Air raid sirens wailed across Ukraine early Thursday as Russia attacked with dozens of missiles, 24 hours after the U.S. and Germany pledged to send advanced battle tanks to halt the Russian invasion.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the United States would send 31 powerful Abrams tanks – the equivalent of one battalion – to Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that its frigate Admiral Gorshkov has successfully tested Zircon anti-ship hypersonic missiles that have a range of over 560 miles, i24NEWS reports. Much harder to track and intercept than traditional projectiles, hypersonic missiles can travel more than five times the speed of sound and maneuver in mid-flight.
Russia said on Monday that no new date had been set for talks with the United States on the New START nuclear arms treaty, accusing the U.S. of ramping up tensions between the two sides.
A former high-level agent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who in 2016 looked into U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s alleged ties to Moscow, has been detained over his own connections with Russia and other foreign governments, officials said Monday.
Pope Francis, who last year unexpectedly visited the Russian embassy in Rome, has expressed concerns about what he calls “the great pain” suffered by the people of Ukraine, where the government fears that Russia is preparing a major military offensive. His words came while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in Ukraine on Sunday after the Western NATO military alliance failed to unite on sending tanks to the war-facing nation over the weekend.
CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv last week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a US official said Thursday, in the latest example of high-level contacts between the US and Ukraine.
The NATO military alliance was to meet on Friday to discuss military support for Ukraine amid internal tensions after a new appeal for weapons from Ukraine’s embattled leader.
The U.S. is finalizing a massive package of military aid for Ukraine that U.S. officials say is likely to total as much as $2.6 billion. It’s expected to include for the first time nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles and at least 50 Bradley armored vehicles to allow Ukrainian forces to move more quickly and securely on the front lines in the war with Russia — but not the tanks that Ukraine has sought.
Authorities say as many as 17 people, including Ukraine’s interior ministry’s leadership and four children, were killed in a helicopter crash near a nursery in a suburb of Kyiv. The top officials’ deaths undermined Ukraine’s efforts to halt increased attacks by Russia’s invading army.
The U.S. is gearing up to announce a major new weapons package for Ukraine on Friday, as top military leaders from around the world gather in Germany to discuss how to help Kyiv in its fight against Russia, according to three U.S. officials and another person familiar with the discussions.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the tanks Britain plans to send to Ukraine “will burn,” warning the West that supplying a new round of more advanced weapons to Ukraine would not change the course of the war.
Russia detailed plans Tuesday to expand its military to 1.5 million personnel over the next few years, a move that comes as Ukraine warns that Moscow may be planning an offensive and increased tensions between Moscow and the United States and its allies.
Pope Francis urged prayers Sunday for those suffering in wartorn Ukraine on a day that authorities confirmed that at least 14 people were killed and 64 injured at an apartment block hit during a wave of Russian missile attacks across the country. The strikes came shortly after Moscow claimed victory in one of the war’s most brutal battles over a salt mine town in eastern Ukraine.
Russian mercenaries say they have found the body of one of two British voluntary aid workers reported missing in eastern wartorn Ukraine. The announcement came as Western intelligence sources said heavy fighting continued around the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, where Kyiv claims it killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in a single strike.
Ukraine defied claims by Russian mercenaries that they seized an eastern Ukrainian town on Wednesday. The capture of Soledar would have been the first Russian military victory in months. But as the day progressed, the Kremlin and Kyiv acknowledged heavy battles in the troubled region.
Russian mercenaries say they have retaken a contested Ukrainian town in the first Russian military victory in months after Moscow suffered significant setbacks.
The US has approved a further $3.075bn military aid package for Ukraine to continue to resist the Russian invasion, Army-Technology reports. This latest assistance package is the largest America has designated for Ukraine to date.
Wartorn Ukraine denied Sunday that Russia killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops in an attack.
Church services have begun in Ukraine to mark the first Orthodox Christmas since Russia invaded the country last year. Believers gathered despite violations of an Orthodox Christmas truce announced by Moscow.