Author: RFE/RL

U.S. President Joe Biden has announced nearly $3 billion in new U.S. military aid for Kyiv as Ukraine marked its Independence Day six months after Russia invaded the country. “On behalf of all Americans, I congratulate the people of Ukraine on their Independence Day,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on August 24. “The United...

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused Ukraine’s secret service of carrying out the bombing that killed the daughter of prominent Kremlin-connected far-right ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, a vocal supporter of and propagandist for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has vehemently denied any connection to the death of Darya Dugina, who was killed when the car...

Mariupol resident Viktoria Levashina was hoping to have a relatively easy time passing through the Kremlin-imposed process for weeding out “undesirable” Ukrainians living in territories now controlled by Russia. A 60-year-old accountant at a construction firm, Ms. Levashina’s occupation and demographic profile would not have raised red flags. When her turn came late one night...

The leader of the Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body said that major explosions at a Russian airfield in Crimea were the first clear signal that the Russian-occupied peninsula will be returned to Ukraine. Mejlis head Refat Chubarov said Russian aggression began there and “must end with the liberation of Crimea, with the restoration of the state...

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia must not be permitted to win in the war it launched against Ukraine, which has given rise to the most dangerous moment for Europe since World War II. Speaking in Norway on August 4, Mr. Stoltenberg said the alliance and its member countries may...

The first lady of Ukraine requested more defensive weapons from the United States that can be used to prevent Russian air strikes that “kill children in their strollers” and that can protect Ukrainians from Russian “terrorist attacks.” Olena Zelenska, who was on a visit to Washington, spoke to members of Congress on July 20 at...

The United States will send four more high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, after Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s military “tasks” in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region. Mr. Austin told journalists at the Pentagon that Ukraine had made excellent use of the...

Four mathematicians have been awarded prestigious Fields medals, including Ukrainian Maryna Viazovska, the International Mathematical Union jury said on July 5. Ms. Viazovska is only the second woman to win the prize, considered the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for mathematics. She accepted the award at a ceremony in Helsinki as war raged in her...

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security amid Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The Western military alliance made the declaration in a statement as its leaders met in Madrid on June 29 to confront what NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the...

Russian forces have taken control of most of the key Donbas city of Severodo­netsk amid fierce house-to-house fighting as Kyiv awaits delivery of crucial advanced U.S. and German weaponry that Moscow warned would “pour gas on the fire” in the war in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces are holding just 20 percent of Severodonetsk, with the...

Street fighting was under way on June 2 in Severodonetsk where Ukrainian forces continued to put up stiff resistance despite Russian forces controlling most of the key Donbas city with the aid of massive and indiscriminate artillery bombardments. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again urged the West to speed up weapons deliveries for his outnumbered and...

The United States has issued new sanctions targeting yachts linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a yacht brokerage and several government officials in another move intended to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions take further action “to degrade the key networks used by Russia’s elites, including President Vladimir Putin, to attempt to...