Author: Reporter

The orders came from on high, from Ukraine’s president and one of his ministers: Get trains running again to the latest city newly retaken by our troops. “So literally: tanks, then trains,” said Ukrainian rail network boss Oleksandr Kamyshin, recalling the presidential instructions he received as the southern city of Kherson was being liberated in early November, ending eight months of Russian occupation. Among bitter lessons that Ukrainians have had to learn in the nearly nine months since Russia invaded is that what is here today can be destroyed tomorrow and that nothing in war can be taken for...

Ukrainian authorities endeavored on Holodomor Memorial Day to restore electricity and water services after recent pummeling by Russian military strikes that vastly damaged infrastructure, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying millions have seen their power restored since blackouts swept the war-battered country days earlier. Skirmishes continued in the east and residents from the southern city of Kherson headed north and west to flee after punishing, deadly bombardments by Russian forces in recent days. The strikes have been seen as attempts at Russian retribution against Ukraine’s beleaguered but defiant people, after Ukrainian troops in early November liberated the city that had...

Experts from Ukraine have joined Polish and American investigators who are looking into a missile blast that killed two men in eastern Poland this week. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on November 18 that the Ukrainian experts were at the grain-drying facility in the Polish village of Przewodow where the missile landed on November 15. The village is located about 4 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine. “We will continue our cooperation in an open and constructive manner, as closest friends do,” Kuleba tweeted. “I am grateful to the Polish side for granting them access.” Polish media reported...

Rolling blackouts across Ukraine may continue through March, according to one of the country’s energy chiefs, as Ukrainians brace for a grim winter after weeks of relentless Russian strikes against its power grid. Sergey Kovalenko, CEO of private energy provider DTEK Yasno, said in a Facebook post on November 21 that the company was under instructions from Ukraine’s state grid operator to resume emergency blackouts in the areas it covers, including the capital Kyiv and the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. “Although there are fewer blackouts now, I want everyone to understand: Most likely, Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts...

In the time since the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was liberated, residents cannot escape reminders of the terrifying eight months they spent under Russian occupation. People are missing. There are mines everywhere, closed shops and restaurants, a scarcity of electricity and water, and explosions day and night as Russian and Ukrainian forces battle just across the Dnieper River. Despite the hardships, residents are expressing a mix of relief, optimism, and even joy — not least because of their regained freedom to express themselves at all. “Even breathing became easier. Everything is different now,” said Olena Smoliana, a pharmacist...

Diplomats are drumming up money and other support on November 21 for Europe’s poorest country, Moldova, which is suffering massive blackouts, heavy refugee flows and potential security threats from the war in neighboring Ukraine. The international aid conference in Paris was aimed at “concrete and immediate assistance” for the land-locked former Soviet republic, according to the French Foreign Ministry. Two previous conferences for Moldova this year raised hundreds of millions of euros, but as the war drags on, its needs are growing. “This international support is all the more important as Moldova is currently facing an unprecedented energy crisis...