised my life was not over. I need to move on and I need to move on for the sake of my children.

Viktor adds: She was very depressed she yelled she didnt want to live. But in Dnipro there were amazing rehabilitation doctors. They inspired Oksana. And then there was TikTok. She started to post some videos, got a lot of positive comments, and it helped to boost her morale.

Viktor proposed on the 27 April and they were married the next day.

I just posted these videos just for myself, Oksana says, I didnt think about becoming popular I just wanted to document the process of recovery. How the rehabilitation goes and later, when I will hopefully have prosthetics, I will learn how to use them.

Viktor adds: It helps her. Whenever she has a minute, she is trying to read comments to her videos. She smiles, she is happier.

Oksana says she is determined to rebuild her life and continue her career in medicine in the field of rehabilitation. And to show to the others with my own example that you cant give up, that everything is possible and you should keep living no matter what.

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How hospital wedding dance restored Ukraine bombing victims will to live - The Guardian

When women at the border started talking to me about rapes and murders happening inside Ukraine, I thought these were just rumours; I wouldnt let myself believe it. I told myself that it was just people sharing scare stories or that women were just trying to rationalise their feelings of guilt about leaving their husbands and sons. Maybe my psyche was trying to defend itself.

Then a woman in her 70s, who said she was from one of the occupied areas close to Irpin and Bucha, crossed the border with her daughter and great-granddaughter. They were being treated by medical volunteers at the French mission. The daughter, who was in her 50s, had cancer and was very sick. The medics could not believe that someone like this, with a hole in her stomach and no bandages, was so desperate to leave that she would risk travelling for so many hours with no medical support.

The woman told me that her grandson served in a military brigade that had been the first to go into recently liberated areas. She said he took photos of what he had seen. She showed them to me, and it was only then I understood it was worse than I could have ever imagined.

She said that after her grandson had returned from duty, he had come to her house and begged her to leave Ukraine. He told her that women were being raped and killed by Russian troops but she refused to leave. In desperation, he showed her the photos and she knew she had to flee.

One of the photos she showed me was the hanging body of a young girl. She couldnt have been more than 14. She said her grandson told her he was walking through the woods looking for dead bodies left by the Russians and lifted his head and saw these girls strung from the trees, all of them very young. They were naked and torn up. She said he had passed on the photos to investigators in Ukraine who were gathering evidence of war crimes.

I was not ready to see something like this. In Ukraine now there are many photos of what happened in Bucha but in Poland these are not widely circulated. Since she showed it to me I think my brain has tried to blank it out because I cant even recreate it in my mind. All I remember is a white blur in the top-left corner of a shattered phone screen.

She told me that after she had seen these photos she went to the hospital where her daughter was being treated in the oncology ward. She went in, took out her daughters intravenous drip and helped her walk to the car and they just took off.

When I met them on the border, the car they were driving was shattered. The lights were broken, they had foil instead of windows. They had driven all that way in a car where the wheels were still turning but that was about it. But this lady said that after she started driving she didnt stop until she had left Ukraine.

Often when women first cross the border theyre elated, happy to reach safety. They start smiling, joking youd never guess theyve had any sort of trauma. Since I have seen that photo, I keep thinking back to those other women I have met and wondering what they might have gone through.

There have been women who have been asking me about getting hold of pills that cause menstruation. At the time I didnt understand what they meant.

There was another woman who came over with a 17-year-old daughter. The daughter would not stop crying. I asked her how I could help, and what was going on. She asked for thick menstrual pads, underwear and trousers for the girl. I remember her as she had the same name as my own daughter. That woman also told me that when she went through the last checkpoints outside Kharkiv, she kept driving without stopping.

It isnt just the ones who talk about the violence they have faced or witnessed. You worry about all the women who make the crossing. There are many who just cannot deal with being this helpless.

There was one woman, you could tell that she was wealthy. Her clothes were very nice, her shoes were very nice. The children were dressed nicely. And from their manners you could tell they were well-off. And their older girl, about 10, sat at the table in the reception centre and said: Well, here you have free soup. And the little boy said: I dont want a free soup. The mother sat not saying anything until she just exploded and yelled: Youre refugees now, and you need to eat everything they give you.

This was the change they experienced that when they crossed the border, everything they had had before had stayed behind in Ukraine. Then they leave you and you never find out what happened to them next.

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I didnt believe stories of atrocities in Ukraine. But then I saw the photos - The Guardian

To Western audiences, Russias invasion of Ukraine has unfolded as a series of brutal attacks punctuated by strategic blunders. But on Russian television, those same events were spun as positive developments, an interpretation aided by a rapid jumble of opinion and falsehoods.

Much of Russian news media is tightly controlled by the Kremlin, with state-run television working as a mouthpiece for the government. Critical reporting about the war has been criminalized.

Russian televisions convoluted and sometimes contradictory narratives about the war are not solely intended to convince viewers that their version of events is true, disinformation experts say. Just as often, the goal is to confuse viewers and sow distrust so audiences are not sure what to believe.

The New York Times reviewed more than 50 hours of television footage to show how the war was being presented to Russians through the countrys news media.

Russia faced a significant loss when its flagship missile cruiser, the Moskva, sank after being damaged in mid-April. Ukrainian officials said the ship was struck with two Neptune anti-ship missiles. The New York Times reported this week that the United States provided intelligence that helped Ukraine locate and strike the ship. Independent Russian news media based outside the country reported that about 40 men died and an additional 100 were injured.

Moskva, a Russian missile cruiser, moored in a Ukrainian port in the Black Sea in 2013. Reuters

On Russian state-controlled media, though, news programs downplayed Ukraines strategic attack with a narrative that has shifted over time.

At first, Russias Defense Ministry said the ship was damaged after a fire on board had detonated ammunition. The ship was being towed back to shore and the crew was safely evacuated, the report continued.

Russian media later reported that the ship had sunk while being towed during a storm. A segment also showed a lineup of healthy Russian soldiers, describing them as the Moskvas crew, alive and well.

Ship described as sinking in a storm.

Russian soldiers, reportedly from the Moskva.

For the Kremlin, the loss adds to its growing challenges in conveying a positive impression of the war at home. While Russian news media has repeatedly dismissed or downplayed Ukrainian civilian casualties, Russias own casualties and the grieving families left in their wake are harder for the Kremlin to ignore.

Russia acknowledged the overall death toll for the first time in March, making clear to Russian viewers that the war would involve domestic losses as well. But even those reports underestimated the Russian casualties, according to U.S. experts. Though it is difficult to get exact casualty figures during a war, Western intelligence agencies estimate Russian military losses could be as high as 10,000 killed and 30,000 wounded.

As Russian forces retreated from the region surrounding Kyiv, graphic images circulated showing bodies of dead civilians lying in the streets. In Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, some civilians were found with their hands bound or with gunshot wounds to the head. The images prompted renewed calls for war crime charges against Russia.

Tatiana Petrovna, 72, mourned in the garden where three civilian bodies lay. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

On Russian television, the discovery was cast instead as a hoax, with television presenters analyzing images and video for signs of fakery.

In one clip, Russian journalists noted that clothing on some dead civilians was too clean to have been in the streets for days, implying they could not have been killed during Russias occupation. A statement from the Ministry of Defense, aired on the nightly newscast Vremya, said the bodies lacked signs of decay and that blood in their wounds had not coagulated.

All that is irrefutable evidence that the photos and videos from Bucha are yet another staging by the Kyiv regime for the benefit of Western mass media, the ministrys statement said.

Unblurred photographs run by Western media outlets, however, showed the bodies had clear signs of decay.

Another news report indicated that footage from Bucha showed some of the bodies moving, which was cited as proof the dead bodies were staged. One clip showed a body in a rearview mirror that appeared to move after the car drove by. But several photographs taken on the ground by Western photographers showed bodies in the area had clear signs of decomposition. The impression of movement appeared to be caused by distortion in the mirror, which was also seen affecting the buildings surrounding the body.

A Russian television report claimed the body seen in the rearview mirror on the right-hand side was moving.

The claim that the bodies in the streets were part of a staging collided later with an entirely different narrative pushed on Russian television: that the civilians were indeed killed, but that it was Ukrainian troops who had killed them.

To make that case, the Russian state-run station Channel 1 presented a convoluted alternate timeline, selecting footage to support the claim that no one was killed until days after Russian troops fled the region.

March 30

March 31

April 1

March 31 to April 2

April 2

Disinformation researchers say scattershot narratives like this can overwhelm viewers, sowing doubts even if audiences arent persuaded by any specific claim.

Russia drew international condemnation after a maternity hospital was bombed in the southern port city of Mariupol. Images of injured pregnant women, carried across charred hospital grounds or ushered down battered staircases, made clear to Western audiences the civilian cost of war.

Marianna Vyshemirskaya walked downstairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo

In Russia, though, the attack was dismissed as a hoax.

In a flurry of claims over several days, Russian television dissected footage and raised numerous doubts about the Western account, often using the same imagery seen in the West to advance very different accounts of what happened.

Images of two women in particular were widely circulated in Western media. One, an influencer named Marianna Vyshemirskaya, survived the attack and later gave birth to a girl. Another woman, who has not been identified, was photographed on a stretcher and was later reported by The Associated Press to have died. In one segment, Russian journalists claimed the two were the same woman. Ms. Vyshemirskaya later denied being the woman seen on the stretcher.

In another segment aired on Russian television, victims being carried away from the hospital were described as soldiers from Ukraines far-right Azov Battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard with ties to the countrys neo-Nazi movement. But images captured by Western journalists showed the victims were women, with some wearing khaki-colored clothing that vaguely resembled troop uniforms.

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Ms. Vyshemirskaya later gave an interview to Denis Seleznev, a Ukrainian blogger who backs the separatist movement in Ukraines eastern Donbas region. The portions that aired on Russian television focused not on her injuries but on the Azov Battalion, with claims that the military group occupied the hospital before the strike took place.

There was no evidence reported by Western journalists on the scene that Azov was using the building as a base, and an April report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe classified the attack on the hospital as a war crime.

In airing Ms. Vyshemirskayas interview, alongside a video she posted to Instagram, Russian news media focused on her description of Azov soldiers, casting them as belligerent occupiers who demanded food.

They said they havent eaten for five days, she said. They took our food away and said, You can cook more.

An interview with Ms. Vyshemirskaya aired on Russian television.

The Kremlin and Russian media have frequently focused on Ukraines neo-Nazi movement as justification for the invasion. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said that one of his central aims was the denazification of Ukraine.

Though the Azov Battalion was founded in 2014 out of Ukraines ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups, experts say the group has quelled much of its extremist side under pressure from authorities. The neo-Nazi movement is not a significant force in Ukraine, according to experts who track the far right, who point to Ukraines election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, as evidence.

Russian forces advanced on Europes largest nuclear power plant in early March. A skirmish with Ukrainian forces ended with a fire on the compound, which Mr. Zelensky warned could result in the end of Europe. The fire was later extinguished, but Ukrainian officials accused Russia of nuclear terrorism.

Surveillance camera footage captured the attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zaporizhzhya Npp/Zaporizhzhya Npp Via Reuters

But Russian audiences were told another story: that Ukrainian soldiers had attacked the facility, setting fire to the building before fleeing. Russian forces were described as defending the facility from Ukrainian saboteurs, according to a government statement repeated in state media.

A Russian television report says that Russian soldiers were defending the power plant from Ukrainian small arms fire.

In footage released weeks later, the power plant was shown functioning normally, with drone shots showing workers arriving at a spotless facility and passing through security checkpoints in an orderly fashion.

While the special military operation is underway, the nuclear power plant hasnt stopped working for a second, said Aleksey Ivanov, a reporter for Vremya, the Channel 1 evening news broadcast. And now it has even grown in strength.

Mr. Ivanov also said that Russian guards do not interfere with the work of the plant.

A soldier interviewed at the facility said that employees of this plant show a certain amount of respect and that workers maintain order and discipline in their work.

The idea that Ukraine is faring better under Russian control continues to be a frequent claim on state television, bolstering the dubious argument advanced by Mr. Putin that Russian troops were sent in to protect Ukrainian citizens.

A Russian state news report describes the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was recently captured by Russian soldiers, as functioning normally.

Excerpt from:

The War in Ukraine, as Seen on Russian TV - The New York Times

The move would allow for food produced in the war-torn country to flow freely to the rest of the world as well as avoid mountains of grain from going to waste.

Right now, Ukraines grain silos are full. At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching towards starvation. We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies, WFP Executive Director David Beasley said.

Were running out of time and the cost of inaction will be higher than anyone can imagine. I urge all parties involved to allow this food to get out of Ukraine to where its desperately needed so we can avert the looming threat of famine.

The crisis is another fallout from the war, which began on 24 February.

Ports on the Black Sea are blocked, leaving millions of metric tonnes of grain trapped in silos on land, or on ships that are unable to move.

Unless ports reopen, Ukrainian farmers will have nowhere to store the next harvest in July and August, WFP said.

The result will be mountains of grain going to waste while WFP and the world struggle to deal with an already catastrophic global hunger crisis, the agency said.

Some 276 million people around the globe were already facing acute hunger at the beginning of the year. That number could rise by 47 million if the war continues, according to WFP, with the steepest rises in sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to the conflict, most of the food produced in Ukraine was exported through the countrys seven Black Sea ports. More than 50 million metric tonnes of grain transited through the ports in the eight months before the war began, and exports were enough to feed 400 million people.

The disruption caused by the war has already pushed food commodity prices well above record highs reached earlier this year. In March, export prices for wheat and maize rose 22 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, on top of steep increases in 2021 and early 2022.

WFP has also felt the impact. Soaring prices for food and fuel have hiked operational costs by up to $71 million a month, or equivalent to providing nearly four million people with a daily ration for one month, thus affecting the agencys ability to respond to hunger crises around the world.

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WFP appeals for re-opening of Ukraine ports to avert looming famine threat - UN News

The energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine disabused many politicians of the notion that the world could make a swift transition to green energy powered by solar, wind and wishful thinking. As food prices skyrocket and the conflict threatens a global food crisis, we need to face another unpopular reality: Organic farming is ineffective, land hungry and very expensive, and it would leave billions hungry if it were embraced world-wide.

For years, politicians and the chattering classes have argued that organic farming is the responsible way to feed the world. The European Union pushed last year for members roughly to triple organic farming by 2030. Influential nonprofits have long promoted organic farming to developing nations, causing fragile countries like Sri Lanka to invest in such methods. In the West, many consumers have been won over: About half the population of Germany believes that organic farming can fight global hunger.

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Ukraine Crisis Reveals the Folly of Organic Farming - The Wall Street Journal

When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, the stock prices of many of the world's biggest arms manufacturers spiked.

As the first Russian tanks rolled across the border, investors flocked to companies, including Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Thales, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.

However, the demand created by the war has yet totranslateinto big increases in revenue for the major defence contractors.

Billions of dollars worth of military hardware has already been shipped to Ukraine from all over the world, including from Australia.

The United States, alone, has provided more than $US3 billion ($4.1 billion) in military aid, and last week President Joe Biden asked Congress for about $US20 billion more to last through September.

NATO countries and Western allies, including Canada and Australia, have lined up to help.

The Australian Defence Force's contribution so far has included six M777 towed howitzers and 20 Bushmaster four-wheel-drive armoured vehicles, tactical decoys, uncrewedaerial and uncrewedground systems, rations and medical supplies.

Other weapons delivered or on their way include tanks, air-defence systems, howitzers, guided anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, helicopters, armoured Humvees and personnel carriers, drones, small arms, command-detonated Claymore anti-personnel mines and more.

Most famously, Ukraine has received and reportedly made effective use of large shipments of high-tech, self-guided and shoulder-fired Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The Javelins are sought-after because of their sophisticated tracking systems, which allow users to take cover immediately after firing,and their ability to hit targets from above.

Since the beginning of February, the US committed to giving Ukraine 5,500 Javelin systems, which are produced by US defence contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and are each worth about $US178,000.

"Saint Javelin" has become a meme in Ukraine and, during a tour of Lockheed Martin's factory, Mr Biden saidUkrainian parents were naming their children "Javelin"or "Javelina"because of the weapons' successes.

Rather than buying new supplies, most of this military hardware wascoming out of existing holdings, said Marcus Hellyer, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"That may be stuff that they have in storage or it could be stuff that is actually frontline holdings," Dr Hellyer said.

"It looks like Germany, for example, is pulling retired armoured vehicles out of storage and refurbishing them and sending them.

"When I look at what Australia has shipped, some of that stuff was probably being used by the ADF, because we don't actually have much holdings.

"So it's notbeing produced, specifically, as new orders to go to Ukraine."

Dr Hellyer said no country had unlimited inventory and they would need to order more eventually.

The West's stocks of guided weapons, especially, were being depleted "at a great rate", he said.

"They will need new contracts with industry to backfill inventory, and keep supply going to Ukraine," he said.

"What seems to be the case is it will take several years before they can get new weapons.

"So, it's a bit of a race against time here, of whether the West will run out of weapons [by] supplying them to Ukraine, before it can get new ones."

According to the Washington-based Centre for International Strategic Studies think-tank, the US hasgiven Ukraine about a third of its total inventory of Javelins and a quarter of its Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and it will take three or four years to replace them.

"It's actually hard to spend money quickly in the defence sector," Dr Hellyer said.

"Because, if things aren't in production, it can take years to set up production lines.

"[Human-operated]portable missiles have hundreds of components in there, which you need tosource, so it can take a long time, even to just boost productionon an existing system."

Dr Hellyer added that there would notbe one-for-one backfilling for a lot of the olderequipment being donated, but countries would likely replace it with more contemporary hardware, such as the Javelin missiles.

He said a number of European countries, such as Germany, had said they were going to increase defence spending.

"They were meant to be spending 2 per centof GDP already, according to their NATO commitments, but were falling short. So, now that commitment has been reinvigorated," Dr Hellyersaid.

"Obviously, the kindof stuff they're going to get is the kind of stuff that, I think, has been demonstrated as working very effectively in Ukraine."

The rapid consumption of, particularly, the Javelin missiles has prompted concerns about the United States' stockpile if a conflict erupts elsewhere.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said this week that Americas military readiness was not dependent on one system.

Mr Kirby said that, every time the Pentagon developed a package of weapons and systems to send to Ukraine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the department assessed the impact on readiness.

"It's not about counting, say, Javelins and being able to say that, when you reach a certain level, then all your readiness is gone," he said.

"The Javelin has an anti-armourcapability, so we judge it all as a conglomerate of what's our ability to meet this particular mission set, realising that a Javelin isn't the only capability you have against armour."

Once the US and other countries begin to restock, Dr Hellyer said, it would be the companies that produce guided weapons such asRaytheon and Lockheed Martin that would be the biggest beneficiaries.

"It's likely that orders have already been placed with Western arms manufacturers to start producing those weapons," he said.

Raytheon's chief executive, Greg Hayes, told an earnings call last week that the company did notexpect any increased revenue this year as a result of replenishment of stocks sent to the Ukraine.

"We'll ramp-up production, what we can this year, but I would expect, again, this is going to be a '23, '24 where we actually see orders come in for the larger replenishments, both on Stinger as well as on Javelin, which havealso been very successful in theatre," he said.

During the call, Mr Hayes also revealed the war had actually negatively affected the fortunes of the company, which also provides civil aeronautical services.

The sanctions imposed on Russia meant Raytheon could no longer operate there, reducing its total revenue by about $US750 million, and also ruling out suppliers of some key materials and components.

Lockheed Martin chief executive James Taiclet said in a recent CNBC interview that demand for the Javelin and other weapon systems would increase broadly over time because of the Russian invasion.

He said the company was working "to get our supply chain ramped-up".

"We have the ability to meet current production demands, are investing in increased capacity and are exploring ways to further increase production as needed,"Lockheed Martin said in a statement to AP.

In 2018, the federal government announced it was making the development of the local defence industry a priority, with the aim of making Australia one of the top 10 exporters in the world.

Australia's defence exports were $2.7 billion in 2020-21, down from $5.3 billion the year before.

Receipts in the first quarter of 2021-22 were nearly $1.8 billion.

Dr Hellyer said the Australian industry only manufactured a few "complete platforms" such as entire weapons, vehicles or ships.

"We're gearing-up our shipbuilding industry, but that's not really something of any use to Ukraine," he said.

"The only military vehicles we make at the moment are the Bushmaster and Hawkei.

"We do have the ability to make ammunition for small arms, bullets and some slightly larger rounds, but that's the kind of stuff that's pretty easily available on the global market, and a lot more cheaply than we can make it.

"So, probably, that's not something that Ukraine would be seeking from us."

According to Dr Hellyer, the Australian defence industry doesmanufacture components for larger systems, such as the Joint Strike Fighter F-35, which is assembled in the US by Lockheed Martin.

"It's possible theAustralian industry could be supplying components into things produced in the US or in Europe that could eventually go to Ukraine, but it's very hard to have visibility of that," he said.

Dr Hellyer said an option could be for French company Thales, which makes Australia's Bushmasterand Hawkeivehicles at a factory in Bendigo, to make more for Ukraine.

"Ukraine seems to like them and has asked for more," he said.

However, he added, the army had about 900 Bushmasters "so it's probably got a few more that it can provide before it starts running low".

Thales Australia did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment.

ABC/AP

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Ukraine war boosts weapons makers' stock prices, but revenue to take years to flow through - ABC News

KYIV, Ukraine It wasnt an easy case to crack. Ukrainian investigators had to stitch together radio intercepts, satellite images, security camera footage, witness statements and even social media posts.

But this week, they made a breakthrough and, for the first time since the war began, Ukrainian officials published the identities and photos of 10 Russian soldiers who they said had committed war crimes in the town of Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, that was the site of some of the wars worst atrocities.

Hundreds of Ukrainian law enforcement agents have spent weeks pinpointing who the soldiers were who terrorized Bucha during the month of March, when Russian forces occupied the town and at least 400 civilians were killed.

Its been very difficult, said Ruslan Kravchenko, a lead prosecutor. We have to find information in tiny bits and piece it together.

Prosecutors said they showed photos of the 10 Russian soldiers they believed were involved to witnesses and victims to make a positive identification. They were aided by a team of Ukrainian journalists from an organization called Slidstvo.info who then delved into the social media accounts of those soldiers, publishing personal details about the suspects.

Some like fishing. Others are married. One came from a remote Russian town more than 4,000 miles away and served as a firefighter.

It is difficult to say what forced him to change from the profession of rescuer to the profession of war criminal, said Dmytro Repliaanchuk, one of the journalists with Slidstvo.info, in a video released about the investigation.

Bucha is still reeling from the horrors. The bodies of hundreds of civilians were found there after Russian troops pulled out of the area in late March.

Many victims had been shot in the back of the head and others had been executed with their hands tied behind their backs. Ukrainian officials said that women had been raped and children killed.

Corpses lay on the streets for weeks. While the Russians were in control of the town, Buchas residents were too terrified to collect them.

Ukraines prosecutor generals office said in a statement on Thursday that the 10 named Russian soldiers took civilians hostage, killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with their hands tied and their eyes taped and humiliated and beat them.

The statement, which was posted on social media, included photos of the soldiers identified.

We know all the details about them and their actions, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in an overnight address. And we will find everyone, just as we will find all the other Russian thugs who killed and tortured Ukrainians, who tormented our people, who destroyed houses and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Russian officials have denied that their troops committed any war crimes in Bucha, calling the images and witness accounts fake. President Vladimir V. Putin bestowed honors on the unit that was in Bucha, the 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, awarding them the title of Guards.

But dozens of witnesses, along with independent human rights investigators, have said the occupying Russian forces did torture and kill civilians, among other crimes.

In a recent Human Rights Watch report, the advocacy group said that Russian forces committed a litany of apparent war crimes during their occupation of Bucha and there was extensive evidence of summary executions, other unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, all of which would constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity.

Ukrainian authorities said the 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade was responsible for some of these atrocities and the soldiers involvement had been established through investigative and coordinated work of prosecutors and police officers. The soldiers were all young and lower ranking and included four privates, four corporals and two sergeants, Ukrainian officials said.

It takes a lot of time to identify an individual soldier, said Mr. Kravchenko, the prosecutor.

He added: There will be no forgiveness.

The investigation is likely to produce more detailed allegations in the coming days. For the past month, Ukrainian police officers and other law enforcement agents have combed Buchas ruined streets, interviewing witnesses and collecting forensic evidence from bodies and crime scenes, prosecutors said.

It is rapidly becoming an international effort. The Ukrainians are working with French forensic experts who have set up a trailer on the site of a government office in Kyiv. They are also working with the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor recently visited Bucha and called Ukraine a crime scene.

Britain just announced that it, too, was sending in specialists, including those who handle conflict-related sexual violence.

Experts caution that its one thing to level a case in Ukrainian court against Russian soldiers; its another to actually bring them to justice. Ukrainian authorities say all suspects will be tried, one way or the other.

Ukraines position is absolutely clear, Mr. Zelensky said. Every Russian criminal must be, and will be, brought to justice. Whoever they are and wherever they hide, we will find them all and make them bear responsibility.

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Ukraine-Russia War: Latest News and Live Updates - The New York Times

In this image taken from footage provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service, Ukrainian soldiers use a launcher with U.S. Javelin missiles during military exercises in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, on Jan. 12. The U.S. and NATO allies have been ramping up military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces. Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP hide caption

In this image taken from footage provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service, Ukrainian soldiers use a launcher with U.S. Javelin missiles during military exercises in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, on Jan. 12. The U.S. and NATO allies have been ramping up military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces.

MOSCOW As the U.S. and Europe boost military aid to Ukraine, Russian authorities have escalated warnings and criticism, arguing the aid is not only fueling the conflict but also boosting the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO powers.

In some ways, Russian criticism over foreign military assistance to Ukraine is not new. Russian President Vladimir Putin seized on the delivery of Western arms to Kyiv as part of his rationale to launch what he insists is a limited "special military operation" in February.

Yet as Russia's stated goals in Ukraine have narrowed to the "liberation" of the eastern Donbas, the Kremlin's amplified rhetoric reflects efforts to build public consensus for the need of a protracted if not existential war with the West.

"The tendency to pump weapons, including heavy weapons into Ukraine and other countries, these are the actions that threaten the security of the continent, provoke instability," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday. It was the latest in a series of statements from Moscow that the conflict in Ukraine risks spilling into a wider conflict with the West.

Peskov was reacting to an appeal by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for Western countries to "double down" on their military support for the government in Kyiv.

"Heavy weapons, tanks, airplanes digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this" for Ukraine, Truss said in a speech on Wednesday in London.

On Thursday, President Biden asked Congress to approve $33 billion in aid to Ukraine more than double what Washington has already committed since the start of the conflict last February. Nearly two-thirds of that amount is for military aid.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a joint news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres following their talks in Moscow, Tuesday. Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP hide caption

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a joint news conference with U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres following their talks in Moscow, Tuesday.

This week, Germany's parliament also approved sending anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made impassioned pleas for heavier and more lethal weapons to stem the Russian assault. While Western allies have embraced the call for aid, they've been careful to emphasize that their forces will not join the fight.

"We're not attacking Russia; we're helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression," Biden said in announcing his push for new aid.

Meanwhile, the rhetoric from Russia has grown more heated with each passing day. On state television on Monday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the West is de facto engaged in a "proxy war" that could lead to World War III. NATO shipments into Ukraine, he said, would be viewed as "legitimate targets" by Russia's military.

Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, accused the West of masterminding a series of disputed attacks on Russian territory near the Ukrainian border.

"In the West, they are openly calling on Kyiv to attack Russia, including with the use of weapons received from NATO countries. ... I don't advise you to test our patience," she said Thursday.

Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Services claimed that same day to have uncovered a U.S.-Polish plot to send forces into western Ukraine under the guise of a "peacekeeping contingent." Their goal, Naryshkin claimed, without providing evidence, was to seize Ukrainian territory for themselves.

Then there was Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, who told Russia's official state newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta on Tuesday that the U.S. having failed to subdue Russia after the end of the Cold War is now intent on its destruction.

"America divided the world into vassals and enemies long ago," Patrushev said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued his own warnings, too. Interference from outside powers in Ukraine is creating "strategic threats" to Russia itself, he said Wednesday even as he boasted Russia's defenses were up to the challenge.

The West "should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast," Putin said in a speech to lawyers in St. Petersburg. "We have all the tools for this, things no one else can boast of having now. And we will not boast about it, we will just use them if necessary."

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Russia sharpens warnings as the U.S. and Europe send more weapons to Ukraine - NPR

Ukraine's prosecutor identifies 10 Russian soldiers accused of Bucha atrocities

A grave digger arranges flowers atop the grave of a woman as her husband and son watch on April 20, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine. Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova has identified 10 Russian soldiers she previously accused of atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.

John Moore | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Ukraine's prosecutor general has identified 10 Russian soldiers she said were involved in the atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.

Iryna Venediktova appealed to the public on Facebook to help gather evidence against those soldiers whom she said were"involved in the torture of peaceful people."They were from Russia's 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Ground Forces Brigade whose work President Vladimir Putin recently honored, the AP said.

"During the occupation of Bucha, they took unarmed civilians hostage, killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with hands tied and eyes taped, mocked and beat them," she reportedly said, adding that the soldiers threatened to shoot the civilians and looted houses.

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Bucha, calling for an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

Chelsea Ong

A woman walks past the closed United States Embassy to Ukraine on April 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

John Moore | Getty Images

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv says one of its employees was killed in the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

"Volodymyr, who took leave from his job as an Embassy bodyguard to rejoin the army and defend Ukraine," the U.S. mission in Kyiv wrote.

"We will never forget his kind spirit, dedication, and bravery. Our deepest condolences go to his family and friends," the embassy wrote in a tweet.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers Wednesday that the Biden administration is working on reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Amanda Macias

Thu, Apr 28 20221:19 PM EDT

Ukrainian servicemen are at work to receive the delivery of FGM-148 Javelins, American man-portable anti-tank missile provided by US to Ukraine as part of a military support, at Kyiv's airport Boryspil on February 11,2022, amid the crisis linked with the threat of Russia's invasion.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. President Joe Biden said he will visit a Lockheed Martin plant in Troy, Ala. on Tuesday to thank the workers who are manufacturing Javelin missiles being sent to Ukraine.

Biden said the purpose of the trip was to "thank them for producing the weapons that helped stop Russia's advances in Ukrainian cities like Kyiv."

Since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in late February, the shoulder-fired anti-tank Javelin missiles have proven to to be among the most decisive weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal.

Biden said the Lockheed Martin employees' "hard work has played a critical role in assuring Putin's strategic failure in Ukraine, and they should know that we know it." Biden's remarks were part of a broader announcement that he is seeking a massive $33 billion aid package for Ukraine.

--- Christina Wilkie

Thu, Apr 28 202212:20 PM EDT

This picture shows the partially destroyed Mariupol drama theatre on April 12, 2022. The U.K. defense ministry said Russia is probably unable to effectively discriminate targets when conducting air strikes in Mariupol because of its likely use of unguided free-falling bombs, increasing the risk of civilian casualties,

Alexander Nemenov | Afp | Getty Images

The Pentagon has seen some Russian forces leave positions in the coastal Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a senior U.S. Defense official said.

"We don't have an exact number on how many Russian forces are leaving Mariupol," the official said, adding that the number is not insignificant. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share new details from the Pentagon's latest assessment of the war, said Russian forces are focusing a large number of airstrikes on Mariupol.

Russia has launched more than 1,900 missiles since the beginning of the invasion, according to the official. The person added that almost all of the strikes are coming from Russian airbases and not from inside of Ukraine.

"We are seeing them begin to leave Mariupol," the official said, adding that some troops have moved north and northwest.

Amanda Macias

Thu, Apr 28 202211:19 AM EDT

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks speaks during a joint press with Sweden and Finland's Foreign ministers after their meeting at the Nato headquarters in Brussels on January 24, 2022.

John Thys | AFP | Getty Images

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden would be "welcomed with open arms to NATO" should they apply to the 30-member strong alliance.

"It's their decision," Stoltenberg said. "But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly," he said, without offering a timeline. He said the Nordic nations are NATO's closest partners and already have "strong and mature democracies."

"EU members and we have been working with Finland and Sweden for many, many years," he added.

Stoltenberg's comments, which came on the heels of a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, added that the militaries of Finland and Sweden are interoperable with NATO forces.

In recent weeks, Finland and Sweden have said they would consider joining the military alliance amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Russia has long warned against any future enlargement of NATO, reportedly accusing the alliance of being "a tool geared towards confrontation."

Amanda Macias

Thu, Apr 28 202211:06 AM EDT

U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed was welcomed home following his release from a prison in Russia where he had been detained since 2019.

Photos shared by U.S. House Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, show Reed with his family, who has waged a public fight for his release, and the lawmaker at the Kelly Field airport in San Antonio, Texas.

Reed was released Wednesday in a brokered prisoner swap.

Reed was accused of assaulting a Russian officer and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. Reed and his family have maintained his innocence and the U.S. government has described him as unjustly imprisoned.

Amanda Macias

Thu, Apr 28 202210:54 AM EDT

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media members as he arrives in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 27, 2022.

Andre Luis Alves | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, where Russian forces have been accused of committing atrocities.

"I imagine my family, in one of those houses," he told reporters while pointing to a charred building behind him. "I see my granddaughters running away in panic. Part of the family eventually killed," he added.

"This horrific scenario demonstrates something that is unfortunately always true, that civilians always pay the highest price. Innocent civilians were living in these buildings," Guterres said.

Earlier in the week, Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later on Thursday.

Amanda Macias

Thu, Apr 28 202210:36 AM EDT

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine's prime minister, meets with President Joe Biden, April 21, 2022.

Source: The White House

President Joe Biden will ask Congress for $33 billion to fund both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine through September of this year, senior administration officials said Thursday.

The massive aid package will be accompanied by a proposal to Congress that it amend several longstanding criminal laws to make it easier for the U.S. to seize the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, sell the seized property and funnel the proceeds to the Ukrainians.

The $33 billion includes a request for $20.4 billion in additional security and military assistance for Ukraine as well as additional money to fund U.S. efforts to bolster European security in cooperation with NATO allies.

The administration said that $20.4 billion is designed to equip Kyiv and European partners with additional artillery, armored vehicles and anti-armor and anti-air capabilities, accelerate cyber capabilities and advanced air defense systems, and help clear landmines and improvised explosive devices.

Christina Wilkie and Thomas Franck

Thu, Apr 28 202210:27 AM EDT

US President Joe Biden speaks about trade with Russia, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2022.

Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. President JoeBidenwill address the nation at 10:45 a.m. from the White House, where he is expected to announce a massive new package of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Precise numbers for the aid have not been released, but the package is expected to dwarf the $3 billion the United States has already committed to Ukraine's defense and survival since Russia invaded its neighbor just over two months ago.

The new funding request will be accompanied by a White House proposal to Congress to change several criminal laws to make it easier for the government to liquidate the seized assets of Russian oligarchs and get that money to Ukraine.

Under federal law, in order to sell off seized assets, prosecutors must first show that they are the proceeds of a crime. Currently, being a sanctioned Russian oligarch isn't a crime.

Legal scholars have noted that without a crime, oligarchs could sue for the return of their property, and would stand a good chance of winning in court. Under Biden's proposal, Congress would create a new federal offense of knowingly possessing proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government.

--- Christina Wilkie

Thu, Apr 28 20229:56 AM EDT

Employees package bread at a bakery in Khartoum's al-Matar district, on March 17, 2022 as food prices rise across Sudan and the region due to the conflict in Ukraine.

Ashraf Shazly | AFP | Getty Images

Together,Russia and Ukraine account for roughly one-third of the world's global wheat exports, nearly 20% of its corn, and 80% of its sunflower oil and they provide the majority of the Middle East and North Africa region's supply.

Wheat futures are up 30% since the invasion began in late February.

Before the war, more than 95% of Ukraine's total grain, wheat and corn exports was shipped out via the Black Sea, and half of those exports went to MENA countries. That vital conduit is now shut, choking off Ukraine's maritime trade after its ports came under attack from Russia's military.

The country is now trying to export some of its produce by rail, which has enormous logistical limits, while Ukrainian farmers whose infrastructure hasn't been destroyed attempt to till their fields wearing bulletproof vests.

A farmer wears a bulletproof vest during crop sowing which takes place about 18 miles from the front line in the Zaporizhzhia Region, southeastern Ukraine.

Dmytro Smoliyenko | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Russia is the world's number one exporter of wheat, as well as crucially the top exporter of fertilizer. Fears of getting caught up in western sanctions on Moscow have already disrupted Russia's exports, too.

Experts have warned of the risk of riots, famine and mass migration hitting the region if basic food staples like wheat and flour become unaffordable or inaccessible.

Read the full story here.

Natasha Turak

Thu, Apr 28 20229:02 AM EDT

Ukrainian craftsmen work to meet the demand of the rising death toll at a coffin factory in Lviv.

A warehouse worker walks past a storeroom of completed coffins at a coffin workshop on April 28, 2022 in Rava-Ruska, Ukraine.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

The United Nations has confirmed 2,829 civilian deaths and 3,180 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

Craftsman Ruslan Petryshyn constructs the framework of a new coffin at a coffin workshop on April 28, 2022 in Rava-Ruska, Ukraine.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

Of those killed, the U.N. has identified at least 62 girls and 75 boys, as well as 68 children whose gender is unknown.

Craftsman Ruslan Slyusar sands the lid of a coffin to a smooth finish at a coffin workshop on April 28, 2022 in Rava-Ruska, Ukraine.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, citing delayed reports due to the armed conflict.

Craftsman Ruslan Slyusar attaches hingers to the lid of a coffin at a coffin workshop on April 28, 2022 in Rava-Ruska, Ukraine.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

The international body said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.

Craftsman Dmytro Hanyuchenko protectively wraps a coffin at a coffin workshop on April 28, 2022 in Rava-Ruska, Ukraine.

Leon Neal | Getty Images

Excerpt from:

Biden requests $33 billion for Ukraine war; Putin threatens 'lightning fast' retaliation to nations that intervene - CNBC

Amid mounting fears among western officials that Russias war in Ukraine could drag on for months or years, the Kremlin appears to be focusing its operations around the city of Izium as part of renewed efforts to seize the entirety of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to Ukrainian military officials, Russia has been amassing forces around the city, 75 miles south east of Kharkiv on the Donets river, as well as around the Russian city of Belgorod across the border. There are unconfirmed claims that the chief of the Russian general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has been put in command of the push.

In the past week alone, Moscow has added 13 battalion tactical groups to the forces fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, representing between 10,000 and 13,000 extra troops.

The mounting scale of the offensive around Izium comes as an unnamed US official suggested on Thursday that some Russian troops who had been fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol were being moved north west, perhaps as part of an effort to encircle areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions still under Ukrainian control.

According to the latest update from the Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces appeared to be seeking to bypass Izium to avoid getting bogged down in fighting there, instead heading in the direction of Slovyansk, an assessment was echoed by the most recent Ukrainian updates.

Russian forces attacking [the] southwest from Izium likely seek to bypass Ukrainian defences on the direct road to Slovyansk, read the institutes update, noting that Russian forces had only made minor gains in the past 24 hours.

It added, however, that additional Russian reinforcements continue to deploy to Belgorod to support the Izium advance.

Russian forces appear to be attempting to break through the Ukrainian defences on a salient to the north-east of Slovyansk, while attempting to encircle Ukrainian forces to the east at Severodonetsk.

The new focus of the Kremlins war aimed at building a broad land bridge from the Russian border to occupied Crimea and beyond has come with a shift in tactics to a slower and more deliberate advance as the Russian military has continued to struggle with logistics and other problems in managing its campaign.

The latest stage of the offensive has been marked by an increased concentration of artillery, and the use of artillery fire, to support the slowly advancing Russian troops, with a Pentagon official describing slow and uneven progress in fierce fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

According to a Pentagon official quoted by the New York Times, Russian troops, however, are still only making incremental progress in the campaign around Izium.

Commenting on the reported appointment of Gerasimov to command the offensive at the operational and tactical level a senior western official briefed journalists on Friday that it underlined the operational difficulties Russia was seeing that it needed to move its most senior military officer forward.

I think the reports, if credible, show the command and control challenges that Russia is facing. The fact that Gerasimov has come forward to get some momentum behind assaults is a real statement of the challenges in the Donbas.

The official added: In the Donbas, we are seeing slow progress sometimes as little as a kilometre a day in terms of terrain. And what we are seeing there is the indiscriminate use of fire power while they are being smarter using artillery in supporting ground forces. But it is being done in such a way that it puts the civilian population at enormous risk in some towns and villages.

With the failure of its attempted coup de main against Kyiv in the initial weeks of the war, which saw Russian special forces infiltrate perilously close to where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was sheltering, Moscow has settled on a tactic of slowly grinding away at Ukrainian resistance.

While Moscow has lost thousands of troops and hundreds of armoured vehicles, Ukraines spending on ammunition and weapons systems has also left it depleted, explaining the huge $33bn (26.3bn) military aid package announced this week by US president Joe Biden.

All of which has not only raised the spectre of a long war, but the risk that in the end as Boris Johnson said a week ago Russia might prevail.

We need to be prepared for the long term, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato secretary general, told a summit in Brussels this week.

There is absolutely the possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years.

That assessment followed comments by Boris Johnson, made while visiting Delhi last week, that painted an equally pessimistic picture, including the prospect of a Russian victory.

I think the sad thing is that that is a realistic possibility, he said. Putin has a huge army. He has a very difficult political position because hes made a catastrophic blunder. The only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his appalling grinding approach led by artillery, trying to grind the Ukrainians down.

Hes very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol. The situation is, Im afraid, unpredictable at this stage, but weve just got to be realistic about it.

That pessimism has been driven by a number of factors. Even while Bulgaria has offered to help Ukraine export its wheat via the port of Varna, Russias naval blockade of Ukraines coast remains significantly damaging.

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In the short term, despite the heavy losses of men and material, Russian forces still have easier access to equipment resupplies until US and other western arms supplies step up, including a significant advantage in deployed naval and air forces although western officials say that the balance of forces is no longer quite so overwhelming for Ukraine.

While the US and the west believes Ukraine can win the war against Russia a view expressed by US defence secretary Lloyd Austin after his recent visit to Ukraine it is likely to involve a bloody and protracted entanglement.

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Russias push into eastern Ukraine comes amid fears of a protracted war - The Guardian