Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, declined a White House invitation to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, her office said, citing a scheduling conflict. “Due to scheduled events, including a visit of children from an orphanage to Kyiv, which was planned in advance, the first lady will unfortunately not be able […]
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Russia Intensifies Air War, Enabling Ukraine to Shoot More Planes Down
The Ukraine war has been fought largely on the ground in the past two years, with troops often locked in back-and-forth battles with heavy artillery and drone support. The countries’ air forces have played second fiddle because of Ukraine’s limited fleet of planes and Russia’s inability to gain the air supremacy it once expected. But […]
Read MoreBiden Unites With Italy’s Prime Minister to Champion Ukraine
President Biden turned to an unlikely ally on Friday in his drive to build support for Ukraine’s war effort as U.S. aid falters, declaring during a White House visit by the far-right prime minister of Italy that the two leaders “have each other’s backs” and “have Ukraine’s back.” The warm tone, a striking departure from […]
Read MorePutin’s Nuclear Threats Become Background Theme of Ukraine War
President Vladimir V. Putin has threatened to reach into Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons at three points in time in the past two years: once at the outset of the war against Ukraine two years ago, once when he was losing ground and again on Thursday, as he senses that he is grinding down Ukrainian […]
Read MorePutin Warns West of Nuclear War if It Intervenes More in Ukraine
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said the West faced the prospect of nuclear conflict if it intervened more directly in the war in Ukraine, using an annual speech to the nation on Thursday to escalate his threats against Europe and the United States. Mr. Putin said NATO countries that were helping Ukraine strike Russian […]
Read MoreAs Spending Talks Intensify, Johnson’s Bind Grows Tighter
At an intense meeting inside the Oval Office on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson was the odd man out. President Biden made clear that the speaker’s positions were out of step with other leaders in government, as did Vice President Kamala Harris. The top Democrats in the House and Senate did, too. Even Senator Mitch McConnell, […]
Read MoreIn Ukraine, Russia Is Inching Forward Death by Death
As the Russian military launched its offensive on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka last fall, Ukrainian troops noticed a change in their tactics as column after column of Russian forces were ravaged by artillery fire. Russian forces divided their infantry formations into smaller units to avoid being shelled, while the amount of Russian airstrikes […]
Read MoreMark Hamill Called Out A Russian Social Media Account For Not Understanding Who The Evil Empire Is In ‘Star Wars’
Star Wars appeals to people of all stripes, even those the films’ creators would definitely say were more on the Dark Side than not. Case in point: A while back a Russian embassy account — part of an aggressor nation invading a less-equipped neighbor that has valiantly fought back — tried to paint themselves as […]
Read MorePreserving Humanity in Ukraine War’s Third Year
The world marked another grim milestone over the weekend: two years since Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine. And with it came some grim statistics. On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died so far. He declined to state how many had been wounded or captured, saying it would reveal too much […]
Read MoreSpending Impasse Persists Amid G.O.P. Resistance as Partial Shutdown Looms
Congressional leaders have failed to reach a deal on legislation to keep federal funding going past Friday, with Republicans insisting on adding right-wing policy dictates to the spending bills, pushing the government to the brink of a partial shutdown within days. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Sunday […]
Read More31,000 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed in Two Years of War, Zelensky Says
Some 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, acknowledging for the first time in the war a concrete figure for Ukraine’s toll. “This is a big loss for us,” Mr. Zelensky said at a news conference in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. But […]
Read MoreIn Russia, Knowing That Her Son Is Dead, and Waiting for Him Anyway
When Yulia Seleznyova walks around her home city in Russia, she scrutinizes everyone passing by in the hope that she will lock eyes with her son Aleksei. She last heard from him on New Year’s Eve 2022, when he sent holiday greetings from the school in eastern Ukraine that his unit of recently mobilized soldiers […]
Read MoreWeary but Determined, Ukrainians Vow Never to Bow to Russia
When Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv a couple of weeks ago, schoolchildren and their teachers installed in newly built underground classrooms did not hear a thing. Down in the bowels of Kharkiv’s cavernous, Soviet-era subway stations, the city administration has built a line of brightly decorated classrooms, where 6- and 7-year-olds are […]
Read MoreThe Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin
Nestled in a dense forest, the Ukrainian military base appears abandoned and destroyed, its command center a burned-out husk, a casualty of a Russian missile barrage early in the war. But that is above ground. Not far away, a discreet passageway descends to a subterranean bunker where teams of Ukrainian soldiers track Russian spy satellites […]
Read MoreUkraine Marks 2nd Anniversary of Russian Invasion, Determined Despite Setbacks
In solemn ceremonies and small vigils, state visits, stirring speeches and statements of solidarity, Ukraine and its allies marked the dawn of the third year of Russia’s unprovoked invasion with a single message: Believe. “When thousands of columns of Russian invaders moved from all directions into Ukraine, when thousands of rockets and bombs fell on […]
Read MoreUkraine’s Deepening Fog of War
The forecasts are anything but optimistic: The best Ukraine can hope for in 2024, many Western officials and analysts say, is to simply hold the line. Only a year ago, Ukraine was brimming with confidence. It had defied expectations, staving off Russia’s attempt to take over the country. Western nations, buoyed by Ukraine’s success, promised […]
Read MoreUkrainian Family Holds Out Hope Son Will Be Released by Russians
His attempts to escape the Russian siege had failed. He and his fellow Ukrainian marines were surrounded, dozens of miles from friendly lines. They were nearly out of food and water. Some panicked, others quietly resigned themselves to what would come next. Then, about a day later, Serhiy Hrebinyk, a senior sailor, and his comrades […]
Read MoreHow Do Oil Companies Get Away With, Well, Everything? An Expert Explains.
One thing that’s certain about the war in Ukraine is that the major oil companies – BP, Shell, Chevron, Exxon and TotalEnergies – are absolutely raking it in. According to a Global Witness report, those five companies have made $281 billion since Russia invaded in February 2022. Yep, really. As far as the UK-based companies […]
Read MoreRussia May Have Captured Hundreds of Ukrainian Soldiers
Hundreds of Ukrainian troops may have been captured by advancing Russian units or disappeared during Ukraine’s chaotic retreat from the eastern city of Avdiivka, according to senior Western officials and soldiers fighting for Ukraine, a devastating loss that could deal a blow to already weakening morale. The Russian capture of Avdiivka has emerged as a […]
Read MoreRussia Cracks Down on Navalny Mourners, and U.N. Court Focuses on Israeli Occupation
The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. The Headlines brings you the biggest stories of the day from the Times journalists […]
Read MoreThe High Cost of the GOP’s Reckless Decision to Withhold Aid to Ukraine
The effect is to foster the feeling in Ukrainian society that the war in Donbas, where the majority of the fighting is happening, is distant and hopeless.On Sunday, Russian troops took full control of Avdiika, a town in central Ukraine that has featured some of the heaviest fighting of the war. In a call with […]
Read MoreAs Putin Threatens, Despair and Hedging in Europe
As the leaders of the West gathered in Munich over the past three days, President Vladimir V. Putin had a message for them: Nothing they’ve done so far — sanctions, condemnation, attempted containment — would alter his intentions to disrupt the current world order. Russia made its first major gain in Ukraine in nearly a […]
Read MoreIntelligence Chairman Defends His Hints About a Russian Space Weapon
Representative Michael R. Turner defended his decision to hint publicly about classified intelligence that Russia is moving to deploy a new space-based nuclear weapon. “They needed to know this information,” Mr. Turner, an Ohio Republican and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. […]
Read MoreFor Harris, Promises to Ukraine Prove Harder to Make Amid G.O.P. Resistance
When Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Germany for the Munich Security Conference last year, she made an unequivocal promise. “The United States,” she said, “will continue to support Ukraine, and we will do so for as long as it takes.” When Ms. Harris returned to the same forum and took the same stage this […]
Read MoreBiden Administration Blames Congress for Fall of Ukrainian City
The Biden administration said Saturday that the Ukrainian military withdrawal from Avdiivka was the result of Congress failing to provide additional money to support Kyiv’s war effort. Ukraine ordered the withdrawal from the eastern city of Avdiivka before dawn on Saturday, the country’s first major battlefield loss since the fall of Bakhmut last year. “This […]
Read MoreMaps: Where Ukraine Is Fighting to Hold Back Russian Onslaught
Ukraine is engaged in a desperate fight to hold back the Russian onslaught. Russian forces captured the longtime Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka before dawn on Saturday, Moscow’s first major battlefield gain since it took Bakhmut last May. But across the entire 600-mile long front, Ukraine is short on ammunition without renewed American military assistance, and […]
Read MoreFall of Avdiivka: What to Know After Russia Captures Ukrainian Stronghold
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the eastern frontline city of Avdiivka, Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Saturday, allowing Moscow to score its biggest battlefield victory in months and dealing a blow to Ukraine’s stretched and outgunned forces as the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches. General Syrsky said he had ordered the […]
Read MoreThe Fall of Avdiivka: What to Know
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the eastern frontline city of Avdiivka, Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Saturday, allowing Moscow to score its largest territorial advance in months and dealing a blow to Ukraine’s stretched and outgunned forces as the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches. General Syrsky said he had ordered the […]
Read More‘Dictators Do Not Go on Vacation,’ Zelensky Warns Washington and Europe
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country, citing the recent death of a Russian dissident as a reminder that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to test the international order, and pushing back against the idea of a negotiated resolution to the war. Mr. Zelensky, speaking […]
Read MoreThe Best Case for Ukraine Aid
The first year of the war in Ukraine seemed to vindicate Russia hawks. The belief that Vladimir Putin was a careful chess player whose ambitions could be constrained through negotiation, the belief that Ukraine couldn’t plausibly defend itself against Moscow and therefore didn’t merit support from an already overstretched America — these ideas seemed to […]
Read MoreBiden Condemns ‘Putin and His Thugs’ for Navalny’s Death
President Biden blamed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally on Friday for the reported death of the imprisoned Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, and cited the case in pressing House Republicans to approve military aid to Ukraine in its war with Moscow. But while he once threatened to impose “devastating” consequences on Mr. Putin […]
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