All posts tagged: Ukrainian

Life returns to Ukrainian reservoir drained by Russian strike on dam | Ukraine

Life returns to Ukrainian reservoir drained by Russian strike on dam | Ukraine

Standing in a scene of shimmering green, Vadym Maniuk pointed to a young white willow tree. “What happened here is a miracle,” he said. “Some of the saplings are already 4 metres tall. There is nowhere else like this on the planet. Not even the Amazon comes close.” Maniuk, an ecologist, picked his way through a jungle of new branches. The sky above was scarcely visible. In the mud – cracked after days of sweltering temperatures – were the remains of molluscs. The scientist showed off black poplars, also racing upwards, reeds and a small mulberry. Under the leaves it was pleasantly cool. Vadym Maniuk in the former Kakhovka reservoir. White willows and black poplars have grown rapidly, turning it into forest. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian Just over a year ago, the spot where Maniuk stood was under several metres of water. In the 1920s Stalin ordered the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations along the Dnipro. The area between two of the dams – one in Zaporizhzhia, the other in Kakhovka – …

Dodging the draft: one Ukrainian man’s story – podcast | News

Dodging the draft: one Ukrainian man’s story – podcast | News

Two years on and the war in Ukraine has approached stalemate. And it’s created a problem. At the beginning of the conflict hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians volunteered to fight. But with no end in site and recruits exhausted, enthusiasm has waned. In response, Ukraine has lowered the conscription age, sent patrols round to round up men of fighting age, and increased the punishment for dodging the draft. But for some young men, this is not enough to convince them to join up. Luke Harding explains why Ukraine has such a recruitment crisis, and what is being done to improve matters. Myroslav is one young man who felt desperate in the face of pressure to join the army. He explains why he did not want to fight and how he plotted his escape from Ukraine. And he tells Michael Safi how it feels being torn between his sense of self-protection and his sense of duty. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images Support The Guardian The Guardian is editorially independent. And we want to keep our journalism open …

Crimean sunbathers struck by deadly shrapnel shower from Ukrainian missile

Crimean sunbathers struck by deadly shrapnel shower from Ukrainian missile

Shrapnel from an intercepted US-made missile fired by Ukraine hit a beach packed with sunbathing tourists in occupied Crimea on Sunday. Russian officials said at least five people, including three children, had died of shrapnel wounds – and they expected the death toll to rise. A video shot by a tourist on the beach shows a missile coming into view above the nearby city of Sevastopol and then exploding. Shrapnel crashes into the sand in a succession of thuds and bangs, and tourists scream and run. “Run!” one of the tourists shouts. Two other videos show tourists using sun loungers to carry injured people off the beach and women in bikinis frantically administering first aid to an injured tourist as his blood drips onto the sand. One of the dead has been named as the nine-year-old daughter of the deputy mayor of a town in the north of the occupied peninsula. Russia’s health ministry said 124 people were injured in the incident, including 27 children. “The entire health care system has been mobilised. Doctors and …

€3B assets package ‘almost nothing,’ Ukrainian minister says – POLITICO

€3B assets package ‘almost nothing,’ Ukrainian minister says – POLITICO

“If we are talking about the needs of Ukraine and the needs of the war, military and non-military, €3 billion is actually almost nothing— we need hundreds of billions in order to win the war,” Maliuska told POLITICO at the G7 justice ministers’ meeting in Venice on Thursday. “It’s a good first step,” he said. Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has immobilized more than €200 billion of Russian state assets to help Kyiv’s reconstruction efforts. “The Ukrainian government really would like to get full confiscation [of Russian assets] and really believe this is lawful and this is the only approach which will be decisive in terms of the resolution of the war [with Russia],” he added. In February, EU leaders agreed on an additional €50 billion support package for Ukraine within the bloc’s budget, with European Council President Charles Michel saying: “This locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine.” Source link

Two Ukrainian ministers sacked as Zelenskyy reshuffle continues – POLITICO

Two Ukrainian ministers sacked as Zelenskyy reshuffle continues – POLITICO

Solskyi denied the allegations, but offered his resignation the following day. In Thursday’s vote, the parliament accepted his resignation. Kubrakov — tasked with infrastructure and reconstruction of the war-torn country — was also dismissed by the legislature in the reshuffle, though according to a Facebook post following the vote, this came as a surprise. “I am always ready for an open dialogue and a detailed report on the work of the Ministry in all areas of my responsibility,” Kubrakov wrote, adding that neither parliamentary head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ruling party nor PM Shmyhal had discussed his removal with him. Zelenskyy predicted in March that more staff changes would be imminent. “We continue to reboot our state institutions,” he said then. Bartosz Brzeziński contributed reporting. Source link

Ukrainian attack injures 8 in Belgorod

Ukrainian attack injures 8 in Belgorod

Officials in western Russia said Thursday a Ukrainian aerial attack injured at least eight people. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region located along the Ukrainian border, said on Telegram the attack also damaged more than 20 buildings. Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed 15 rockets and a Ukrainian drone over Belgorod. The governor the neighboring Kursk region, Roman Starovoyt, said Russian air defenses shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight. There were no reports of damage or injuries. Russia’s defense ministry also reported destroying two drones over the Bryansk region. Ukraine’s military said it shot down 17 of 20 drones that Russia used in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force said the intercepts took place over the Odesa region. There were no reports of damage from the Russian attacks. Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Source link

Russia Hits Ukrainian Power Plants, Further Straining Energy System

Russia Hits Ukrainian Power Plants, Further Straining Energy System

A large Russian missile and drone assault caused serious damage to several power plants across Ukraine early Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said. It was Russia’s fifth attack on energy facilities in the past month and a half, part of a broader campaign aimed at cutting off electricity to swaths of the country and making life miserable for civilians. Ukraine’s largest private electricity company, DTEK, said in a statement that three thermal power plants had been hit, further straining Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity, which was already reeling from previous assaults. The company said that 80 percent of its available generating capacity had been damaged or destroyed by the recent attacks. Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national electricity company, said that it might have to cut power to some domestic and industrial customers on Wednesday evening as a result. “You have to be prepared for this,” Volodymyr Kudritskyi, the head of Ukrenergo, told the Ukrainian news media. The attacks have hit Ukraine at a particularly difficult moment. The country is facing a shortage of air defense weapons and ammunition amid pauses …

Ukrainian athlete Mariia Vysochanska to carry the Olympic flame in Marseille

Ukrainian athlete Mariia Vysochanska to carry the Olympic flame in Marseille

Ukrainian gymnast Mariia Vysochanska, photographed in Kyiv, on Sunday, April 28. LESHA BEREZOVSKIY FOR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE On May 8, the majestic three-masted sailboat Belem will dock in the southern French city of Marseille, with a precious kind of cargo on board: the Olympic flame. Twenty-seven athletes – the same number as the European Union (EU) member states – will take turns carrying it. They will be accompanied by a 28th athlete, who will be their captain, at just 21 years of age: Mariia Vysochanska, a Ukrainian gymnast and also the daughter of a soldier currently stationed on the front lines of the war against Russia. The young woman, with her discreet smile and long hair, told her story; describing her neighborhood of Pechersk, in Kyiv, where “the smell of lilac flowers makes people’s heads spin.” A champion in rhythmic gymnastics, Vysochanska has trained relentlessly in the capital, although her sessions have been interrupted by air alerts. “I made it! I’ve got my tickets in my pocket!” she rejoiced. Her journey to Marseille …

Ukrainian drone attack in Russia border region kills at least six, governor says

Ukrainian drone attack in Russia border region kills at least six, governor says

A Ukrainian drone attack hit vehicles carrying workers in Russia’s frontier Belgorod region, killing six people and injuring 35, the governor said Monday. Issued on: 06/05/2024 – 09:39 Belgorod has come under an increasing number of fatal Ukrainian drone and missile attacks in recent months and Monday’s bombardment is the deadliest in weeks. “Unfortunately, as a result of an explosion, six people died at the scene from their wounds,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said. He added that “35 people were wounded” in the attack near the village of Berezyovka. Gladkov said the attack hit two vans transporting employees of a nearby factory as well as a passenger vehicle.  The Belgorod government said the vehicles belonged to a meat production facility.   Gladkov said two children were among the wounded and that one man was in “serious condition” and undergoing surgery. The official published a photograph of that back of a bus that had blown out windows and a damaged roof.  (AFP) Source link