Category Archives: Ukraine

‘No electricity, no water, no fuel’: Ukrainian drone strikes bring darkness to Crimea’s summer

Posted on by

Interviews with residents of Russian-held region point to frustration with Moscow as Ukrainian campaign to isolate it takes toll on daily life

First, the guests stopped coming. As Ukrainian drones and missiles pounded Crimea throughout the spring and into the summer, Russian tourists began cancelling their bookings at the small guesthouse Marina runs in Yevpatoria, a resort town on the peninsula’s Black Sea coast.

Then petrol became scarce, making it harder to stock the business with food and other essentials. Now, electricity and running water are cut off for much of the day, just as the summer heat sets in.

Continue reading...

Ukraine’s army chief expected to lose job after week of protests

Posted on by

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff hints government may be about to sack Oleksandr Syrskyi

Ukraine’s commander in chief Oleksandr Syrskyi is widely expected to lose his job amid signs that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has bowed to pressure from protesters and will reshuffle the army’s top leadership.

Over the past five days, thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the presidential office in Kyiv, chanting: “Syrskyi out.” They have demanded Zelenskyy reinstate Mykhailo Fedorov, who was fired as defence minister last week after a clash with Syrskyi and the general staff.

Continue reading...

Russia pounds Kyiv for five hours in one of its biggest ballistic missile attacks

Posted on by

At least one person killed after dozens of missiles arrive in less than an hour and three-storey building catches fire

Russia has carried out one of its biggest-ever ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, launching a five-hour raid that left at least one person dead and seven injured, with fires and damage across the city.

Ukrainian officials said the capital was hit with about 40 Iskander-M and hypersonic Zircon missiles. Residents heard an air raid siren sound at 1.30am. There was the sound of air defences, followed minutes later by a series of booms and explosions.

Continue reading...

Political crisis and protests in Ukraine as Zelenskyy defends sacking defence minister

Posted on by

President says he had to choose ‘one side or the other’ after breakdown of relations between ministry and military leaders

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Continue reading...

Political crisis and protests in Ukraine as Zelenskyy defends sacking defence minister

Posted on by

President says he had to choose ‘one side or the other’ after breakdown of relations between ministry and military leaders

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Continue reading...

Target of Monaco bomb blames attack on Ukrainian spy agency

Posted on by

Vadym Iermolaiev says military intelligence officers were behind assassination attempt that seriously wounded partner and child

• Monaco bomb mystery deepens as Ukraine’s security services linked to murder of prime suspect
• Europe live – latest updates

The Ukrainian businessman who survived an assassination attempt in Monaco has accused Ukraine’s military intelligence agency of organising the attack.

In his first public statement since the bombing that shook the wealthy principality, Vadym Iermolaiev alleged that serving and former officers of the GUR military intelligence agency were behind the attempted killing, which left him injured but his partner critically wounded.

Continue reading...

As Russia’s assault continues, Ukraine’s politics shift and an old alliance begins to fray

Posted on by

Beneath the ​drone strikes and ​talk of ceasefires lies a battle over history that is testing ​Kyiv’s chances for an end to the conflict

• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

I’ve just come back from a trip to Kyiv, where after more than four years of war, it can feel like the political and diplomatic news agenda has become cyclical: a suggestion that some kind of peace deal could be around the corner, followed by the swift intervention of reality that the Kremlin has no interest in abandoning its maximalist goals, and we all go back to the drawing board.

We are now in a period where Russia has again stepped up its air attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Frequent mass drone and missile attacks keep Kyiv residents awake, and some even get through to the city centre, whereas in the past Ukrainian air defences were usually able to repel them. Nights can be noisy and scary: one attack while I was there killed 27 people. Thousands head into the metro to get some sleep.

Continue reading...

Japan admits growing need to counter espionage after Russian ‘den of spies’ report

Posted on by

Issue must be addressed with ‘even greater rigour’, says government spokesman, after New York Times report on how it has become a spy hub for Vladimir Putin

Japan has said it recognised the need to counter foreign intelligence better after the New York Times reported that Russia had turned the country into a “den of spies” and key source of weapons components.

The newspaper, in an investigation published on Sunday, reported that thanks to “weak espionage laws”, Moscow was using Japan as a key hub for intelligence gathering and procurement of dual-use technology needed for its war in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

‘Coalition of the willing’ to build shared European anti-ballistic programme

Posted on by

Ukraine and nine other countries including UK issue joint statement as leaders meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris

Ukraine and nine other countries including the UK, Germany and France are to build a shared protection programme for Europe against ballistic missiles, using Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years.

“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defence capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement on Monday as leaders met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for talks in Paris.

Continue reading...

Lindsey Graham tributes from Israel and Ukraine point to complicated, often bloody legacy

Posted on by

Republican senator, who died Saturday, had a global reach few could rival and was vital in shaping Trump’s worldview

It was revealing that one of the first tributes to Lindsey Graham, a US senator who died on Saturday aged 71, came from Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, a far-right provocateur who recently caused widespread anger by sharing footage of himself taunting bound activists who had been trying to sail to Gaza with aid.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was not far behind, calling Graham a “great friend of Israel and a cherished friend of mine”, and he was quickly followed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described him as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”.

Continue reading...

Woman suspected of Monaco bombing found shot dead near Kyiv

Posted on by

Anastasiia Berezovska was being sought by police over attack that seriously injured a Ukraine-born businessman

A woman suspected of carrying out last week’s bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon has been found shot dead near Kyiv, in the latest twist in a case that has shaken the wealthy Mediterranean principality.

Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg oil terminal and nearby port

Posted on by

St Petersburg governor reports no victims after ‘large-scale’ overnight attack that also hit Baltic port of Vysotsk

Ukraine launched a big overnight drone attack on St Petersburg and the surrounding area, hitting the city’s oil terminal and port infrastructure in the wider region.

The St Petersburg governor, Alexander Beglov, said the city had been subjected to a “large-scale” drone attack that had hit its oil terminal. He said there were no casualties and the aftermath of the attack had been dealt with.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian woman suspected of Monaco parcel bombing was ‘disguised as a man’

Posted on by

Suspect seen in Germany after attack apparently targeting tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev

The main suspect in a Monaco bomb attack this week that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon and two of his family members is a Ukrainian woman living in Germany who disguised herself as a man, authorities have said.

Interpol, the international police organisation, on Friday issued a red notice for Anastasiia Berezovska, aged 39, describing her as German-speaking with dark hair and a tattoo, possibly of a snake, on her right arm from the shoulder to the elbow.

Continue reading...

German prosecutors accuse Kyiv of ordering 2022 Nord Stream sabotage

Posted on by

Indictment against alleged leader of gas pipeline attack claims former Ukrainian army officer was directed by state

German prosecutors have accused Ukrainian “state authorities” of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Europe, a charge likely to ignite tensions between Kyiv and Berlin, its biggest military backer.

The sabotage in the Baltic Sea by a team of assailants almost entirely destroyed the seafloor infrastructure of the key source of Russian gas to Germany.

Continue reading...

At least 21 dead as Russia launches massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv

Posted on by

More than 70 missiles fired at Ukraine capital as Russia faces fuel shortages after strikes against its oil refineries

At least 21 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in Kyiv, local authorities said, in what the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, called the worst Russian attack on the capital during more than four years of air assault on Ukraine.

Russia used nearly 500 drones and more than 70 missiles in the hours-long attack on Kyiv and other parts of the country in the early hours of Thursday. Loud explosions shook the capital for several hours as waves of drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles came towards it and Ukraine’s air defence attempted to shoot them down.

Continue reading...

‘He isn’t political’: the Ukrainian-born oligarch targeted by a Monaco bomber

Posted on by

Questions remain as to why somebody would want to kill Vadym Iermolaiev, who has a personal fortune of $225m

Nobody paid much attention to the man with the backpack, as he approached the entrance to a beige-coloured Monaco apartment building. It was 9pm, Monday. The street – rue Révérend-Père-Louis-Frolla – is located in a quiet hillside part of the wealthy principality, close to the border with France.

The man left his bag on the front steps. Soon afterwards, the Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadym Iermolaiev emerged, together with his wife and their 13-year-old child. There was an explosion and CCTV captured an image of the suspect, wearing a black jacket and a bucket hat, running from the scene towards the neighbouring French town of Beausoleil.

Continue reading...

Manhunt under way after Ukrainian-born tycoon injured by Monaco bomb

Posted on by

Normally safe principality left reeling from apartment blast that also injured Vadym Iermolaiev’s wife and child

An international search is under way for a suspected bomber after a Ukrainian tycoon and his family were injured in an explosion in Monaco in an unprecedented attack that has shaken the normally ultra-safe principality.

Stéphane Thibault, Monaco’s public prosecutor, told reporters that a man entered an apartment block on Monday evening, left a package in the lobby and walked away. Moments later, as three occupants of a ground-floor flat approached the entrance, the package exploded, he said.

Continue reading...

Putin admits Ukrainian strikes driving Russian fuel shortages

Posted on by

Russia’s president says Ukraine’s attacks on infrastructure are causing ‘obvious’ but not critical problems

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, acknowledged that the country was suffering from “a certain shortage” of fuel in an interview published by the Kremlin on Sunday, after repeated Ukrainian strikes in their four-year war.

Kyiv calls the attacks fair retribution for Russia’s near-daily barrages on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure since its February 2022 offensive.

Continue reading...

European leaders pay tribute to Starmer as EU-UK summit is postponed

Posted on by

Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz and Volodymyr Zelenskyy say British PM helped increase security

European leaders have paid tribute to Keir Starmer after he announced his resignation as the British prime minister, triggering the postponement of an upcoming EU-UK summit.

The European Council president, António Costa, said: “For sure we need to postpone it, but we are reassessing the opportunity to hold this new summit …

Continue reading...

US treasury chief urged Trump not to host ‘Mr Bean on crack’ Zelenskyy, book says

Posted on by

Suggestion that Scott Bessent so described a world leader included in Regime Change, by New York Times reporters

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little fucker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book.

The suggestion that a US cabinet official described a world leader in such terms is included in Regime Change, a blockbusting account of the second Trump administration by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, set to be published worldwide on Tuesday.

Continue reading...