Author: Reporter

While the world awaits Ukraine’s spring battlefield offensive, its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has launched a diplomatic one. In the span of a week, he has dashed to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France, Britain, and Japan to shore up support for defending his country. On May 19, he was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Arab leaders, some of whom are allies with Moscow. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, was in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, chairing a meeting with local officials, sitting at a large table at a distance from the other attendees. The Russian president has faced unprecedented...

For months, Western allies have shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons systems and ammunition to Ukraine with an urgency to get the supplies to Kyiv in time for an anticipated spring counteroffensive. Summer is now just around the corner. While Russia and Ukraine are focused on an intense battle for Bakhmut, the Ukrainian spring offensive has yet to begin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said it has been delayed because his country lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties. Weather and training are playing a role too, officials and defense experts say. Officials insist...

The remains of a U.S. Marine veteran who was missing in Ukraine for more than a year returned to the United States on May 19, and headed to his hometown in eastern North Carolina. A Turkish Airlines plane flying from Istanbul with the remains of retired Marine Captain Grady Kurpasi landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in the early evening. They were loaded onto a private jet bound for Wilmington, North Carolina. Kurpasi, a 50-year-old Iraq War veteran, volunteered in February 2022 to help evacuate Ukrainian residents and later fought in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, according...