“Ukraine – Russia”

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began over a year ago, officials in Kyiv have been asking their Western allies to supply the country’s air force with advanced warplanes such as the F-16. But the United States, which manufactures the fighter jet, was long reluctant to provide it, or to allow other countries that have F-16s to re-export them to Ukraine.

#Ukraine: A Russian attack formation near Pisky, #Donetsk Oblast, was targeted by the Ukrainian 59th Motorized Brigade- an MT-LB AOC was destroyed after running over anti-tank mines and then a BMP-2 IFV suffered a direct hit from a FGM-148 Javelin. pic.twitter.com/PIXNqJwyKN

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 20, 2023

CZELADZ, Poland—Oleksandr Karpets, a marksman from Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, remembers the bone-crushing pressure on his face when shrapnel from a Russian tank artillery round shaved off his lower jaw, leaving him on the ground gasping for breath as his comrades radioed base thinking he was dead.

“I was on the position that happened to be first in the line of fire,” the 35-year-old says.

After months of flat denials, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence has admitted that Kyiv is carrying out a campaign of sabotage and assassination inside Russia. But why change the official line now?

In a valley far from the front lines last week, several men practiced dropping a half-full bottle of water from a small aerial drone, as though it were a grenade. Others fired rifles at targets 100 yards away. A third group set off for a trek through the surrounding hills, which burst with white and yellow flowers.

Almost none of them had military experience before last year. The Ukrainian military is racing to turn civilians into elite soldiers for the cutting edge of a critical summer offensive.

Privet 👋 pic.twitter.com/FHWiJSIpKP

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 19, 2023

Move over, Treasury. You’re not the only one with an X-date.

The $48 billion Ukraine aid package that Congress approved in December has about $6 billion left, meaning U.S. funding for weapons and supplies could dry up by midsummer.

That’s raising fresh concerns among lawmakers about what the White House is planning next, including when the administration will ask for another major package and whether it will be enough.

#Ukraine: In the vicinity of Avdiivka, #Donetsk Oblast, a Russian MT-LB loaded with AT mines was hit by the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade using 40x53mm HEDP grenades dropped from a drone, vaporising the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/RcL3fgVuM9

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 19, 2023

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service has said in an interview that Kyiv has assassinated Russian propagandists.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov made the admission to the Ukrainian YouTube channel Rizni Lyudi. According to a translation by the independent Russian-language outlet Meduza, Budanov said that Ukraine had “successfully targeted quite a few people” associated with Kremlin propaganda since the start of the war nearly 15 months ago.

#Ukraine: In the Oleshky Sands, #Kherson Oblast, the Ukrainian 406th Artillery Brigade used an M982 Excalibur precision artillery strike to hit a Russian 2A36 Giatsint-B 152mm field gun, taking it out of action. pic.twitter.com/okJGoLqUf9

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 18, 2023

Russian infantry are dispatched on blind charges nicknamed ‘Zombie Waves’ across no-man’s land, running headlong into machine gun fire

With soaring casualty rates and plunging morale, Russian soldiers on Ukraine’s front line are paying a heavy price for Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade.

Aged on average between 20 and 25 years old, and typically from impoverished backgrounds, some are conscripts while others are attracted by slick online advertising and surprisingly good salaries. As Kyiv prepares to launch a major counter-offensive, what is their daily life like?

Once upon a time, a russian tank and the #UAarmy were playing hide and seek.
The russian tank hid in a hangar, but still lost.
Hola Prystan, Kherson region. pic.twitter.com/PljOrqTggW

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 18, 2023

Russian hypersonic missile scientists have warned the Kremlin that their research could collapse after security services detained their colleagues for treason.

The scientists told the Russian government they cannot continue with their work unless the FSB stops arresting researchers at their Siberian institute.

The rare act of protest, which came in a pointed open letter, raises further questions over Russia’s ability to develop the hi-tech weaponry it needs for its war in Ukraine.

#Ukraine: Counter-battery fire of the Ukrainian army targeted two Russian BM-21 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launchers in #Donetsk oblast- as a result at least one Grad was destroyed. pic.twitter.com/Qz33HiQelf

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 16, 2023

Their web searches suggest perhaps not — and the CIA is closing in on potential spy recruits

The happiness of the Russian public fell sharply last year after the invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis of their internet searches by a team from the University of Cambridge.

The research also found that web searches linked to anti-war sentiment and opposition to President Putin surged in Russia during the first months of the war, and increased again when his regime resorted to mass military conscription.

The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been targeted by further Russian air attacks, described by one official as “exceptional in density”.

Ukraine said all 18 missiles were shot down and footage showed air defences destroying targets over the city.

But Russia said its attack – which used drones and missiles – had hit all its targets.

Moscow has stepped up its air campaign in recent weeks, ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive.

Anti-air systems supplied by the Allies saved many lives tonight. 18 out of 18 missiles were shot down in #Kyiv. Among them 6 hypersonic Kinzhals.

Help The Armed Forces Of 🇺🇦 to defend #Kyiv and other 🇺🇦 cities. Give #Ukraine weapons, #F16sForUkraine @POTUS @NATO pic.twitter.com/YLmP6h3oOd

— ANTS (@ANTS_NGO) May 16, 2023

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group offered to reveal the location of Russian troops to Ukraine in exchange for a withdrawal of Kyiv’s forces from the besieged city of Bakhmut, according to a purportedly leaked top-secret document.

Yevgeny Prigozhin approached Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate on a number of occasions with the proposal as it appeared his forces would fail to capture the Donetsk region town, the Washington Post reported.

Leaked Pentagon documents have revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had planned “behind closed doors” to, among other things, occupy Russian cities and blow up a vital crude oil pipeline between Russia and Hungary, a NATO member.

The leaked intelligence papers, which had not been previously disclosed, include correspondence between Zelensky and top government officials that revealed that the Ukrainian head of state proposed blowing up the Druzhba oil pipeline in order to render the Hungarian infrastructure which relies on Russian oil inoperable, The Washington Post reports.

Prigozhin, standing in the darkness next to a row of bloodied dead bodies, was shouting obscenities. With his yellowish, unnaturally hairless face contorted in primordial hatred, there was something about his appearance that seemed decidedly horrific.

The look goes with his reputation. The head of the notorious Wagner (which cut its teeth as a mercenary force in Africa and the Middle East), Prigozhin is known for his untamed brutality and deep cynicism, and for his ability and willingness to get his hands dirty, or bloody. Perhaps that was why he volunteered to use his mercenaries – many of whom were recruited straight out of Russia’s prisons – for what he called the ‘Bakhmut meatgrinder’, the months-long assault on the Ukrainian town where thousands have been killed in intense urban warfare.

It has been nine years since Russia took the peninsula. Now Ukraine is preparing to win it back

In the classroom Crimean children race each other to assemble their assault rifles. A young girl, her brown hair hanging over her eyes, slams a magazine into her weapon and a teacher asks: “Who won?”

Elsewhere in the building, primary school age boys and girls wearing camouflage gear pose with Kalashnikov rifles and show off hand-to-hand combat moves.

The intended message behind the video, published recently by Russian state media, is clear: Crimeans of all ages are getting ready to fight.

#Ukraine: A Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicle was destroyed by an artillery strike west of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut, #Donetsk Oblast during a Ukrainian counter-attack. pic.twitter.com/lq4OadZquN

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 10, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons they provide for attacks inside Russia and prioritizing the targeting of Russian forces inside Ukraine’s borders.

But behind closed doors, Ukraine’s leader has proposed going in a more audacious direction — occupying Russian villages to gain leverage over Moscow, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, a NATO member, and privately pining for long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia’s borders, according to classified U.S. intelligence documents detailing his internal communications with top aides and military leaders.