Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 38
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbors ratchet up. Those tensions between Poland — a NATO and European Union country — and Belarus, which is Russia's ally in its war on Ukraine, have been building up in recent months on the border. Here is why: ORIGINS OF THE TENSIONS Poland has been backing the Belarusian opposition ever since the 2020 presidential elections, where pro-Russian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said it began withdrawing troops from a strategic Ukrainian city Thursday, creating a potential turning point in the grinding war, while a Ukrainian official warned that Russian land mines could render Kherson a "city of death." Ukrainian officials acknowledged Moscow's forces had no choice but to flee Kherson, yet they remained cautious, fearing an ambush. With Ukrainian officials tight-lipped with their assessments, reporters not present and spotty communications, it was difficult to know what was happening in t...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president has suggested he's open to peace talks with Russia but is sticking to Kyiv's demands. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's appeal to the international community to "force Russia into real peace talks" reflected a softening of his refusal to negotiate with Moscow while Russian President Vladimir Putin is in power. But Zelenskyy's preconditions appear to be non-starters for Moscow, so it's hard to see how his latest comments would advance any talks. Western weapons and aid have been key to Ukraine's ability to fight o...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian soldiers are forcing Ukrainian civilians from their apartments in the occupied capital of the Kherson region and moving in themselves, a resident said Friday as the southern city became a growing focus of war in Ukraine. His account of soldiers spreading throughout the city of Kherson suggested that Russia could be preparing for intense urban warfare in anticipation of Ukrainian advances. Russia-installed authorities in Kherson continued to urge civilians to leave the city, which lies on the western bank of the Dnie...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down Wednesday on his faltering invasion of Ukraine with a declaration of martial law in four illegally annexed regions and preparations within Russia for draconian new restrictions and crackdowns. Putin's drastic efforts to tighten his grip on Ukrainians and Russians follow a series of embarrassing setbacks: stinging battlefield defeats, sabotage and troubles with his troop mobilization. The martial law order belies the Kremlin's attempts to portray life in the annexed regions as r...
KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian long-range bombers fired a missile that struck a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk on Monday, raising fears of what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an "unimaginable" number of victims in "one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history." Zelenskky said more than 1,000 civilians were inside the mall, with many managing to escape. Giant plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames emanated from the wreckage, with emergency crews rushing in to search broken metal a...
BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Workers pulled scores of bodies from smashed buildings in an "endless caravan of death" inside the devastated city of Mariupol, authorities said Wednesday, while fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraine's inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports. At the same time, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled fiercely for control of Sievierodonestk, a city that has emerged as central to Moscow's grinding campaign to capture Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, known as the D...
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — As Russia asserted progress in its goal of seizing the entirety of contested eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin tried Saturday to shake European resolve to punish his country with sanctions and to keep supplying weapons that have supported Ukraine's defense. The Russian Defense Ministry said Lyman, the second small city to fall this week, had been "completely liberated" by a joint force of Russian soldiers and Kremlin-backed separatists, who have waged war for eight years in the industrial Donbas region borderi...
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops pushed deeper into a key eastern Ukrainian city, fighting street by street with Kyiv's forces Monday in a battle that the mayor said has left Sievierodonetsk in ruins and driven tens of thousands of people from their homes. Military analysts described the fight for Sievierodonetsk as part of a race against time for the Kremlin. The city is important to Russian efforts to quickly complete the capture of the eastern industrial region of the Donbas before more Western arms arrive to bolster Ukraine's d...
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched its long-feared, full-scale ground offensive to take control of Ukraine's east on Monday, attacking along a broad front over 300 miles (480 kilometers) long, Ukrainian officials said in what marked the opening of a new and potentially climactic phase of the war. "The Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a video address. He said a "significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive." The Donbas is Ukraine's m...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has vowed that Russia's bloody offensive in Ukraine would continue until its goals are fulfilled. He insisted Tuesday the campaign was going as planned, despite a major withdrawal in the face of stiff Ukrainian opposition and significant losses. Russian troops have been thwarted in their push toward Ukraine's capital and are now focusing on the eastern Donbas region. Ukraine said Tuesday it was investigating a claim that a poisonous substance had been dropped on its troops there. It was not clear w...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol said Monday that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city, and that the death toll could surpass 20,000, as weeks of attacks and privation leave the bodies of Mariupol's people "carpeted through the streets." Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mayor Vadym Boychenko also accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of thwarted humanitarian convoys into the city in an attempt to conceal the carnage there from the outside world. M...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops moved cautiously to retake territory north of the country's capital on Saturday, using cables to pull the bodies of civilians off streets of one town out of fear that Russian forces may have left them booby-trapped. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that departing Russian troops were creating a "catastrophic" situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and "even the bodies of those killed." His claims could not be independently verified. Associated Press j...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his people early Saturday that retreating Russian forces were creating "a complete disaster" outside the capital as they leave mines across "the whole territory," even around homes and corpses. He issued the warning as the humanitarian crisis in the encircled city of Mariupol deepened, with Russian forces blocking evacuation operations for the second day in a row, and the Kremlin accused the Ukrainians of launching a helicopter attack on a fuel depot on Russian soil. Ukraine d...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. The shelling — and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country — tempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the punishing war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he stressed to U.S. President Joe Biden that the war is at a "turning point." He thanked the U.S. for an addit...
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from the Russians in what is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground, while negotiators began assembling for another round of talks Tuesday aimed at stopping the fighting. Ahead of the talks, to be held in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country is prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded, and is open to compromise on the fate of the Donbas, the contested region in the country's east. The m...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces escalated their attacks on crowded urban areas Tuesday, bombarding the central square in Ukraine's second-biggest city and Kyiv's main TV tower in what the country's president called a blatant campaign of terror. "Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv. Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is a couple of miles from central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment b...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow. Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian f...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The first talks aimed at stopping the fighting between Ukraine and Russia ended Monday with no agreement except to keep talking, while an increasingly isolated Moscow ran into unexpectedly fierce resistance on the ground and economic havoc at home. Five days into Russia's invasion, the Kremlin again raised the specter of nuclear war, while an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union — a largely symbolic move unlikely to sit well with Russian President Vladimir Put...
MOSCOW (AP) — The East-West faceoff over Ukraine escalated dramatically Tuesday, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. Both leaders signaled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead. Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, while Biden held back on the toughest sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for R...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity Wednesday, while the U.S. warned that Russia had added as many as 7,000 troops near Ukraine's borders despite Kremlin declarations that forces were being pulled back from the region. While a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine did not materialize as feared, the United States and its allies maintained that the threat is still strong, with Europe's security and economic stability in the balance. Russia has massed more than 150,000 troops east, n...
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin signaled Monday it is ready to keep talking with the West about security grievances that led to the current Ukraine crisis, offering hope that Russia might not invade its beleaguered neighbor within days as the U.S. and European allies increasingly fear. Questions remain about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions, however. And countries are evacuating diplomats and on alert for possible imminent war amid the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War. On a last-ditch diplomatic trip, Germany's chancellor s...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's security chief warned the West on Monday against forcing the country to fulfill a peace deal for eastern Ukraine brokered by France and Germany, charging that an attempt to implement it could trigger internal unrest that would benefit Moscow. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told The Associated Press that Ukraine has the capability to call up to 2.5 million people if Russia invades. He said that about 120,000 Russian troops are concentrated near Ukraine and M...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday claimed that his country's intelligence service has uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d'etat in the country set for next week that allegedly involves one of Ukraine's richest oligarchs. Both the oligarch and the Russian government rejected the allegations. In Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending a holiday weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern at the coup talk and renewed U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty and self-government. At a news c...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday claimed that his country's intelligence service has uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d'etat in the country set for next week that allegedly involves one of Ukraine's richest oligarchs. Both the oligarch and the Russian government rejected the allegations. In Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending a holiday weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern at the coup talk and renewed U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty and self-government. At a news c...
