Zelenskyy says he has call with Trump after White Houseโs failed bid to halt Putin
Ukrainian president says the Russian leader’s “words are at odds with reality,” as ceasefire talks go nowhere helpful for Kyiv.
Donbas
US has โcautious optimismโ on Ukraine ceasefire after Trump envoyโs Moscow visit
Russia may have to accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine while Kyiv could be forced to cede territory and abandon hopes of NATO membership, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz indicates.
The depopulation of Ukraine
The war is exacerbating a demographics decline that had already started well before Putin ordered his troops across the border
The head of NATO is struggling for relevance
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will try to prove to Donald Trump in their Thursday meeting that he โand the nearly eight-decade partnership โ still matter.
US halts intelligence sharing with Ukraine
The Trump administration said it wants to pressure Kyiv to get to the bargaining table.
Unlike Trump, Europe canโt afford to take Putin at his word
Vastly differing views of the Russian leader’s geopolitical ambitions are fueling the transatlantic divide.
We Will Not Fade Away review โ study of five Ukrainian teensโ brief escape from war
Shot in 2019, Alisa Kovalenkoโs moving film follows the friends after they win a competition to travel to the HimalayasBefore Russiaโs invasion in 2022, the eastern region of Donbas in Ukraine had already experienced some of the bloodshed that was soon…
Putin offers to sell minerals to Trump, including from Russian-occupied Ukraine
The proposal comes as Kyiv and Washington negotiate a deal on critical minerals in Ukraine.
A Picture to Remember review โ memories of a Donetsk happy childhood before the war
Olga Chernykhโs portrait of life in war-torn Ukraine, based on home videos, examines how bonds and memories persist through trauma, loss and distanceFormally inventive and emotionally resonant, Olga Chernykhโs documentary feature debut highlights the p…
Zelenskyy: Trump told me Putin wants to end the war. I told him Putin is a liar.
“I donโt want to go [down] in history as [the] president who helped Putin to occupy my country,โ says Ukrainian leader.
NATO ministers plead for Ukraine to be involved in Trump-Putin peace talks
But alliance chief Mark Rutte was keen to downplay fears that Europe and Kyiv are being sidelined.
Trump says Putin talks could see โsignificantโ result for Ukraine
U.S. president refuses to comment on whether he has already spoken with the Russian leader on ending the war.
Desperate for peace, Ukraine embraces Trump
The Trump presidency “might not be good โ but it will be much better than under Biden,” a former Ukrainian cabinet minister says.
Europeโs chance to secure peace in Ukraine
A coalition of willing NATO allies could physically step in to help secure a future demarcation zone between an independent Ukraine and a Russian-occupied one.
Hundreds of North Korean troops dead in Kursk, Ukraine estimates
Russia has deployed soldiers from the autocratic East Asian nation to try to regain lost territory.
Strengthen Ukraine so there can be real peace
The main guarantee of peace cannot be Trumpโs โgood will.โ Rather, we must create conditions so that the the enemy simply wouldnโt dare attack again.
Putin apologizes for Azerbaijan Airlines crash without saying Russia at fault
Russian president says the airliner was attempting to land in Grozny amid Ukrainian drone attacks in the area.
Moscow may be behind Azerbaijan plane crash, US says
White House cites “early indications” of possible Russian involvement in the crash on Christmas Day.
2024: A year in pictures
OPTICS 2024: A year in pictures Photos by: Jalaa Marey, K M Asad, Miguel J. Rodriguez, Carrillo, Andy Buchanan, Bashar Taleb, Jeff Pachoud, Cristina Quicler, Luis Acosta, Thomas Kienzle, Theo Rouby, Bakr al Kassem, Gagan Nayar, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Anselmo Cunh, Luis Tato/AFP & Peter Nicholls, Kate Green, Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
NATO seeks probe into Azerbaijani plane crash, as suspicions grow Russia downed it
The Kremlin warns against premature conclusions despite reports that its air defenses misidentified the airliner as a Ukrainian drone.
Ukraine war briefing: Biden slams Russiaโs โoutrageousโ Christmas Day assault on Ukraine
President reaffirms US weapons support to Kyiv after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, which Zelenskyy condemned as โinhumanโ. What we know on day 1,037See all our Ukraine war coverageJoe Biden has asked the US defence department to continue it…
Ukraine lacks might to retake occupied territories, Zelenskyy concedes
But that doesn’t mean Kyiv is ready to cede land to Russia, defiant Ukrainian president warns.
Trump sees โa little progressโ toward ending war in Ukraine
U.S. president-elect describes Russian war in Ukraine as โcarnage” that the world has not seen since WWII, and said it has to stop.
Porcelain War review โ beautifully rendered portrait of Ukraineโs artist-warriors
Documentary following a ceramicist and a painter who have joined the battle to defend against the Russian invasion is perhaps a little too picturesqueCompared with the award-winning The Earth Is As Blue As an Orange from 2020, which charted a Ukrainian…
Zelenskyyโs diplomatic play for Trumpย
Kyiv knows that it will have to recalibrate and take care not to get on Trumpโs bad side, hence Zelenskyyโs emphasizing the importance of exploring diplomatic solutions.
Trump threatens to be good for Ukraine, actually
Thereโs secret relief in some European quarters โ and even Kyiv โ that Donald Trump might bring the war to a close. And heโs far more likely to get a better deal from Moscow.
Ukrainian defences in Donbas risk getting steamrolled by Russian advance
As Russian troops chart a steady advance in east Ukraine, worn-down Ukrainian forces are struggling to plug holes in their front-line defences. At stake is the โfortressโ town of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub that could give Russia a clear p…
Europeโs Trumpian nightmare
The return of the disrupter-in-chief would further destabilize an already weakened continent.
Ukraine โholding backโ powerful Russian offensive, Kyiv top commander says
Donbas has become the war’s main theatre, where some of biggest battles in Europe for generations have taken place and where thousands of troops on each side have died.
War in Ukraine: In the Donbas region, the Russian army inches forward
Although limited to small villages, the Russian progress in eastern Ukraine weighs heavily on the population’s morale, who anxiously awaits the American presidential election on November 5. The outcome could change the course of the war.
Ukrainians in Russian-occupied Donbas find ways to escape: ‘It wasn’t real life, I had to leave’
Ukrainians wishing to leave territories occupied by the Russian army in the east of the country can reach safe zones thanks to the Ukrainian NGO Helping to Leave.
Putinโs North Koreans now in combat zone, Kyiv says
First military units from DPRK left training grounds in eastern Russia and were spotted in Kursk region on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.
โI can do the same job as a manโ: Ukraineโs first frontline female commander on war, grief โ and her hope for the future
Yulia Mykytenko leads a platoon of men in a reconnaissance and attack unit โ and has already lost her husband, father and many friends in the devastating war. In her memoir, she writes that she was always destined for combatThe sound of birdsong is so …
Ihor Hryb, the Ukrainian officer who chose suicide over orders to save his men: ‘Everyone was going to die’
Lieutenant-Colonel Ihor Hryb, commander of the 186th battalion deployed in Donbas, chose to commit suicide rather than carry out orders that would have inevitably led to the death of his under-equipped and ill-prepared men against the Russian forces.
Ukraine, Putin… and Trump: What lies ahead after US elections?
Time is not on Volodymyr Zelenskiyโs side:
Ukraineโs president on a tour of five European cities in two days as he seeks the green light for longer range missile strikes inside Russia from NATO allies. In a week that has seen his side lose two key to…
Russia gains ground in Ukraine, but at steep cost
Russia is trading bodies for ground in Ukraine with no end in sight.
Could Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine have been prevented? NATOโs outgoing chief thinks so.ย
Jens Stoltenberg reflects on the past and future of the military alliance.
The westโs support for Ukraine is fading โ and that will empower Putin for his next war | Paul Taylor
The US and Europe are failing to provide decisive military aid. A Trump victory could soon reveal the depths of this mistakeIn the corridors of Brussels, there is a sinking feeling that the political will to help Ukraine prevail over Russian aggression…
Russian forces reach another key frontline city, Ukraineโs military says
The advance of Moscow’s forces – just like the capture of Vuhledar last week – has underlined Russia’s vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it.
‘I want to go home’: Ukrainians flee Russia’s advance in Donbas
Thousands of people evacuated the city of Pokrovsk and the surrounding area after it was hit by intense fighting. Relocated to temporary shelters in the Dnipro region, these displaced people have had to rebuild everything.
Ukrainian soldier Serhiy Hnezdilov: ‘Avoiding the army has become a national sport’
A voluntary 2019 recruit in the Donbas war, a 24-year-old soldier has now left his unit, protesting against the lack of prospects for demobilization and denouncing social inequalities that help some people avoid being drafted.
Russian troops reach centre of Ukrainian bastion Vuhledar
Russian troops have reached the centre of Vuhledar, a bastion on strategic high ground in eastern Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region that had resisted Russian assaults since Moscow’s full-scale invasion, a regional Ukrainian official said on Tuesday (1…
Putin orders conscription of 133,000 servicemen in Russiaโs autumn draft
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia’s autumn draft that starts on 1 October and goes until the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday (1 October).
Ukraine war briefing: Fight hard through autumn, Zelenskyy urges forces
Mark Rutte to take Nato reins from Jens Stoltenberg; โI donโt really buy itโ says former Trump adviser of boasts about ending war. What we know on day 951 See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageVolodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that the situation was …
West should set its own red lines, not just accept Putinโs, argues veteran diplomat
Former German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger says Western leaders should be making more threats and be willing to follow them through.
Residents flee as Russian troops close in on Ukrainian village of Pokrovsk
Russian forces have been intensifying their attacks on the approach to the town of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, which used to be a key logistical hub far back from the front, crucial for supplying Ukrainian troops and towns in the east. But now, water, ele…
Does America want Ukraine to defeat Russia? It doesnโt look that way.
The presidentโs foreign policy legacy will be shaped by a looming decision in Ukraine.
US says Blinken briefed on Ukraine plan to push Russia end the war
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was briefed last week during his trip to Kyiv on elements of a Ukrainian plan to push Russia to end the war, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday (17 September).
Ukraine war briefing: Blinken briefed on Kyivโs plan to push Russia to end war
Zelenskiy expected to present plan to UN general assembly next week; Microsoft says Russia behind Harris disinformation. What we know on day 938See all our Ukraine war coverageUS secretary of state Antony Blinken was briefed during his trip to Kyiv on …
As Biden deliberates, Ukraineโs nuclear plants are increasingly at risk
The risk of Ukraine losing the war this winter has pushed Washington and London to reconsider how Kyiv uses Western-supplied long-range missiles, but the U.S. remains fearful of escalation.
Peace plan should not be imposed on Ukraine from the outside, USโs Sullivan says
Earlier this week JD Vance said Ukraine would have to leave Russia its territories and forget about NATO for a peace settlement
Russia cuts water to Ukrainian city amid eastern frontline push
Kremlin forces are concentrating their resources around Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian army spokesperson told POLITICO.
Ukraine’s Donbas does its best to resist Russian advance
As Moscow’s forces close in on Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian military is finding that the incursion into the Kursk region has not eased the Donbas fronts.
Russia claims it took Ukrainian town in advance on Pokrovsk
Russia said on Sunday (8 September) its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as Moscow’s forces advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the Ukrainian defensive front lines.
Russia says it seized town in eastern Ukraine, as Germanyโs Scholz calls for new peace talks
The captured settlement is in the region of Donbas, close to a strategically important logistics hub.
Zelenskyy tells Ukraineโs allies to hurry up with air defense aid
Ukrainian president calls for Western pledges to be fulfilled “without delay.”
Ukraine war briefing: Putin dismisses Kursk incursion and says eastern Donbas region is main war aim
President claims Kursk move helped Russian military make gains in Donbas; Institute for the Study of War says wider impacts of Kursk operation not yet clear. What we know on day 926See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage Continue reading…
‘Operation Kursk’: Ukrainian fighters hope for a turning point in the war
Although some commentators in Kyiv fear that this offensive has diverted forces that may have been needed in Donbas, the military is delighted with the unexpected success of the incursion into Russia.
๐ด Live: Putin says Russiaโs No. 1 priority remains to capture Ukraineโs Donbas region
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russiaโs “primary objective” remains to capture Ukraineโs Donbas region and that efforts to slow Moscowโs advance through the Kursk incursion had failed. Meanwhile, Ukraineโs President Volodymyr Zelensky …
Why Ukraineโs Kursk offensive has failed to distract Russia from Donbas push
Russian troops are inching ever close to Ukraineโs eastern city of Pokrovsk, a vital logistical hub for Kyivโs outgunned and outnumbered forces, leading some analysts to question the wisdom of a Ukrainian lightning offensive on Russian soil that was i…
Russian offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region gains momentum
Poorly prepared defense lines and uncoordinated unit rotations are allowing more rapid advances by the Russian army in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian drone attacks hit power stations and refineries in Russia
Russia plays down overnight strikes as its forces make incremental gains in Donbas and launch missiles at KharkivUkraine has carried out one of its biggest ever drone attacks on Russia, with videos showing a series of explosions and fires at power stat…
Closing the backdoor: The new TurkStream is here. Can the West stop it?
Martin Vladimirov is director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Center for the Study of Democracy. Announcing its plans for what could be called TurkStream 2 on Aug. 21, Turkey finally dropped all pretenses. According to the countryโs energy minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, the state-owned gas monopoly BOTAล would now be able export around [โฆ]
Ukraine and Russia trade blows: Who is on the back foot?
What happens when summer turns to fall?ย After the slow and steady Russian gains in the Donbas comes the surprise Ukrainian counter-invasion in Kursk.ย Now come harrowing nights of bombings across Ukraine. What to expect when fall turns to winter?
Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev: ‘Fear of being re-imprisoned by the Russians grips me’
Journalist and writer Stanislav Aseyev, imprisoned by the Russians in a camp near Donetsk from 2017 to 2019, is back on the Donbas front in Pokrovsk after suffering a near-fatal wound.
Ukrainian soldiers defend Donbas town of Chasiv Yar as fighting intensifies
As the Russian army approaches Pokrovsk, Ukrainian forces are fighting for control of the small but strategically situated town of Chasiv Yar in the Donbas. FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg went to meet some of the Ukrainian servicemen who are defending it.
๐ด Live: War has โreturnedโ to Russia, says Zelensky in Ukraineโs Independence Day speech
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said Russia wanted to “destroy” Ukraine, but the war had “returned to its home”, in his Independence Day video address from Kyiv. Zelensky was referring to Ukraine’s August 6 surprise military incursi…
The Ukrainian offensive at Kursk is a long-term project
Begun on August 6, the surprise incursion into Russian territory was carried out with Western weapons. The military objective is to force Moscow to slow down its offensive in the Donbas to protect Kursk. This has not yet been achieved.
โWe gotta get out of hereโ: Pokrovsk residents flee strategic Ukrainian city
Residents of eastern Ukraine’s Pokrovsk resisted leaving home for months as fighting raged in the villages near the strategic Donbas city. But as Russian forces advance on the transport hub, many residents are now choosing to flee. FRANCE 24’s Gullive…
Westโs Ukraine policy of incrementalism is appeasement-light โ and itโs failing
Both Europe and the US must acknowledge that our fear of provoking Moscow is what ends up reliably provoking Moscow.
‘There are some feeble signs that the Russian army is having to withdraw some of its troops’
“There are some feeble signs that the Russian army is having to withdraw some of its troops”, said Peter Zalmayev, Eurasia Democracy Initiative Director in Kyiv, Ukraine. “Not from the Donbas, where the hardest spots of the war are, but from Kharkiv; …
Ukraineโs extraordinary incursion into Kursk has changed the narrative of the war โ but is a high-risk strategy
After months of being pushed steadily back โ short of troops and ammunition โ a Kyiv offensive to occupy a chunk of Russian territory took the Kremlin by surprise. The move has a clear political logic but is fraught with military dangerThe immediate im…
Ukraine says it keeps advancing, โstrengthening positionsโ in Kursk region
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday (16 August) that Kyiv’s forces were advancing between one and three kilometres in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.
Ukraineโs Russia incursion gamble leaves enemy in shock, allies guessing
With its daring incursion into Russiaโs Kursk region, Ukraine has attempted to reshuffle the cards in the conflict after months of paralysis in its eastern Donbas region. It exposed Russian military weaknesses and could strengthen Ukraineโs position a…
Ukraine war briefing: Russia hiring trench diggers after Kursk invasion
Ukraine sets up military commandantโs office in Kursk; Russians grind on towards strategic Pokrovsk in Donbas. What we know on day 905See all our Ukraine war coverageRussia is urgently advertising for trench diggers to build defences in the Kursk regio…
Ukraineโs raid into Russia has shifted the tactical narrative
Kursk has indeed turned the tables on Russia, but itโs also highly questionable whether it has shifted the grim dynamics of the conflict.
How the Ukrainian army easily entered Russia and is holding its positions
Moscow considered the border zone in the Kursk region, a no-man’s-land five to 10 kilometers wide, to be low-risk. Military experts say that instead, all attention was focused on the Donbas.
Ukraineโs audacious counter-incursion into Russia
Diverting troops from defending the frontline in Donbas is a sizeable gamble
War in Ukraine: ‘Russia is advancing, but it’s a matter of infantry advancement, not a war of movement’
Emmanuel Grynszpan, a Le Monde journalist who has just returned from the front, answered readers’ questions on the slow Russian advance in the Donbas and Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation for Russia to take part in a peace summit.
Poll says 32% of Ukrainians open to territorial concessions for quick peace
Nearly a third of Ukrainians would accept some territorial concessions to Russia for a quick end to the war, a more than three-fold increase over the past year, although most still oppose giving up any land, a poll showed on Tuesday.
In the Donbas, an invisible gulf between the Ukrainian military and civilians accused of ‘waiting for Russia’
The small fringe of people still living under the bombs is arousing the suspicion of the Ukrainian military. Are they afraid to leave their homes, or are they spies for the enemy?
Back in Sloviansk, Donbas, where the war in Ukraine started 10 years ago
The first flashpoint of Russiaโs hybrid war in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and one of the first Ukrainian cities to be occupied and then liberated back in 2014, Sloviansk today finds itself once again under threat from the Kremlinโs armies.
In Ukraine, the Russian army’s gradual seizure of the Donbas accelerates
Under increasingly heavy fire from Russian aircraft, the Ukrainian army has been forced to retreat in several urban areas. The military deplore the lack of anti-aircraft systems, as well as command errors.
NATOโs Stoltenberg rules out Ukraine land-for-peace deal
While Trump advisers mull pushing Ukraine to give up land for peace, the alliance chief pointed at Russia’s refusal to abide by previous cease-fire pledges.
Trumpโs plan for NATO is emerging
Trump advisers envision a โradical reorientationโ in which Washington takes a back seat to Europe โ and cuts a deal with Putin over Ukraine.
Letter from Ukraine: How will my mom survive if Iโm drafted?
Itโs undocumented โ or under-documented โ special needs folks like my mom whose lives are at risk because of Ukraineโs new turbocharged mobilization law.
Ukraine war briefing: Moscow considering downgrading relations with west over Ukraine involvement
Kremlin says no final decision has been taken on relations, which were maintained even during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. What we know on day 856Russia is considering a possible downgrading of relations with the west due to the deeper involvement of…
Ukraine war briefing: Power cuts ordered as Russian attacks create โcatastrophicโ shortages
Ukraine rations power as generation falls far short of needs; US to reportedly release $225m more in weapons, France to sign โฌ650m deal. What we know on day 834See all our Ukraine coverageUkraineโs power grid operator, Ukrenergo, ordered cuts in 12 reg…
The families risking everything to keep Ukraineโs trains running โ photo essay
Dutch photographer Jelle Krings has been documenting the workers of the Ukrainian railway since the war began. Here, he revisits the families that have kept a war-torn country moving, often to great personal sacrificeWords and pictures by Jelle KringsI…
The Guardian view on Russiaโs new offensive: Ukraineโs allies must renew their focus | Editorial
Significant advances by Vladimir Putinโs forces in the Kharkiv region must concentrate minds in the west at a critical momentAntony Blinkenโs unannounced visit to Kyiv on Tuesday was a welcome and timely show of support. It was the US secretary of stat…
For some Russians, Putinโs Victory Day is the darkest of the year
Russia’s autocrat leader kills his opponents and demands absolute loyalty. But he still has critics โ and they feel heโs stolen their history.
โWe have no weapons.โ Top Ukrainian spy fears tough month as Putin grinds forward
โIt is probably a matter of time,” before strategic city of Chasiv Yar falls to the Russians, said Vadym Skibitsky.
Ukraine is ready for a just peace โ not Russiaโs version of one
“This war isnโt about territory of Ukraine. This is a war about the rules under which [we] will live.”
Ukraine war briefing: Russian pressure forces Ukrainian retreat from three villages
โDifficult but not catastrophicโ situation as Russians press for gains before US resupply of Kyivโs forces. What we know on day 796See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageUkraineโs troops have made a tactical retreat westwards from the villages of Berdy…
Russia makes more gains around Avdiivka as Ukraine awaits US aid
Ukrainian officials say situation โvery difficultโ but โnot catastrophicโ amid loss of two villages and fighting in OcheretyneRussia has consolidated recent battlefield gains in the east of Ukraine, and is attempting to break through Ukrainian defensiv…
Biden admin isnโt fully convinced Ukraine can win, even with new aid
Few Biden administration officials or lawmakers say the $60 billion package means Ukraine walks away from the battlefield with its country fully restored.
How a second Trump presidency could tear Europe apart
The former presidentโs return would cement a shift in the U.S. as a fact that can no longer be ignored.
โICU on wheelsโ: 24 hours with Ukraineโs combat medics in Donbas
Moas staff evacuate 80% of critically wounded soldiers from regionโs battlefield, where medics say morale is fallingIt is around midnight in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, and the first emergency ambulance of the night is charging 75mph down a single carriag…
In Ukraine’s Donbas, ten years of war and Russification
On April 7, 2014, a coup by pro-Russian militants in the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine was the spark that ignited the Donbas war. In the heart of this industrial region, populated at the time by six million mostly Russian-speaking inhabitants, th…
Russiaโs sanction-proofed economy is helping it avoid a defeat in Ukraine
The American right’s destructive isolationism, Europeโs arguably glacial approach, and sanctions that havenโt fully impeded the Kremlin all make Russiaโs expulsion increasingly unlikely.