Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Russian media shared information about the supposed occupation of Kamianka village in the Dvorichna community of Kharkiv Oblast the “Khortytsia” operational-strategic group of forces that’s responsible for this part of the frontline refuted this statement “Ukrainian positions certainly remained there (in Kamianka — ed.) on yesterday’s evening,” said Viktor Trehubov the speaker of the “Khortytsia,” to Gwara Media a village on the right bank of the Oskil River with some zones of it “undefined.” Most of the village is under Ukraine’s control Earlier, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that the Russian forces resumed their offensives In response to Vladimir Putin’s proposal to establish ceasefire for 80th anniversary of “Victory Day,” Zelenskyy said: “Another attempt at manipulation: for some reason everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire – just to provide Putin with silence for his parade That’s why we believe – and the world believes – that there is no reason to wait until May 8 Over April 28, Russians tried to break Ukrainian defenses near Vovchansk city, Vovchanski Khutory, Zapadne, and Mala Shapkivka villages in the Kharkiv direction, reported the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces On April 29, Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv Oblast governor, reported that the Russian troops launched 20 attack drones and 31 aerial guided bombs at Kharkiv Oblast, injuring two men. Subscribe to news from Kharkiv, UkraineMost important stories from the frontline region Google Facebook Or Register from Google Register from Facebook Or Website materials are permitted only with an active link to “GWARA MEDIA,” not lower than the third paragraph The use of digital platform content is allowed with textual attribution Content for documentary films and integrated products is permitted The site was modernized with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy in 2023 ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " The press service of the Operational Tactical Group Kharkiv announced this on Telegram "The operational situation has not changed significantly and remains difficult the Russian occupiers launched an airstrike using three glide bombs and fired 749 times at the positions of Ukrainian defenders Five enemy attempts to breach our defensive lines in the areas of Vovchansk and Fyholivka were successfully repelled,” the report reads destroyed 98 pieces of weapons and military equipment the total combat losses of the Russian army from February 24 in the war against Ukraine are estimated at approximately 929,000 personnel with 1,420 troops killed or wounded in the past day alone While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 Residents of the village of Kamianka in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region are attempting to rebuild their lives by building houses upon their return which had a population of approximately 1,200 before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war was captured by the Russian army in March 2022 following intense attacks and remained in Russian hands for about six months before Ukrainian forces regained control of the village in September last year Almost all of the houses in Kamianka were seriously damaged in the attacks and Ukrainians who returned to the village are repairing their homes while some are re-building them altogether The same goes for the houses in the village my brother and my sister were destroyed down to their foundations Our homes were all destroyed by the Russians," Volodymyr Korniycha told Anadolu Saying the reason for his return to Kamianka is due to being born here Volodymyr noted that around 70 residents have returned to the village We took our dogs with us and left," Volodymyr's wife Lydmila Korniycha told Anadolu Lydmila said they stayed with their relatives in the country's Dnipropetrovsk region for a while we returned to the village and started a new life." The opening ceremony of the 32 MW Kamianka solar power plant was held in Ukraine earlier today The event focused on the company’s achievements in the field of sustainable development in addition to celebrate the start of commercial operation of the power plant earlier this year The overall goal of the company is to provide competitive and sustainable renewable energy the three pillars for achieving it are defined as following: managing environmental and social impact being a trusted business partner and contributing to local value creation Scatec allocates funds for social initiatives development or establishment of infrastructure restoration of water supply in the villages of Cherkasy region and free English courses in Kamianka The total investment in such projects in Ukraine as of today is over 16.5 million hryvnias They are all designed with a long-term understanding and aim to create social and economic sustainability in communities “Scatec is more than just business – it’s deep and honest care about people in locations we work We are proud and grateful to have good cooperation on sustainability projects in Kamianka the company allocates funds for the development of communities in cities and villages Social projects implemented by Scatec in Ukraine are designed with a long-term understanding as our goal is to create social and economic sustainability in communities Our cooperation with community members is based on a transparent process of public hearings joint discussions of local issues and constant collection of feedback” Scatec started its journey in Ukraine in 2017 we have installed solar power plants with a total capacity of 336 MW when all completed will supply 157,000 households with electricity and contribute to avoid almost 160,000 tonnes of GHG emissions Read more about our projects in Ukraine here Design and development by Stem Agency Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Kim Sengupta returns to Kamianka in eastern Ukraine – the scene of one of the most extraordinary exchanges he has witnessed during the 21-month war – to hear about the struggle to rebuild amid accusations of Russian collusion and vast destruction I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Kamianka lies in a charming valley of bright flowers and lush trees It used to be portrayed as a model village for a contented life in rural idyll It was also a place of archaeological and geological lure with its rare bronze age and Scythian sites and Jurassic limestone cliffs attracting visitors from afar The settlement, set in a sleepy hollow, was established in the 18th century by a count from the Tsar of Russia’s court who had returned from Britain with new methods of farming and an English bride Keen to put his new knowledge into practice constructed roads and funded a church and a school But Kamianka, in eastern Ukraine, also has a dark history of violence. Its strategic position on the banks of the Siversky Donets River made it a battleground for armies over the ages. One of the bloodiest encounters was fought during the Second World War between Soviet and German forces, leaving thousands dead. The Waffen SS set up a prison camp nearby woods in which captured partisan fighters and local civic leaders were tortured and executed. Kamianka, however, recovered from the ravages of that war and began to slowly prosper. A lucrative agricultural plant, a modern health centre, a lyceum with scientific facilities, a sports stadium and a community centre attracted people from neighbouring cities and towns. The village’s original church, dismantled during Soviet times, with its stones used to build an airfield was replaced with a wooden one which was praised for its cupola which became a destination for pilgrimage. The tranquil life was shattered with Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February 2022. In early March Ukrainian forces became engaged in prolonged and fierce combat with the Russian troops who were attempting a pincer movement into Kharkiv, the country’s second city. For months the village, and surrounding areas, experienced airstrikes, artillery duels and firefights on its narrow streets and through the houses. Russian forces captured Kamianka after weeks of bloody fighting. They stayed there until driven out six months later when Ukrainian troops swept out of Kharkiv in an offensive which reclaimed a wide swathe of territory in a major change in the tide of the war putting the invaders on the defensive. What was left of Kamianka was in ruins. The church, lyceum and agricultural plant had been destroyed as were almost all of the houses: not one building escaped damage. Some of the inhabitants had been killed. Some arrested and disappeared. The rest had fled to places of greater safety. The fate of Kamianka is in many ways what has befallen Ukraine in microcosm, reflecting the bitterness, sorrow and pity of this war. There were murders and mass graves; treachery and torture. Prosecutors gathered evidence of human rights abuse ; exhumed bodies piled up in morgues in Kharkiv. Families continue desperate searches for those missing, seeking their graves as hopes of finding them alive fade away. A handful of residents who returned to the village after the Russians left found a lethal legacy of fighting and occupation --- unexploded ordnance, concealed booby traps and mines. Soon these began to maim and kill as had been the enemy’s intention. Serhei and Iryna Olynik’s house had been used, like many others in the village, to quarter Russian troops. They found a parting message left on a mirror in a bedroom written with Irnyna’s lipstick: “Thanks for everything; whatever happens for now, we’ll win at the end”. They also found what they call “gifts” left behind by the Russians, explosive devices hidden inside the rooms and out in the garden. In the first week, 28 of them were found and disposed by Serhei and his son Maxim . The 29th, planted at the base of a tree, exploded, spraying shrapnel into Serhei’s face and blinding him in one eye. “At first we asked the army and the police to help clear the bombs, but they were too busy. So I started collecting them myself and putting them in a hole. The security people would come when they were in this area and blow them up,” says Serhei. “There was a cherry tree which needed to be cut back. I was doing that with my axe one afternoon and this bomb just blew up. All I remember was burning hot sharp metal on my face. The pain was intense, blood was coming out of my eyes, and then everything became dark.” Maxim drove Serhei to a hospital in Kharkiv. One of his eyes was saved, but the sight was lost in the other. The initial emergency operation was free, but further surgery is needed at a cost of between $800 and $1,000 (£640 and £800). The family are not sure where they are going to get the money from for that to be carried out. The Olyniks, friendly and hospitable despite their travails, present watermelons from their garden and honey from Serhei’s beehives. They have packed a fridge with fruit and vegetables from their demined allotment and are giving food to neighbours and to charities. Two large freezers in the corner of a storeroom was padlocked. Iryna opens one of slightly to reveal the reason why. The stench coming from it was pungent, heavy, and sickly sweet – the smell of the rotting dead. “We called the police to come and deal with this, and they said 'you’re 20,000th in the queue for something like that”, says Iryna. “We thought about just taking the freezers and burying them in the woods. But there could be human bodies in them. We were told later that the investigators are coming, but we don’t know when that’s going to happen.” Many bodies have already been found buried in the woods nearby, in shallow graves. Volodymyr Komischen came across a dozen of them in a ditch near his farmhouse, the topsoil washed away by days of heavy rain. “There were around 20 bodies, most of them Ukrainian soldiers in uniforms. But there were also some people in ordinary clothes. All were men. They look like they had been shot in the head,” Volodymyr recalls. “The army and police came with forensics people and took away the bodies. They told me there were other bodies in these hills.” A few weeks later, clearing a field of unexploded device – he had already found more than 50 – Volodymyr found another grave, this time of dismembered body parts. “That was very strange. We were asking ourselves ‘how did they get there, what happened to these people?’” he says. “The police came and took these away as well. I don’t know whether they had managed to match identities. There are people we know who have been killed, but the bodies have not been found, these parts could have been of them.” There were around 20 bodies, most of them Ukrainian soldiers in uniforms One of those feared to be dead is Volodymyr’s friend and neighbour, Volodymyr Lokotash, who was urged to flee for safety after the Russians took over the area. But he remained and paid the price. “I was leaving with my family and told him Volodya he should do the same”, says Volodymyr. “But there was a problem. Volodya had a drink problem in the past. He had been dry for ten years. But with the war and the Russian attack and everything he had started to drink again. He said he wanted to spend the night sobering up before driving. He was offered lifts, but didn’t want to leave his car because he thought It’d be stolen. “He didn’t get the chance to leave. The roads became closed and he went off to hide in the village. Soldiers from the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk Peoples Republic (DNR) said later they had found two young men hiding in a basement and they had thrown grenades in. We think Volodya was one of the two killed. The bodies were taken out, but we don’t know what happened to them, we don’t know about a lot of the terrible things that happened at the time.” Aleksandr Lutai thinks he does know what happened to the 20 soldiers found in the ditch. He is hesitant to talk about it because of fear that the Russians may yet come back and did not want some of what he described published. Aleksandr was arrested after the village was occupied by DNR troops. They accused him of helping Ukrainian forces. He was repeatedly beaten while being questioned, but told he was being freed after two days of captivity. “Before they let me go, they said ‘we want you to see something’. They took me up to some high ground, on the field below there were some Ukrainian soldiers who had been taken prisoner. They all had their hands tied behind their back, I could see most of them were very young”, he says. “Some were already dead: they started shooting the others. I saw it all, I could hear their cries. I am pretty sure that the bodies found were of these soldiers. I felt very sorry for those poor guys. I was also very scared: I feel scared even now whenever I think about it. That is all I want to say about this, that is all”. Others experienced the agony of seeing their family members killed. Volodymyr Brezkrovnyz was at home when street fighting erupted in the village. There was an explosion. Shrapnel came flying through the window and hit him on the back of the head. “He pitched forward and fell on the table, the rest of us in the room had to dive to the floor. When we got up we saw that the back of Volodymyr’s skull had gone. He was still alive though,” says Stepan Mikhailovich, his stepfather. “There was shooting all around. I tried to step out to get help, but immediately got shot at. So all we could do was put Volodya in a bed and pray that he would stay alive until we could take him to a hospital.” Volodymyr, 36 years old, died two days later. “We kept on saying to him that he’ll be alight, he was mostly unconscious, but would sometimes open his eyes. We feared that he wouldn’t survive. When the fighting had got a bit quieter, we wrapped Volodya in a sheet and set off for the cemetery”, says Stepan. “But then the firing started again. People told us that the dead and wounded should be left outside the school, ambulances would go there later. So that’s what we did, we left him there with the others. There was nothing else we could do. We found Volodymyr’s body a week later, the Russians had kicked it on to the fields behind the school.” Some of the dead did get buried during the fighting, in gardens. But not necessarily their own. Serhyi Sportak was killed in crossfire when he ventured outside. The burial, however, was at the back of his neighbour Galyna Bondarenko’s home. “We all met and it was decided the grave should be under the trees behind my house. It was safer, I had a goat which had eaten the grass and it was easier to see if any mines were hidden there, another neighbour Valeryi Hrusko dug the grave,” 55-year-old Galyna, a tiny woman, explains. The burial fortunately took place without any incident. The goat itself was not so lucky, however. “A few days later it stepped on a mine and got blown up. The Russians ate it. They offered ne some of the meat, but I couldn’t eat her, I’ve had her since she was a baby,” Galyna says in a sad voice. Galyna herself had a lucky escape. “The Russians made a group of us run down the road in front of them while fighting with the Ukrainians. There were shots all around us, I didn’t think we were going to live. But God protected us and so I can be here today”, she says, crossing herself. Valeryi Hrusko, who had dug the grave for Serhyi Sportak, was himself injured by a boobytrap ten days later. Abandoned ammunition boxes had become a useful source of firewood with no fuel available, and he had gone to a nearby field to salvage a batch. “The device must have been underneath the boxes; movement triggered it and I lost a foot, I didn’t know how bad it was until I was taken to hospital,” he says. Doctors in Kharkiv operated on his injury, but the amputation was, he has been told, carried out at the “wrong place” in the leg. Fitting the right prosthetics has been difficult as a result. “I can’t drive my tractor any longer and have difficulty moving around”, says Valeryi. “But I cannot complain, I’m alive, people face problems at a time of war.” There was one problem that he and his family had not foreseen. Rumours began to circulate that they were colluding with the occupiers. The Hrusko’s sons, Nicolai and Volodymyr, had left the village and had defected, it was claimed, to Russia, where they had been given apartments for services rendered. “All this is nonsense, it caused a lot of trouble and we don’t know why this started”, says Valeryi’s wife, Ludmilla Sergeyeva, her hitherto serene demeanour became agitated as she describes what happened. “Nicolai and his family were in Izyum where a lot of fighting began. The only safe route was to Belgorod, which as you know, is just across the [Russian] border, and that’s where they went. They were only there for a short time and then they came back, that is all, no once changed sides.” Ludmilla wants to point out that she and her family had looked after Ukrainian soldiers who had become trapped in the village when Russian forces came in. That was the last time we saw them. They tried to get away soon after that. They had to “Our sons heard the soldiers were hiding in the basement and we started taking them food and water. Then they asked us to stop, they said we could be followed and then both they and us would be in danger”, she said. “That was the last time we saw them. They tried to get away soon after that. They had to, the Russians were throwing grenades into houses, into the basements. Two of the Ukrainian boys were killed when they made a run for it, two got away, and two were arrested. We don’t know what happened to them afterwards, they may have been shot.” There are accusations that collaborators were responsible for others who had gone missing. They include 53-year-old Andriy Osadchy, who had been looking after his ill mother, aged 85, when he disappeared. I first heard about Andriy when I met his brother Aleksandr Osadchy in March last year in Kharkiv with the city fighting off Russian forces. Between rounds of missiles, he told me that his mother had been killed in shelling at her home in Kamianka. His brother had buried her in the village and then gone off to join his old army unit in the Donbas city of Slovyansk. It was the Autumn before 60-year-old Aleksandr found out what had really happened to his brother. He told me: “Communications were very hard at the time, places were changing hands fast. I was told about my mother’s death by some people and accepted what I was told. I had been in regular phone contact with my brother and then that suddenly stopped; the number became dead. Now I know that was when he was captured and probably killed. “A little later I tried again, and the phone number was back on. A voice speaking Russian with a Chechen accent answered. He became threatening, saying he was going to find and kill me. I realised that the Russians had Andriy’s phone, but knew nothing more. I thought he may have dropped it on the frontline. But now I think I was speaking to my brother’s killer.” Aleksandr went to Kamianka to bury his mother, who had died with no one to look after her after Andriy was taken away. He was told by local people that a family in the village, the Zdozovets, had sold out Andriy to the Russians. I had, by coincidence, met the Zdozovets when I went to Kamianka last October. Other residents had pointed them out as collaborators. The family complained that the allegation was totally unfair. “People saw Russian soldiers come in here, but what could we do? The soldiers had guns, they wanted milk, they wanted potatoes. Sometimes they gave a little food in return,” the matriarch of the family Natalya Zdozovets, had told me. “Just because we hadn’t been killed or injured they thought we were on the Russian side. But we did not side with them, God protected us. Now people are saying we are informers, we have been questioned by the police and SBU [Ukrainian intelligence services] and we have got a bad name.” Alesksandr Osadchy decided to speak to the Zdozovets in Kamianka and asked me to go along with him when he heard that I had met them already. Against the pleas of his wife he took his sidearm, a Glock pistol along too. My Ukrainian colleague, Demian, and pressed on him the need to stay calm: he assured us he would not do anything rash. The encounter with Natalya and her son Yuri Zdozovets was tense, poignant and extraordinary. “My brother Andryi was kidnapped, tortured and murdered here, did you play a part in this? Do you know what they did with the body, where they buried him?” Aleksandr asked Zdozovets. Quietly, he spoke of how his 85-year-old mother, Maria, died of starvation: ill, frightened and alone after his brother Aleksandr was taken away by Russian troops. And how her emaciated body, curled up in an effort to stay warm, was found six months later. The Zdozovets told me when I met them that there have been summary killings by the Russians, including a former soldier shot dead near the village school whose description seems to march Andriy. However, they failed to mention this to Aleksandr. Standing outside their house, with dogs barking, the Zdozovets repeatedly denied they had anything to do with Andriy’s death. Aleksandr waited. There appeared to be an impasse between the accused and the accuser as they stood in the bitter cold and whipping wind, the road a churn of ice and mud. Both parties lapsed into silence. Yuri wrung his hands, his eyes darted sideways, he licked his cracked lips. His mother’s look flicks between him and the major and the gun in the major’s holster. Yuri suddenly blurted out: “I only know what the DNR soldiers told me. They went to your mother’s house, she was in the basement. They found your brother, and interrogated him because he was in the Ukrainian military, and then, and then he was executed, that’s all I know, I swear.... There are a few people who may know what happened to Andriy, I’ll tell you who they are.” Aleksandr nodded. “Let’s start, I’m listening...” he said. Yuri gave three names. “They had been telling people they knew nothing about my brother, but know a lot more. If they tell me where I can find Andriy’s body it would be a huge step. I will bury him next to my mother”, Aleksandr said. "He looked after her every day, every hour. She must have been so scared at the end with neither of us there. We were a close family.” The search for the lost ones of Kamianka continues. The Zdozovets and other alleged collaborators remain under investigation. Accusations and recriminations continue among the residents and those who left to stay elsewhere. A few more families have returned to the village. But repairing the damage remains a difficult and costly affair, with no significant state financial support likely to come in the near future. Some who had returned are planning to go away again with a harsh winter ahead. The owner of an agricultural plant, Valeryi Vertsun, pointed out that It was once the main employer for the surrounding area. Getting the business going again will attract people back and bolster Kamianka and its hinterland. “I put seven million dollars into the plant and now that’s gone. I’m trying to find a million to get going again, speaking to some organisations abroad. Starting again will provide jobs and generate income. “I think we can pay back the loan. This is a region of wheat and corn, and there’s plenty of demand with the exports going through again. The Russians wrecked a lot of the machinery and looted bits. But they couldn’t take the heavy stuff and I am getting spare parts for them from Canada. I really think we can get going again.” But the shadow of war is never far away. As Ukrainian forces struggle for a breakthrough on their offensives in the south and east, the Russians are launching their own counterattacks, focusing on the city of Kupiansk, three hours tank drive from Kharkiv. “I know, we keep on hearing about the Russians trying to get back this way again, that’s worrying,” says Valeryi. “But we all think our forces will drive them back with all the help we are getting from our Western friends. “We have to move on as a people surely, we need to start rebuilding out country, place by place, get our communities back together," he adds. "Kamianka was once such a wonderful place to live, we can’t just let go of what we had. It’s going to be tough, but we’ll get there, Kamianka will get there, I’m sure.” Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies govt and politics","score":0.757229}],"mantis":[{"label":"law_govt_politics","score":0.757229},{"label":"Business","score":0.937939},{"label":"389","score":1},{"label":"Property","score":0.937939},{"label":"Young_Familiescap","score":0.750389},{"label":"travelcap","score":0.750389},{"label":"NewsJunkies","score":0.940373},{"label":"SME","score":0.937939}]},"sentiment":"negative"},"article":{"title":"Bombs betrayal and burying loved ones: Plight of one Ukraine village illustrates toll of Russia’s invasion","description":"Kim Sengupta returns to Kamianka in eastern Ukraine – the scene of one of the most extraordinary exchanges he has witnessed during the 21-month war – to hear about the struggle to rebuild amid accusations of Russian collusion and vast destruction Her eyes strayed off to the right, where they were looking directly down the barrel of a gun. At the end of the interview, Yahupova was forced back into a small prison cell crammed with half a dozen other women. Yahupova, who was convicted on false charges, was surrounded by prisoners accused of robbery and murder. Over the next five months, Yahupova says she was held as a prisoner in occupied Ukraine, simply because her husband was a Ukrainian soldier. She says she was tortured, threatened with murder, paraded on Kremlin-run media channels multiple times, and trafficked to a labor camp where she was forced to dig trenches for Russian brigades and help in the war effort. Now safe in Kyiv, Yahupova, 51, told The Daily Beast what it was like to be a prisoner of Russia and a pawn of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda. “They were not shooting people on the street, but they blocked the main roads,” recalled Yahupova from her apartment in Kyiv. “They put up their checkpoints. They took over all the administrative buildings and enterprises, and many stores stopped working. Banks were closed. So you see, we changed to being under occupation,” she added. For eight months, Yahupova lived alone in the town with her dog. Her husband, Arthur Yahupov, was fighting in Ukraine’s military on the front line in Kharkiv. Under Russian occupation, Yahupova said that some of the neighbors she had once been friendly with began to collaborate with the Russian military, telling them that Yahupova’s husband was a soldier. “People who were previously in jail, they became the rulers. It happened that for the people who didn’t have a very good job, [collaborating] was a way to get into higher positions,” Yahupova explained, she said they took their knowledge of their neighbors and used it to ingratiate themselves with the occupying soldiers. Yahupova says Russian soldiers appeared at her apartment and told her she would be taken to the police station for questioning She says it turned into hours of interrogation and torture Yahupova said she was beaten over the head with a bottle of water that cracked her head open She says she was tortured for being married to a Ukrainian soldier and claimed Russian soldiers demanded information on her husband’s location and to name people in Kamianka Dniprovska who were pro-Ukrainian but was held for hours as blood dripped down the back of her neck throughout the interrogation she says she was thrown into a prison cell without receiving medical attention Yahupova said she was taken out of the cell and interrogated multiple times she says she was tortured and hit repeatedly over the head while Russian soldiers threatened to kill her Yahupova says Russian soldiers decided they either needed to charge her with a crime or let her go so they settled on charging her with extremism and helping to direct Ukrainian artillery fire She says she was forced to take part in the RIA Novosti interview As we watched the video back in her apartment where two trucks filled with Russian soldiers conducted a search on a house she owned The video was set to suspenseful music and showed footage from soldiers’ body cameras as they held their guns while searching rooms in the house the video zooms in on a Ukrainian military badge and passport-style pictures of a Ukrainian soldier who was a friend of Yahupova Arthur Yahupov came in as the video ended and placed a tray with tea and three cups on a stool Yahupova’s videos had circulated on Russian and Ukrainian social media channels one of the pair’s daughters saw the video and sent it to their father I understood she had been taken by the Federal Security Service (FSB),” said Arthur They have spread misinformation by claiming that the war in Ukraine is a hoax; that Russia does not target civilian infrastructure; that the massacre in Bucha was staged Russian war propaganda is disseminated across a large number of traditional media channels and online to indoctrinate Russian people with pro-war sentiment The Kremlin’s spending on mass media for the first quarter of 2022 was 322 percent higher than for the same period in 2021 Almost 70 percent of Russia’s spending on mass media was spent in March and the outlets that received the funds included Russian Today and Rossiya Segodnya which broadcast Yahupova’s initial interview Yahupova told me that her words were twisted and distorted by RIA Novosti to align with their narrative that she was part of a plot to attack the Russian military in Kamianka Dniprovska and then they were putting my answers into a narrative putting one on top of it on the other and then just falsifying it,” said Yahupova as she showed me the video “And it looks like I was giving the coordinates of the residential estate for our Ukrainian army and for the Ukrainian army to bomb the residential estate,” she added Yahupova was held in the prison cell in Kamianka Dniprovska where she says she was fed oatmeal once or twice a day and slept on the cold concrete floor as there were only three beds in the room Yahupova said the prisoners were forced to learn the Russian national anthem every day and beaten if they made any mistakes and Yahupova says Russian soldiers at the prison became afraid that Ukrainian missiles would bomb the building or Kamianka Dniprovska would be liberated Yahupova said that soldiers decided to move everyone at the prison to a labor camp elsewhere in the Zaporizhzhia region In the dead of winter at the camp, Yahupova said she and her fellow inmates were forced to dig trenches “Every day from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., and sometimes there were days from 6 a.m. to 4 a.m., we needed to dig trenches.” Yahupova says the Russian soldiers told her, “Now you’re gonna be working for the prosperity of the Russian Federation. Go dig trenches.” “It was January, and it was very muddy. There were also other people who were captured back in the summer. They didn’t even have any winter clothes,” said Yahupova. The Russian troops Yahupova dug trenches for depended on the week. One time, it was the 23rd Brigade; another, it was the 60th Brigade. According to the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHR), torture and threats are common in Russian prisons. OCHR has located 161 detention centers throughout Russia The report says many of the 864 cases of arbitrary detention have amounted to enforced disappearance Yahupova showed me an interview she was forced to do while she was a prisoner at the labor camp She and the two other men were shown holding hands as they walked into the distance Another video of Yahupova and the two other men were forced to film shown being “released” from a Russian labor camp A narrating voice told the camera that the three were being released and walking towards a “gray area” neither occupied by Russians nor Ukrainians Yahupova said the video was supposed to let the Russians “wash their hands” of the prisoners the three prisoners were brought back to the camp it seemed that Yahupova would not be able to leave the camp She says Russian soldiers told her would be a prisoner of the Kremlin for the rest of her life a Russian soldier stationed at the camp had a moment of sympathy for the inmates what Yahupova referred to as the “human factor.” The soldier allowed a prisoner to use his phone to call a relative who eventually contacted higher-ups in Moscow and got the camp to let all of the civilians go Yahupova was brought back to her occupied town where she says she found that her dog had been killed by Russian soldiers she says a solider told her what she had experienced was illegal but not to mention it to anyone Yahupova shows a photograph from her wedding ceremony with her husband Yahupova was finally allowed to meet with her partner and held a church wedding after being married in a civil ceremony years before Yahupova walked to a set of wooden drawers and showed me a large picture that had been taken at their wedding ceremony Yahupova’s husband Arthur wore his military uniform and smiled She wore a traditional yellow and blue Ukrainian dress Yahupova then showed me more pictures of her three daughters growing up Yahupova only stayed in Kamianka Dniprovska for a few days before she escaped but the pictures were some of the valuables she took with her In the darkest moments of her prison sentence Yahupova told me she held onto the memories of her family to keep her sane But she said that after five months of torture and abuse at the hands of Russian prisoners Although she has found the strength to speak about her experience openly I don’t think I will ever be back to normal.” Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here journalist based in Berlin and contributor to The Daily Beast They have been patiently cleaning the kitchen and one room of the single-floor house where they had lived for decades there is now an abandoned machine gun nest; at the edge of what used to be the vegetable garden lie the charred remains of an armored vehicle Olga and Serhii remove debris and pick up souvenirs scattered on the ground “It took us years to build it and we will return as soon as we can fit out at least one room to sleep in At the gates of the house Serhii stokes a bonfire in which he burns rags and pieces of wood that were once furniture Kamianka is one of the villages along the desolate road between Izium and Sloviansk, in the Kharkiv province of northeastern Ukraine A ruined monastery where an Orthodox monk wanders around Metal roofs filled with holes from gunfire and turned into twisting figures that resemble plasticine Some are visible to the naked eye and there are blast craters in the fields fertile pastures of rapeseed and grain are now impassable So are the gardens of the village’s houses the first plane appeared and 80% of the population left The Russians at one point were 100 meters from German positions during World War II History repeats itself.” Izium was occupied by Germany from June 1942 until February 1943 However, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last Sunday about Bakhmut the problem with some areas that have been on the front lines is there is little remaining: they have been devastated to such an extent that they exist only in the memory of their former inhabitants “There was terrible fighting and now all the houses are razed to the ground Olga and Serhii are convinced that within a month they will be able to live in their house again, but seeing the state of the rooms and the garden, it is hard to share their optimism. If they do return, they will be alone. The school is in ruins and the houses All that is left is rubble and the remains of abandoned lives: books one was detonated by a passing car and another by a tractor They fled to Romania at the end of March last year They say that the battles were so fierce that there was no longer any point in hiding in their shelter Their house was occupied by Russian soldiers The door of the shed still has a letter Z painted on it In the garden there is an ammunition box dating from 1988 The occupiers dug tank positions on either side of the house with the inevitable result: it was shelled four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren Their son lives in Kharkiv and their daughter in Izium Both of their homes in Kamianka have been completely destroyed One granddaughter went to Germany with her two-month-old baby another has settled in Romania with her two children and another “They are scattered around the world,” Serhii laments “And who knows when we will be able to meet again is holding her cell phone in her hand watching a video of Yaroslav dancing on a carpet on a loop The number of internally displaced persons and refugees as a result of the war is more than 13 million according to the latest data from the United Nations Refugee Agency Two neighbors suddenly appear and Olga goes over to say hello Their house has been destroyed by artillery They show photos of what their home was like before the war: a nice wooden kitchen They don’t hold out much hope of being able to return but they have come back to salvage what memories they can despairs when she finds a book by one of her favorite poets Their house was also occupied by Russian troops and army ration boxes litter the floor “The Russians have taken everything,” Anna says the washing machine.” Anna walks around her ruined house with tears in her eyes She and her husband don’t expect to return to Kamianka in the short or medium term We had been building and improving this house over 15 years and look at it now Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition some pink recycled windows make a big difference tucked into a valley near Izium in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region Victor and Larysa Sysenko were in triumphant mood: Victor had just managed to finish getting a roof on their house Soon after the launch of the full-scale invasion it was caught between the Russians as they tried to advance towards Donetsk from the north the village was occupied by the Russians and reduced to ruins A couple of weeks after the area was liberated on 11 September last year the Sysenkos returned home to a terrible shock Burned-out tanks and armoured vehicles lay strewn in the lanes so much garbage and waste of the Russians” it was full of their clothes and underwear.” There was no electricity and since the departing occupiers had stolen the pump from their well There was no chance of making their home habitable over the harsh Ukrainian winter But they returned this March and immediately started to clear up – and rebuild their shattered home One of the village’s most pressing needs is for windows Amid the rest of the destruction in the village a problem that stretches across Ukraine since every missile or rocket attack on a building will probably also blow out the glass of its immediate neighbours One of the characteristic sounds of the war is the harsh tinkle of broken glass as it is swept up many city-centre windows are boarded up – or crisscrossed with tape to lessen the danger of flying shards in the event of a blast gathers unwanted windows – those removed during renovation projects for example – and sends them to Ukraine to be recycled into damaged buildings or used in new-builds are sporting rather jaunty pink-framed windows from a recently demolished office block in Warsaw And why their friends Volodymyr and Liudmyla Korniycha have chosen a window for their daughter’s bedroom that was donated The Sysenkos and the Korniychas had been reluctant to leave after the full-scale invasion began last year their homes were their livelihood: they had their cows to think of A pink recycled window from a Polish office block Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The GuardianSoon they had little choice “The scariest thing was the fighter jets dropping bombs,” said Larysa “First they hit the agricultural building where Victor works Then they hit the school and the petrol station.” After the Russians hit their neighbours’ house with a Grad rocket It has been a similar story for the Korniychas They returned to the village to find just a single wall of their house still standing and their cows either lost “or shot and eaten by the Russians” they did not hesitate to move back this spring The families’ return has been painful and difficult – but also a remarkable act of resilience Volodymyr was determined to sow a small field with sunflowers and since there was no outside help he simply set about it himself For this dangerous task he used a shovel and a pair of long-handled secateurs – the tool the family usually uses for picking fruit ripening on the highest branches of their pear trees. For the Korniychas to farm on the usual scale the land will need to be properly demined by specialists. As soon as Unity and Strength can find the funding, there is a Swiss demining NGO ready to help Liudmyla and Volodymyr Korniycha returned to the village to find just a single wall of their house still standing Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The GuardianThe Sysenkos took a similarly pragmatic attitude to unexploded ordnance: “When I was doing some weeding He’d carefully pick it up on the shovel and put it on the bonfire the Sysenkos have found eight anti-personnel mines in the garden and Liudmyla has cleared 25 shells from the Korniychas’ the two families – some of the 165 people who have returned to the village out of more than 1,240 residents before the full-scale invasion – are making steady progress The Sysenkos’ house is still not habitable strictly speaking – they are living and sleeping in one tiny room with a fridge and cooker powered by solar panels But in late September their greenhouse was full of tomatoes and chickens were scratching away in their coop said the organisation was helping to rebuild an initial five houses in the village – “stubbornly trying to push it through” against the odds Many larger NGOs are focusing on the sites of atrocities such as Bucha and Irpin are safer for charity workers and higher profile “no one cares about villages like Kamianka” “People don’t understand that the people here have nowhere else to go.” Viktor Sysenko in his rebuilt greenhouse Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The GuardianIn warm late September the villagers were harvesting plums and grapes Volodymyr was planning to build a storehouse for his sunflower seed crop out of some of the many wooden ammunition crates discarded in the village But the families were working against the clock before the cold weather sets in Will the Sysenkos make it through the winter in their one tiny room had it worse: they can remember their families living in self-built dugouts for several years after the second world war including Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones located about 70 kilometers northwest of Donetsk remains one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front where Russia has concentrated its main offensive efforts since March  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 11:41 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims, ahead of Victory Day parade. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." Vice President Mike Pence said Putin "only understands power." About 800 million euros ($905 million) will be allocated for the acquisition and installation of anti-tank mines to deter potential aggression  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:36 am)War analysisFrance is sending Ukraine more AASM Hammer bombs — here's what they can do Polish President Andrzej Duda said the United States has tools that can effectively influence the Kremlin arguing that only President Donald Trump has real leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin The number includes 1,430 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans which covers dissent in the Soviet Union and Russia today Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on May 5 announced they had facilitated Russian journalist Ekaterina Barabash's escape from Russia to France after she fled house arrest on April 21 A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Mby Martina SapioPhoto for illustrative purpose A wrecked car is displayed in front of the Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) train carriage used for the evacuation of civilians and dotted with shrapnel holes from shelling by Russian troops in Irpin (Kirill Chubotin/Future Publishing via Getty Images)Ukrainian intelligence agencies destroyed a Russian train carrying 40 fuel tanks in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Dec an intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent The source said that the aim of the operation was to disrupt a supply line used to transport fuel from Crimea to Zaporizhzhia Oblast The operation was carried out jointly by the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) The operation began with the SBU organizing a sabotage mission to destroy railroad tracks near the village of Oleksiivka in the Bilmak district As the train carrying 40 fuel tanks was moving along the tracks the Ukrainian forces targeted the locomotive and the outermost cars preventing Russian forces from ripping apart the tanks and saving some of the fuel The operation resulted in the complete destruction of the locomotive and 40 fuel tanks effectively crippling a key supply line to Russian forces in the region and rendering the targeted rail line inoperable The operation follows another alleged operation by the Atesh partisan group, which said it had sabotaged a key railway in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Nov knocking out electrical equipment and disrupting Russia's military supply chain Ukraine has been strengthening its defensive positions near the city of Zaporizhzhia in anticipation of a potential Russian offensive in the region have confirmed the ongoing construction of multi-level fortifications designed to bolster the city’s defense This effort comes amid growing concerns over Russian military movements in the region. On Nov. 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is closely monitoring Russian troop movements in southern Ukraine noting that the threat of a renewed offensive remains high The escalation in the south follows a broader trend of intense military activity, with Russia also concentrating its efforts along the eastern front Russian forces have been pushing aggressively toward key towns such as Pokrovsk and Kurakhove aiming to break through Ukrainian defenses Kamianka in Kharkiv Oblast was a small village with a population of a bit more than 1,000 people Their life was as it is in any ordinary village: private houses and a church that had recently been renovated People used to breed cattle and grow vegetables here Before the war, it took two hours to get to the village from Kharkiv. Now the same route takes about three hours because of the roadblocks and obstacles. Somewhere the roads are damaged, somewhere you have to drive across the pontoon bridge, as, for example, on the way from Izium. On our way to the settlement, we drive through mutilated Izіum and Chuhuiv. The consequences of the occupation are being gradually eliminated, however, the broken buildings and empty streets reveal the recent horrors. At the entrance to Kamianka, we stop to take a look at what the village looks like from a distance.  From above we do not see a single undamaged house, but we hope for the best. There are several main streets in Kamianka, so we decide to drive down each of them hoping to meet people and surviving buildings.  We randomly choose the first street. As we drive we see the picture resembling the apocalypse movie: ruined buildings, burnt machinery, the odious letters Z and the projectile remnants.  At last, we meet the first person. The man says that he has been in Kamianka since the beginning of the full-scale war.  Out of approximately a thousand people, no more than 10 remained in the village, the others either left or died.   Yurii recalls the events of occupation and all the terrible things that happened. When Russians entered the village, he says, they examined all the basements and threw grenades there. Later they deployed a base in the village. Numerous inscriptions Z and V on the houses are evidence of that. We decide to check the other part of the settlement.  On the way there we meet a lot of abandoned animals, it seems that there are more of them than people. They are all hungry. We get out of the car to look around and become “hostages” of local cats. For the time of war, the animals have weaned from the people and now begin cuddling up to us. We regret that we have not taken any food with us and share our lunch with the cats. At the same time, we notice the other residents of the village. Inna together with her husband came to see what was left of her house. They left the village at the beginning of the full-scale war and now see their house after the liberation for the first time. Most likely, uninvited guests used their house: there are remnants of shells and ammunition in the yard. When we enter Inna’s house, we feel deep sorrow. Family photos, someone’s belongings – all that is scattered all over the place and forsaken. The occupants obviously did not care about the place. Have they ever thought about the house owners? The owners are not going to come back home today. There is no heating and electricity, and they do not have enough money for house rebuilding. There are not even their belongings left to collect here. In the conversation the woman mentions a carpet they bought before the war. “We can’t find it anywhere,” she says. We go out of the yard and see the lost carpet: occupants moved it to a neighboring house for an unknown purpose. Judging from the inscriptions, they sold vodka there.  We decide to drive to the local «center» – a district where, in Russians’ opinion, the «strategically important objects» such as a school, local club, and church are located. We see hangars nearby. Along with agricultural machinery, Russians stored «Grads» here [BM-21 Grad is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union – ed.]. We go inside and see burnt equipment, Russian soldiers’ belongings, and slightly smoldered grain. Unfortunately, agricultural equipment and grain cannot be saved. Meanwhile, they could have fed hundreds of Ukrainians.   We meet our military men with «trophies». They were demining the village and found loads of garbage left by Russian soldiers. Everywhere, where Russians lived, they installed the TVs and DVDs for some reason. Maybe they watched propaganda movies on it, but their true motives remain a mystery. Moreover, at the places of their dislocation, other noticeable things were found. The occupants left a mess in people’s houses where they lived, littered just where they ate. And somewhere in the yard remained the photos of real house owners, reminding us of life that had been raging here before the full-scale war.  We move further. Everywhere we see the details of cassette bombs – we come across them nearly on every street. We get to know another Kamianka resident Halyna Leonidivna. We find out that the woman lived here for the whole time of the occupation. Halyna got injured on the very first days of the full-scale war. When we ask her about how she was treated, she says: There were no doctors. The bullet went through, I covered the wound with feminine pads on both sides, and that saved me. We see a wheelbarrow near the woman – she carries water and the remnants of Russian humanitarian aid there. “It [humanitarian aid] is only suitable for feeding goats,” Halyna says. Before meeting Halyna we saw an empty basement nearby. It appears that a church used to be at this place. Probably, Russians considered it to be a «strategically important object» too because literally nothing was left of it. Without hoping to meet anyone, we drive to the other side of the village, and a surprise is waiting for us there: two men have come to see what is left of their houses. Pavlo had not spent a long time under occupation. He and his family left after the full-scale invasion started. The occupants lived in their houses. The man hospitably invited us to look at what happened to his home. We see six letters Z on the gates at once — it seems that only a perverted mind could draw them that many times. The «guests» have left a total mess: the remnants of food, bottles scattered around, and either Z or V drawn on every door. The man says that they had a lot of tomatoes, potatoes, and other goods in the cellar. Obviously, nothing has been left from all that supplies.  Occupants cut off the plugs from all the house equipment. Finally, they left a «surprise», corn sprouting on the floor. Probably it has been done to attract mice to the house, or just to ruin the building. When we ask about Kamianka before the war the man gets emotional, tears appear in his eyes. On the eve of the full-scale invasion, Pavlo and his family made a renovation: installed new stretch ceilings and bought new household appliances. Now they have neither energy nor money to restore everything. There are hundreds of such stories in Kamianka. We report from the liberated territories of Kharkiv Oblast since we do not want the victims of the war to remain just sad statistics in people’s memory. All the world should know about the war crimes the Russian army committed on Ukrainian territory. the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank have grid connected the 32 MW Kamianka project in the Cherkasy region Ukraine and will start commercial operations from 1 January 2021 “We are pleased to complete our third project in Ukraine The Kamianka solar power plant will lead to the abatement of more than 15,000 tonnes of CO² emissions and will contribute to growing the share of renewable energy in the country” The project is realised under Ukraine’s Feed-in-Tariff scheme The Kamianka solar plant is expected to deliver about 37 GWh per year and will be providing clean energy to more than 11,000 households Public land has been leased for an extended time-period and the plant is expected to deliver power also beyond the Feed-in-tariff period Scatec now has almost 1.6 GW in operation globally a portfolio of 320 MW is under construction With an established global presence and a significant project pipeline, the company is targeting a capacity of 4.5 GW in operation and under construction by end of 2021. Scatec is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘SSO’. To learn more, visit www.scatec.com This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act 4 June 2019: Scatec Solar has signed an agreement with FMO for FMO to take a 40% equity stake in Scatec Solar’s 32 MW Kamianka project in Ukraine The total investment for the project is estimated at EUR 35 million and is funded by 70 percent non-recourse debt financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (lead arranger) and FMO “We are pleased to announce this first equity co-investment with our long-term partner FMO We are working with FMO as a debt and equity partner on a range of new project opportunities in Ukraine and internationally and we expect more cooperation in the years to come” “We are happy to continue our long-standing relationship with Scatec Solar The Kamianka solar plant in Ukraine will provide over 10,000 people with 100% green energy This project with strong positive climate impacts combined with benefits for the local community fully aligns with our strategic ambitions” Scatec Solar is the lead equity investor in the project with 60% ownership Procurement and Construction (EPC) provider and will provide Operation & Maintenance as well as Asset Management services to the power plant Construction started early 2019 with commercial operation expected in fourth quarter 2019 The project is being realised under Ukraine’s 10-year Feed-in-Tariff scheme and is expected to produce about 39 GWh per year Public land will be leased for an extended time-period and the solar power plant is expected to deliver power also beyond the Feed-in-tariff period Jack Dutton is a Newsweek Reporter based in Cape Town His focus is reporting on global politics and international relations Jack joined Newsweek in January 2021 from The National where he was Night Editor and previously worked at Euromoney where he edited a B2B magazine on the aviation industry You can get in touch with Jack by emailing j.dutton@newsweek.com either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Over the last day, Ukrainian forces have repelled nine Russian attacks as President Vladimir Putin's forces continue to experience a series of setbacks on the battlefield, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Friday In a daily Facebook update the General Staff said the attacks were in the direction of Terny Nova Kamianka and Suhy Stavok—at least five of these locations appear to be in the eastern Donetsk region and two are near Kherson in the south "The aggressor continues to focus efforts on attempting to realize his plans from entering the administrative border of the Donetsk region as well as the detention of captured areas of Kherson Zaporizhzhia and Nikolaiv regions," the statement said The statement said that Russian forces continued to strike critical infrastructure and civilians in Ukraine as they have been doing for the past few days the invaders fired 2 missile and 16 air strikes fired more than 70 shelling from jet fire systems," said the General Staff It added that Russian forces were using the nuclear power plant in the city of Enerhodar part of the Zaporizhzhia region in the east as "a base for personnel warehouse," due to the fact the facility has not been shelled the Ukrainian air forces carried out 25 strikes including on 19 areas where there is a concentration of arms and military equipment as well as on six anti-aircraft missile complexes It added that Ukrainian forces had also shot down five winged missiles It said Ukraine's military had also hit three checkpoints and two munition warehouses over the last day Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment Russian forces have repeatedly found themselves frustrated on the battlefield as Ukrainian forces have pushed on with their counteroffensives in the east and south of the country Russian President Putin on September 21 said his military would draft another 300,000 reservists there have been several reports of illegible men being called up for military service the Russian-installed governor of occupied Kherson urged residents to evacuate to mainland Russia for their own safety due to daily rocket attacks by advancing Ukrainian forces Ukraine has rejected claims it is targeting its own civilians On October 10, the governor of the eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said that Russian soldiers were resigning en masse. Putin on September 21 said nuclear weapons could be used in the war should Russia's "territorial integrity" be "threatened." The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the Russian army would be annihilated if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all In effect until 10 AM Tuesday morning along & west of I-35. Very large hail and isolated tornadoes possible RADARDefense secretary warns of nuclear arms race as potential consequence of Russian invasionby AUSTIN DENEAN | The National Desk WASHINGTON (TND) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned world leaders that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have national security impacts for countries well beyond the reach of its borders and create a nuclear arms race for autocratic nations that could cause more death and destruction At the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia the nation’s top defense official warned of dire consequences that could result from the West and other countries failing to continue supporting Ukraine’s attempts to fend off an invasion from Russian troops The war has become more brutal the longer it has dragged on with Russia recently ramping up its missile strikes in Ukraine and hitting schools hospitals and trying to knock out Ukraine’s energy grid Russian President Vladimir Putin has also made threats to use tactical nuclear weapons over the course of the war sparking concerns about even further escalation and bringing U.S and European allies to try to simmer tensions At the security forum Austin said Putin’s threats and the invasion could prompt autocrats to also develop nuclear weapons of their own “Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us want to live in,” Austin said “And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation because Putin’s fellow autocrats are watching and they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own and that could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation.” The defense secretary made a comparison between Moscow and Beijing saying both countries want to create a system where military power determines what nations get to keep their right to exist prompting questions for the White House and Pentagon about what would happen should an invasion occur “The argument now is this is not only the greatest land war in Europe since World War II It assaults basic principles of international order that many countries around the world rely on So sovereignty is one — you don't invade neighboring countries with impunity,” said Dan Hamilton senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution “A second is this is essentially a colonial war.” sovereign country and annexed pieces of land his troops control References to colonialism could be a more compelling argument for nations that had gone through it and its NATO allies in Europe have provided billions to Ukraine in both military and nonmilitary aid since Russia’s invasion and have enacted devastating sanctions on Russia in response officials have tried to expand their partnerships outside of Europe by framing the war in Ukraine as a potential spark for other conflicts a substantial majority of the United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution to not recognize the parts of Ukraine which Russia has annexed That came after referendums and other resolutions including one to condemn Russia for the invasion “The fact that the UN resolution got 141 votes is an important statement that they've made headway and you see a number of countries now not supporting Russia in the way they had before or abstaining Austin’s speech also comes at a time where some lawmakers in Congress have begun to push back on continued spending of billions in taxpayer dollars for assistance to Ukraine said in an interview before the midterm elections that there wouldn’t be a “blank check” for Ukraine with a GOP majority Other lawmakers have called for greater scrutiny of how taxpayer funds are being spent by Ukraine which has had issues with corruption within its government What the future of aid to Ukraine looks like could be left up to fights in a divided Congress but is almost guaranteed to be an issue that lasts into the future with no end to the war in sight “We have to think harder about helping Ukraine be resilient in the face of Russia's assault and that resilience is not just military,” Hamilton said “Because if you can't get food delivered if you can't have heat or electricity that's at some point going to impair the battlefield gains the Ukrainians have made as well.” Russia on Monday claimed that it took control of a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces captured the village of Kamianka located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Russia The village is situated about 108 kilometers (67 miles) east of the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Russian border which has been regularly targeted by airstrikes amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia’s claim and independent verification of the claim is difficult due to the ongoing conflict The Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group of Forces announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports. In the Kupiansk sector, the Russian army launched attacks on Ukraine's defensive positions near Kamianka, Doroshivka, Petropavlivka, Nova Kruhliakivka, and Zahryzove. Meanwhile, crossings are being built, and personnel are being prepared for movement west of the Oskil River in the areas of Krasne Pershe, Matiusivka, and Dvorichna. Ukrainian defense forces are actively working to prevent these movements. In the Kharkiv sector, Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions in Vovchansk, but the assault failed. After sustaining fire damage, the enemy abandoned further attempts to advance. In the Lyman sector, Russian forces attacked Ukrainian defensive positions near Hrekivka, Novomykhailivka, Katerynivka, Novе, and Yampilivka. Ukrainian troops held their ground without losing positions. In the Siversk sector, Ukrainian defenders repelled Russian assaults near Bilohorivka and Verkhniokamianske, preventing any deterioration of the tactical situation. The enemy suffered losses due to the effective Ukrainian fire. In the Kramatorsk and Toretsk sectors, Russian forces launched assaults of varying intensity near Minkivka, Predtechyne, Bila Hora, Dyliivka, Druzhba, Leonidivka, Dachne, and Toretsk. They also attempted to advance along the Chasiv Yar canal to improve their tactical position but suffered losses and failed to achieve their objective. In the Pokrovsk sector, Russian troops, supported by armored vehicles, launched attacks near Yelyzavetivka, Promin, Mykolaivka, Udachne, Uspenivka, Kotliarivka, Bohdanivka, Andriivka, Oleksiivka, Kotlyne, and Lysivka. Ukrainian forces repelled the assaults and destroyed enemy equipment. In the Novopavlivka sector, Russian forces attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses near Kostiantynopil and Pryvilne. In the direction of Vesele, they launched an attack using four armored vehicles, but Ukrainian forces destroyed one, forcing the remaining three to retreat. The search and elimination of enemy personnel continue. Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421. © 2015-2025 Ukrinform. All rights reserved. Rural areas of Ukraine have become danger zones scarred by war. Niema Abdelmageed and Antoine Vallas meet farmers who are rebuilding their lives in the world’s most heavily mined country Winter has cast an icy grip over the eastern Ukrainian village of Kamianka. But not so long ago, resident farmers Volodymyr Kornich and his wife Liudmyla would have been looking ahead to spring planting Over nearly a quarter of a century, the couple have slowly expanded their business, growing a mix of grains But now, their work has ground to a halt we can only feel safe in our own yard,” says Volodymyr As the war enters its third year, Ukraine has outstripped Afghanistan and Syria to become the most heavily mined country in the world Roughly 25,000 sq km of agricultural land – an area larger than Wales – is potentially strewn with mines and other dangerous debris from the conflict These hazards have so far killed and maimed hundreds of people Landmines are also pushing up global grain prices – and poverty cultivate less than 750 acres of land are responsible for the vast majority of milk fruit and vegetable production in the country Many have halted or reduced their production and almost all are surviving on dwindling revenues a small section of the couple’s land has been cleared thanks to a joint demining project run by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) with support from the Geneva-based NGO Fondation Suisse de Deminage The programme is initially being rolled out in the eastern region of Kharkhiv with plans to expand to two of Ukraine’s other top farming regions Both the goal and the price tag of Ukraine’s wider demining project are daunting: the World Bank estimates the cost could exceed $37bn (£29bn) But demining also brings major financial returns The smallholder-focused project alone could potentially save up to $60m in direct food assistance to people living in rural communities – like Kamianka – who struggle to afford food and other basic necessities many of Volodymyr and Liudmyla’s neighbours have left the village for safer places “We have people who were wounded,” says Volodymyr And people who already lost hope that it would ever be safe to walk here.” Those who remain are living with dwindling resources friends and neighbours displaced by the war are calling him to ask about the progress of the demining Learn more about the WFP’s work in Ukraine Volodymyr and Liudmyla’s farm near Kharkiv is being demined by charity workers Niema Abdelmageed and Antoine Vallas meet farmers who are rebuilding their lives in the world’s most heavily mined country Earlier, Ruslan Mykula, a co-founder of DeepState, said that Russians are probably trying to create a land corridor along the Oskil River in Kharkiv Oblast a DeepState war tracking map marked the Russian advance near Kamianka and Topoli settlements on the right bank of the Oskil River At the beginning of April, the Russian forces advanced in Kamianka. On April 28, Russian media shared information about the supposed occupation of the village. However, the “Khortytsia” operational-strategic group of forces that’s responsible for this part of the frontline refuted this statement Russians advanced in Zapadne village near the Kupiansk city Almost a third of all Ukraine’s losses this month are near Sukha Balka and Kalynove villages in Donetsk Oblast 85% of all Russian advancements are in these areas In April, the Russian troops attacked Kharkiv Oblast 136 times, killing six adults and one child, and injuring 230 people, including 19 children, said the Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov. You don't have permissions to access this page Mar 25 — Russians are probably trying to create a land corridor along the Oskil River in Kharkiv Oblast a co-founder of analytical OSINT project DeepState in the ether of Suspilne Currently, there are heavy fighting in the northeast of the Kharkiv region, on the Kupiansk axis—on Mar 23, war tracking map of DeepState marked Russian advance near Kamianka and Topoli settlements there.  Mykola says a land corridor would be necessary for Russian troops to lessen the losses of transporting personnel and military equipment across the river.  “They’ve already drowned armored personnel carriers, motorcycles. All their attempts to get their equipment to the west bank [of Oskil] ended in failure. For them, this land corridor could become an option to further develop the offensive with light and armored [military] equipment,” Mykula explained.  He also said that Ukrainian troops liberated territories near Zapadne and Fyholivka, also on the Kupiansk axis. Armed Forces work there to prevent Russia from further advancing.  “Combat is ongoing near Topolia, Krasne Pershe, and to the north of Kamianka. It’s been reported that there has been an issue with the [Ukrainian] unit that was being redeployed. Now, [its battalion] is on the defensive positions. Organizational changes began in that section [of the frontline], and adequate decisions started to be made,” Mykula said.  Russian attacks on Kupiansk intensified in September, as Moscow’s troops ramped up the assaults towards the Oskil River in that region and managed to reach the outskirts of the city.  While the Ukrainian army fought them off Kupiansk itself, Russia has gained ground in several areas of the Kupiansk axis since. 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