Ukraine war 2017

1. Russia bombards residential buildings in Odesa region, killing at least 21 Ukrainian authorities say Russian missiles have struck a multi-storey block of flats and nearby holiday resorts in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens. The Ukrainian president's office said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers struck an apartment building and two campsites. Ukraine’s Security Service said two children were among the dead. Ukraine’s Security Service said 38 people, including six children and a pregnant woman, were being treated in hospital for injuries. Kyiv says the missiles were fired from a plane in the Black Sea, where a day earlier Russian troops left the strategically important Snake Island. “A terrorist country is killing our people. In response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight civilians," said Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to the Ukrainian president. 2. Norway announces €970-million Ukraine … [Read more...] about Ukraine war: five things you need to know about the conflict from Friday

After witnessing the first two weeks of the war in Ukraine , I went back to the region of Kyiv a month later, to find a very different atmosphere. Life was slowly resuming in the Ukrainian capital following the retreat of Russian troops from the region only a fortnight earlier. I knew the sight of people walking the streets again, and the bright beds of tulips blooming in Maidan Square would contrast starkly with what awaited me on the outskirts of the city. I had come back to document alleged war crimes in the area. The scale of destruction was startling. What used to be peaceful suburbs and villages had been turned into heaps of ruins, behind which lay the open wounds of those who had lived through weeks of horror. Located at the gates if the capital, the town of Irpin stands as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian offensive. This is where I met Sasha, a 29 year old construction worker. He walked me through the nightmare he had endured in his … [Read more...] about Ukraine war: Survivors describe Russian army atrocities in the outskirts of Kyiv

A tank commander has become the first Russian soldier to be convicted of a war crime by a Ukrainian court since Moscow's invasion of the country began on February 24. Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander from the Siberian region of Irkutsk, was sentenced to life in prison by a Kyiv court on Monday. Shishimarin last week pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed 62-year-old man in the northeastern Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on February 28. Shishimarin said he had been ordered to shoot at the man from a car in which he was traveling. Shishimarin had apparently confessed to the killing in a video released earlier this month by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU. "I was ordered to shoot," Shishimarin said in the video. "I shot one [round] at him. He falls. And we kept on going." Last week, the defendant said he was "nervous" at the time of the shooting and "didn't want to kill" victim Oleksandr Shelipov when he was ordered to do so. Shelipov … [Read more...] about Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison over Ukraine war crime

Russian missile attacks on residential buildings near Odesa have killed at least 19 people, including two children. The strikes hit the small town of Serhiivka, about 30 miles (50km) southwest of the Ukrainian port city, before dawn on Friday. Pictures show smoke rising from the charred remains of flats as emergency workers search through debris for survivors trapped under the rubble after part of the building collapsed. So far 41 people have been rescued. Moscow insists it only hits military infrastructure, but thousands of civilians have been killed since the war began in February. A Ukrainian army general says Russia is often using inaccurate Soviet missiles, and this is causing significant loss of civilian life. Putin 'may now become more dangerous' - live updates on Ukraine war Another 30 people were injured in the assault, according to Odesa officials. A multistorey apartment building and two holiday camps were hit, local reports claimed. Sixteen of … [Read more...] about Ukraine war: Two children among 19 killed as Russian missiles hit apartment block near Odesa

By Sophie Williams in Kyiv & Yaroslav Lukov in London Published 1 hour ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Related Topics Russia-Ukraine war At least 20 people, including one child, have died in overnight Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's southern Odesa region, Ukrainian officials say. The state emergency service, DSNS, says 16 people were killed in a nine-storey building hit by one missile in the village of Serhiyivka. Another four people, including the child, were killed in a separate strike on a holiday resort in the village. Russia has fired dozens of missiles on Ukrainian cities in the past few days. On Friday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again denied that Russia was hitting civilian targets. The DSNS said the missiles hit Serhiyivka at about 01:00 on Friday (22:00 GMT Thursday). It released footage showing firefighters … [Read more...] about Ukraine war: Russian missile strikes kill 20 in Odesa region – emergency service

Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has taken a steep toll on the country's young residents, according to new figures released Friday. In a Telegram post , Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said juvenile prosecutors have determined that 343 children had died as a result of Russia's months-long assault on her country. Her office said that the death and injury counts it reported were not final, "as work is ongoing to establish them in places of active hostilities, in temporarily occupied and liberated territories," according to an English translation of the post. Although Russia has denied that it has been targeting civilians since the war began in late February, civilian casualties reported by Venediktova and the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights indicate that the impact on Ukrainians has been very high. The OHCHR recently said that it recorded 4,731 civilian deaths from February 24, when the invasion started, to midnight on June 26. This … [Read more...] about Putin’s war has killed 343 children in Ukraine, prosecutor general says

It had once exemplified Ukraine ’s pride in those who have served under its flag, helping wounded soldiers returning from the frontlines. Today, all that remains of the veterans’ rehabilitation centre in war-scarred Borodyanka is skeletal pillars. A direct hit from a Russian tank shell left behind what is now a ruined shell, surrounded by blossoming poppies. Ukraine’s government, however, is being supported by two British charities not just to rebuild, but to turn the facility into a world-leading institution for soldiers left with the devastating after-effects of frontline service. The Ukrainian Veterans’ Rehabilitation Centre was destroyed in early March as Moscow’s forces attacked the town, which lies 40km to the north of Kyiv. Two employees were killed and civilians were buried alive as entire residential apartment blocks were razed to the ground during Moscow’s aborted attempt to advance on the capital. Russian forces briefly occupied the town before their … [Read more...] about Ukraine vows to rebuild wounded heroes centre destroyed by Russian shelling

‘With the attack on Ukraine, we have entered a new era,” announced the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, back in February. Declaring the Russian invasion a Zeitenwende – a turning point – his bold words seemed to usher in a new age of German confidence and decision-making. war in Ukraine , arguing that it misses “the big issues” such as “our future relationship with Russia”. He also called the idea that it was obvious who was the perpetrator and who the victim in the Ukraine war a “eurocentric” one, and urged caution regarding Ukrainian EU membership: “Being attacked,” Plötner argued, “does not automatically improve a state’s adherence to the rule of law”. With such differing voices in his inner circle, all eyes are on Scholz. Yet the chancellor’s own instincts seem to collide with new ideas. He was certainly quick to row back on Plötner’s remarks, arguing in parliament the next day that a partnership with “Putin’s aggressive, imperialist Russia is unimaginable in the … [Read more...] about Germany must solve its identity crisis before it’s too late for Ukraine

Russia's new "patriotic" 100 rouble banknote is impossible to withdraw from ATMs because the Western companies that programmed them have quit the country. The Association of Russian Banks has asked for a six-month delay to the introduction of the banknote, which carries a drawing of a Second World War memorial to "heroic" Soviet soldiers, because bank machines require reprogramming to dispense them. "With the departure of suppliers, any updates to the software of … ATMs, as well as cash registers and terminals, have become impossible,” the Kommersant newspaper quoted the association as saying earlier this year. The headache of how to get the new 100 rouble banknote, worth roughly £1.50, into circulation highlights how Western-imposed sanctions are impacting businesses in Russia. Around 60 per cent of bank machines in Russia were manufactured by Diebold Nixdorf using software installed by NCR. Diebold Nixdorf and NCR are both US companies which have suspended sales and … [Read more...] about Russian cash machines can’t dispense 100 rouble banknotes – because of Western sanctions

The Russia Federation is said to be pursuing a ‘campaign of slaughter and terrorism’ in Ukraine as fresh horrors emerged from a shattered town feared to be worse hit then Bucha. American journalist Michael Weiss described a scene of ‘absolute devastation’ in Borodyanka, where he found an entire section of an apartment block razed to the ground. Mr Weiss said reports of people being buried alive were highly likely, with the force of a Russian air strike blasting residents’ possessions into a park across the street. The attack on the town, 40km north west of Kyiv, is said by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to have been ‘much worse’ than the assault on Bucha. Mr Weiss, news director at New Lines Magazine, was in Borodyanka yesterday afternoon to gather pictures and video and speak to locals. He told Metro.co.uk: ‘The thing that struck me the most was the absolute devastation of the civilian infrastructure. ‘A series of apartment blocks had been bombed … [Read more...] about Level of Russia’s inhumanity revealed in aftermath of bombing in Borodyanka