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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 02-19-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
28-year-old Captain Maxim Kuzminov seized control of a Russian armored combat Mi-8 helicopter and brought it safely to an airbase in the Kharkiv region in August of 2023.
Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR), confirmed to Kyiv Post the death of Russian pilot Kuzminov, who seized control of a Russian armored combat Mi-8 helicopter and brought it safely to an airbase in the Kharkiv region back in August of 2023.
"We can confirm the fact of death," Yusov told Kyiv Post, providing no additional details.
Beyond doubt, the core question remained whether current Ukraine support hiccups are fixable – the answer was mainly yes, but only if the West has the political will to act accordingly.
Inside the halls of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, the unwanted ghost of Munich’s past — authoritarianism and appeasement — dominated the picture this weekend.
None of the conference participants would have wanted to dispute that a heavy feeling – that Europe has reached the end of peaceful times as we’ve known them since the end of World War Two – hung like thick air in the packed Munich corridors.
Despite congressional inaction to send much-needed military support to Ukraine, 73 percent of Americans say the war in Ukraine is important to American interests.
A new Pew Research poll finds that 74 percent of Americans believe that the war in Ukraine is important to US national interests with 43 percent of respondents saying that the war is “very important.” Among Democrats, 81 percent believe that Russia’s war against Ukraine is important to America’s interests, whereas only 69 percent of Republicans feel that way.
When examined at the micro-level, 34 percent say the war is “somewhat important” to them personally, while 25 percent say that the war in Ukraine is “very important” to them personally – representing, on the whole, 56 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats who feel the war is important to them on a personal level, with older Americans being more interested in the topic than younger citizens.
A renewed assault by Russian forces in the direction of Zaporizhzhia was successfully resisted by Ukrainian troops who destroyed large amounts of enemy equipment in the process.
The Western operational command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reported via Telegram that Ukrainian troops had repelled repeated attacks by Russian forces towards Zaporizhzhia.
“In the Zaporizhzhia direction, the enemy's offensive has been thwarted. Their personnel were fleeing. Their equipment has been destroyed... Welcome to hell, bastards,” the message read.
The following is Part Two of a four-part excerpt from the previously unpublished novel Ashen Glory: War Within, set during the four climactic days of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity in February 2014.
February 19, 2014: A Lull
Kremlin paratroopers and tanks over the weekend grabbed back part of the minimal gains managed by the Ukrainian army during its unsuccessful 2023 summer offensive.
Russian tanks and infantry launched a new round of assaults in the formerly quiet southern Zaporizhzhia sector, overwhelming forward Ukrainian positions and recovering some ground lost to a Kyiv offensive last summer.
The Kremlin armored attacks backed by artillery and air strikes hit the frontline villages Robotyne and Verbove. Both localities were liberated in June 2023, and held by Ukrainian forces since then, official reports and open-source accounts said on Monday.
Politics aside, just how much mineral wealth does Ukraine have, and what is the economic potential of the deposits should the plan go through and Ukraine is to pay back the loan through resources?
US Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed turning the aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan into a loan, where Kyiv can pay back the US with its vast mineral resources.
In an interview with CBS News, Graham said that “Europeans gave Ukraine $50 billion, 33 of it was a loan,” and that Washington should pursue a similar path as it is “$34 trillion in debt.”
The EU's foreign policy chief said that the one most responsible for the death of the Russian opposition leader was current President Vladimir Putin.
EU foreign ministers were meeting the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Monday to send a "message of support" to Kremlin opponents after his death in jail, the bloc's top diplomat said.
"We have to send a message of support to the Russian opposition," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating the shooting by Russian troops of captured POWs, including six Ukrainian soldiers in Avdiivka and two near Soledar.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has opened an investigation into two cases of Russian troops shooting Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Avdiivka and the village of Vesele, both in the Donetsk region.
“The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and a serious international crime,” read a statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Members of Ukraine’s underground observed the arrival of new Russian troops in Dzhankoy, occupied Crimea, some wearing the insignia of the Wagner mercenary group.
Ukrainian partisans posted images on their Telegram channel on Monday, Feb 19 that seems to show the arrival of Wagner mercenaries in Dzhankoy, in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
ATESH partisans reported seeing that many new Russian troops had appeared in Dzhankoy, among which some were wearing the “markings of the notorious Wagner PMC,” the partisans say.
Road traffic into the EU via Poland has been an export lifeline for Ukrainian companies since Russia's invasion complicated major trading routes through the Black Sea.
Ukraine's infrastructure minister said Monday that Polish protestors blocking the countries' shared border posed a "direct threat to the security" of Ukraine.
Polish truckers and farmers have been trying to block Ukrainian cargo trucks from entering the country for weeks, protesting what they say is unfair competition from their war-torn neighbors.
Japan will be able to gain benefits in the next few years that “you would not believe,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told a conference of some 300 government and business leaders.
On Monday Ukrainian and Japanese officials signed a mass of documents intended to help shore up Ukraine's economy and forge a long-term post-war partnership between the two countries.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the agreements give Japan a role in what will be the “economic miracle” of post-war Ukraine.
Four Belarus Red Cross officials have been backlisted by the EU for involvement in child deportations from Ukraine including their head.
Dzmitry Shautsou, the head of the Red Cross in Belarus has been added to the 13th package of EU sanctions against Russia for contributing to Russia’s forcible transfer of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories. Lukashenko's regime is accused of taking more than 2,400 Ukrainian children to 13 facilities in Belarus, according to a study by Yale University.
Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) had denounced him in its Written Statement addressed to the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (Sep. 11 – Oct. 13, 2023) and also in various reports about the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children by and to Russia.
A powerful documentary film chronicling the first month of the Mariupol siege wins the British Film Academy Awards. Kyiv Post spoke to its director, Mstyslav Chernov.
The Ukrainian documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” won an award for best documentary on Feb. 18 at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
The documentary was shot during the Russian siege of Mariupol in the first weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. An estimated 50,000 Ukrainians died as a result of the siege, which lasted for months until May 2022.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine claim to have shot down six Russian fighter aircraft in less than 72 hours.
In a series of significant blows to Russian forces' aircraft over the past three days, the Ukrainian Air Force took down two more fighter bombers, the SU-34 and SU-35, on Monday morning.
Confirming the success of the operation, Lieutenant General Nikolai Oleshchuk, commander of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "The eastern direction. Another two down: the Su-34 fighter-bomber and the Su-35S fighter! This is our land, and our sky! Thank you all for your hard work! To be continued!" Oleshchuk said.
Apart from capturing Avdiivka, the advances have renewed an agonising choice for Ukrainians in places like Selydove that could be next: flee now or hope their struggling army can save them.
Olena Obodets rushed to the hospital in east Ukraine moments after a Russian missile tore into its maternity ward last week, sparking a frantic evacuation of dozens of patients in the dead of night.
Days after the strike in the town of Selydove that killed a 36-year-old pregnant woman, a mother and her nine-year-old son, she dabbed her eyes with tissue as she recounted seeing the hospital's caved-in roof and building on fire.
Avdiivka falls to Kremlin’s Forces; Ukraine downs six Russian Military Jets in 72 hours; the Heavenly Hundred remembered on 10th anniversary; Zelensky addresses Munich conference.
Overview
Kremlin captures the embattled city of Avdiivka in the first major advance for Moscow in months
The deadly rebels of the so-called Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group are tearing apart Sudan aided by Russia through Wagner PMC.
Russia’s Wagner PMC has been supporting the anti-government Rapid Support Forces paramilitary militia fighting the Sudanese National Army and wreaking havoc and killing thousands in the African nation.
Last April, active war broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese National Army and the rebel group, the Rapid Support Forces militia. Thus far, the impact has been devastating; thousands were killed and millions displaced, and millions of children are subject to hunger, in addition to massive destruction in the infrastructure.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after spending more than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, will meet European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, the EU's foreign policy chief said.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after spending more than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters.
Beijing has faced accusations that it is supplying lethal arms to Russia, charges it has always denied.
China's foreign minister has told his Ukrainian counterpart that Beijing does not sell lethal weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine, a statement said Sunday.
Wang Yi told Dmytro Kuleba during a meeting on the sidelines of a major security conference in Munich on Saturday that China "does not take any advantage of the situation, and does not sell lethal weapons to conflict areas or parties to the conflict", according to a foreign ministry readout.
Due to shortages in manpower and ammunition, Ukraine had to retreat from the industrial center in the Donetsk region, giving Moscow its first significant territorial gain since May 2023.
Russian soldiers attacked multiple times to the west of Avdiivka, which was recently taken over, in an attempt to gain more ground, said a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army on Sunday.
Due to shortages in manpower and ammunition, Ukraine had to retreat from the industrial center in eastern Donetsk region, giving Moscow its first significant territorial gain since May 2023.
An evening memorial service in memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes of the was held in St. Michael’s Cathedral.
On Feb. 18 an evening memorial service began in the cathedral. After the memorial service, a traditional monument procession started from St. Michael’s Cathedral to the Alley of the Heavenly Hundred.
Capitalizing on its lithium reserves, Ukraine plans to boost domestic electric vehicle production, but the reality could be more challenging.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the country could kickstart an electric vehicle (EV) industry with its vast lithium reserves, which could satisfy domestic demand in five years and later lead to exports.
“Lithium deposits make it possible to create a full cycle of electric car production, not only for domestic needs but also for export,” said Shmyhal at a forum dedicated to the two-year anniversary of the Diia City special tax regime.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
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