Articles written by Susie Blann


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  • Attacks in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions leave 28 dead, Moscow-appointed officials say

    SUSIE BLANN and ELISE MORTON|Jun 7, 2024

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia-installed officials in the partially-occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28 people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone attacks overnight into Saturday. A Ukrainian attack Friday on the small town of Sadove in the Kherson region killed 22 and wounded 15 people, Moscow-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo said. Russian state news agency Tass cited Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first struck the town with a French-made guided bomb, then a...

  • Western leaders rally around Kyiv to mark 2 years since Russia's full-scale invasion

    SUSIE BLANN|Feb 23, 2024

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Western leaders to Kyiv Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and foreign aid hangs in the balance. Allies from the EU and the Group of Seven wealthy democracies rallied around Kyiv to express solidarity, with Zelenskyy joining a virtual G7 meeting Saturday and four world leaders traveling to Ukraine's war-weary capital. "Two years ago, here, we met enemy landing forces with fire; two years later, we meet o...

  • Russia and Ukraine trade drone attacks as Kyiv claims it took out a key S-400 missile defense system

    SUSIE BLANN|Aug 23, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks early Wednesday, officials said, with Kyiv apparently targeting Moscow again and the Kremlin's forces launching another bombardment of Ukrainian grain storage depots in what have recently become signature tactics in the almost 18-month war. Later Wednesday, the Ukrainian intelligence agency claimed it had destroyed a key Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system in occupied Crimea. If confirmed, it would be another embarrassing blow for Russia, as Ukraine increasingly t...

  • Ukraine says inspections found nearly a quarter of its air-raid shelters locked or unusable

    SUSIE BLANN|Jun 4, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country's air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage. The Ukrainian interior ministry said through its press service Saturday that of the "over 4,800" shelters it had inspected, 252 were locked and a further 893 "unfit for use." That same day, the Kyiv regional prosecutor's offi...

  • Collapse of major dam in southern Ukraine triggers emergency as Moscow and Kyiv blame each other

    SUSIE BLANN|Jun 4, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The wall of a major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed Tuesday, triggering floods, endangering Europe's largest nuclear power plant and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war rushed to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the destruction. Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River in an area that Moscow controls, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area. It was not possible to verify the c...

  • Blinken says no cease-fire until Ukraine gains upper hand in war

    SUSIE BLANN and MATTHEW LEE|Jun 2, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the United States won't support peace talks in the war in Ukraine until Kyiv holds the upper hand, possibly after a Ukrainian counteroffensive that appears to be taking shape. Blinken said heeding calls from Russia and others, including China, for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war now would result in a "Potemkin peace" that wouldn't secure Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity or enhance European security. "Potemkin Village" was a tactic Russia's 18th c...

  • Head of Russian private army Wagner says his forces are handing control of Bakhmut to Moscow

    SUSIE BLANN and ELISE MORTON|May 26, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner claimed Thursday that his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and handing over control to the Russian military, days after he said Wagner troops had captured the ruined city. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a convicted criminal and Wagner's millionaire owner with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in a video published on Telegram that the handover would be completed by June 1. Russia's Defense Ministry didn't confirm this and it w...

  • Drones fly deep inside Russia; Putin orders border tightened

    SUSIE BLANN|Mar 1, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Drones that the Kremlin said were launched by Ukraine flew deep inside Russian territory, including one that got within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Moscow, signaling breaches in Russian defenses as President Vladimir Putin ordered stepped-up protection at the border. Officials said the drones caused no injuries and did not inflict any significant damage, but the attacks on Monday night and Tuesday morning raised questions about Russian defense capabilities more than a year after the country's full-scale invasion of its n...

  • Ukraine official: Forces may pull out of key city of Bakhmut

    SUSIE BLANN|Mar 1, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian military might pull troops back from the key stronghold of Bakhmut, an adviser to Ukraine's president said Wednesday in remarks that suggested Russia could capture the city that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Kremlin forces have waged a bloody, monthslong offensive to take Bakhmut, a city of salt and gypsum mines in eastern Ukraine that has become a ghost town. "Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far, they've held the city, but if need be, they will strategically p...

  • Germany, Denmark, Netherlands pledge Ukraine Leopard 1 tanks

    FRANK JORDANS and SUSIE BLANN|Feb 8, 2023

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands announced Tuesday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished Leopard 1 battle tanks in the coming months, a pledge that comes as Kyiv anticipates a new Russian offensive around the anniversary of its invasion. The announcement followed Germany agreeing last month to allow deliveries of the more modern German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. In a joint statement, the defense ministers of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands said the shipment of the older Leopard 1 tan...

  • Ukraine says 9 Russian warplanes destroyed in Crimea blasts

    SUSIE BLANN|Aug 10, 2022

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's air force said Wednesday that nine Russian warplanes were destroyed in a deadly string of explosions at an air base in Crimea that appeared to be the result of a Ukrainian attack, which would represent a significant escalation in the war. Russia denied any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday's blasts — or that any attack took place. But satellite photos clearly showed at least seven fighter planes at the base had been blown up and others probably damaged. Ukrainian officials stopped short of publicly claiming res...

  • Red Cross struggles to see prison where Ukrainian POWs died

    SUSIE BLANN|Jul 31, 2022

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian and Russian officials blamed each other Saturday for the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in an attack on a prison in a separatist-controlled area. The International Red Cross asked to visit the prison to make sure the scores of wounded POWs had proper treatment, but said its request had not been granted so far. Meanwhile, Russia kept launching attacks on several Ukrainian cities, hitting a school and a bus station. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ICRC and the United Nations have a...

  • US rocket system enables Ukraine to pummel key supply bridge

    SUSIE BLANN|Jul 27, 2022

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops used American-supplied precision rocket launchers to knock out a vital bridge used by Russia to supply its forces in an occupied region of southern Ukraine, officials said Wednesday. The Antonivskyi Bridge over the Dnieper River was attacked late Tuesday, according to Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Moscow-appointed administration for the Kherson region. The bridge was left standing, but holes in its deck prevented vehicles from crossing the 1.4-kilometer (0.9-mile) span, he said. After previous U...

  • Russia aims new air strikes at Black Sea coastal targets

    SUSIE BLANN|Jul 24, 2022

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia targeted Ukraine's Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country's southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin's forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine's Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. In the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in villages on the coast were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region, port infrastructure was targeted. Hours after the r...