Author: Reporter

Ukrainian pilots begin training on F-16 fighter jets at air base in the United States

The United States will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon said in August. The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense against invading Russian forces. The announcement came as President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to commemorate Ukraine’s Independence Day and to reiterate support for the effort to fight back Russian troops. The two discussed the F-16 training, and Biden assured Zelenskyy of an expedited approval for other...

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Ukrainian farmers trying to export grain have few options after Russian missile attacks on Odesa

The summer winds carried the smell of burned grain across the southern Ukrainian steppe and away from the shards of three Russian cruise missiles that struck the unassuming metal hangars. The agricultural company Ivushka applied for accreditation to export grain this year, but the strike in mid-July destroyed a large portion of the stock, days after Russia abandoned the grain deal that would have allowed the shipments across the Black Sea without fear of attack. Men shirtless and barefoot, with blackened soles from ash, swept unburnt grain into piles and awaited the loader, whose driver deftly steered around twisted...

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Navigating the world: Ukrainian soldiers blinded in combat face new kind of battle as civilians

Along a bustling street in a western Ukrainian city, Denys Abdulin takes his first independent strides since he was severely wounded and blinded while fighting invading Russian troops more than a year ago. The 34-year-old former soldier, wearing black glasses and gripping a white mobility cane, steps onto a more crowded stretch of sidewalk. His movements become tentative and tense. He accidentally blocks the path of a woman approaching an ATM to withdraw cash. Like many other pedestrians, she responds with a compassionate smile and gracefully moves aside. Gradually, Abdulin covers almost 3/10 of a mile, guided by a...

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A web of scars: Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers face an amputee trauma on a scale unseen since WWI

The small band of soldiers gather outside to share cigarettes and war stories, sometimes casually and sometimes with a degree of testiness over recollections made unreliable by their last day fighting, the day the war took away their limbs. Some clearly remember the moment they were hit by anti-tank mines, aerial bombs, a missile, a shell. For others, the gaps in their memories loom large. Vitaliy Bilyak’s skinny body is a web of scars that end with an amputation above the knee. During six weeks in a coma, Bilyak underwent over 10 surgeries, including his jaw, hand, and heel,...

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Trump’s favorite war criminal worms back into American politics as Putin supports his puppet

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin recently asserted that the criminal cases against disgraced ex-president Donald Trump were nothing more than political revenge, offering a series of toxic statements seen as his latest effort to sow discord by supporting his former right-wing ally. “As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy,” “Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons,” Putin said in Russia’s Pacific Coast...

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Black voters still waiting for new maps after SCOTUS redistricting ruling offered them hope of fairness

The Supreme Court’s decision siding with Black voters in an Alabama redistricting case gave Democrats and voting rights activists a surprising opportunity before the 2024 elections. New congressional maps would have to include more districts in Alabama and potentially other states where Black voters would have a better chance of electing someone of their choice, a decision widely seen as benefiting Democrats. It’s been more than three months since the justice’s 5-4 ruling, and maps that could produce more districts represented by Black lawmakers still do not exist. Alabama Republicans are hoping to get a fresh hearing on the...

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