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All rights reserved The small village of Kamyanka lies between Izyum and Sloviansk There is not a single house left standing in the village Each and every one has been completely destroyed Their village holds only ruins: ruins of houses There are many burned out and blown up military vehicles on the roadsides At first it seems that there is not a single living creature left in the village UkraineWorld spoke to local resident Serhiy who lives in the skeleton of a village with his mother They live in a small house with a wood stove where they cook food and heat water Serhiy and his mother take some vegetables from their garden but their harvest this year is meager because the area they sowed was bombed After capturing Izyum in March and trying to break through further the Russian invaders shelled Kamyanka very heavily It was then that most of the local residents fled the village Serhiy and his mother moved to their relatives in a nearby village the Russians occupied both Kamyanka and the village where they had moved in search of safety Despite the fact that the village was still occupied Serhiy and his mother returned home in May so they began to live in a smaller one which was more intact Serhiy and his mother saw signs of Russians living in the village Kamyanka was under enemy occupation until September 11 As they left the village before the liberation of the Kharkiv Oblast by the Ukrainian military the Russian soldiers did everything they could to spite the locals: they threw grenades into their cars and covered pillows and other bedding in mud The occupiers wanted to leave nothing but destruction behind This is the barbaric psychology of the Russian army It was not Putin or the military commander who ordered the soldiers to cut the cables in people's houses – they chose to do this of their own accord the danger to those who remain has not passed They have to find firewood in the forest or in abandoned yards about 150 civilians died in Kamyanka during the Russian occupation he and his mother continue to live in the destroyed village and have adapted their lives as best they can but Serhiy and his mother don’t want to move to them "We were here during the entire occupation and shelling and we remain here now." They feed the local cats and dogs and talk with their neighbors there are about 10-15 people living in the village out of the 1,700 that were there before the full-scale invasion This material was prepared with financial support from the International Renaissance Foundation Ukraine — Two weeks after Ukraine liberated this village in the Kharkiv region in September 2022 and his wife Larissa returned to their home for the first time since the Russian occupation.  the couple had managed to escape the advancing Russian army their village lay on the frontlines of Russia’s war against Ukraine "When we came back and saw all the destruction with our own eyes we felt hatred towards the occupiers and were disgusted that the enemy's feet had trampled on our land," Larissa says they saw their house was nothing but a pile of rubble The approaching winter and the lack of heating and electricity meant they could not stay.  it was really bad," the couple laments.  They spent that winter in the relative safety of Odesa on the Black Sea where the small family first fled when the shelling began and where their daughter lives and studies Viktor and Larissa were finally able to move back to Kamyanka in March 2023.  They immediately got to work removing debris from their yard and fixing their greenhouse “because we knew we had to plant a vegetable garden to feed ourselves,” the couple says Of the village’s original 1,200 inhabitants Viktor and Larissa are two of about 12 who returned.  Ropes with signs warning of landmines stretch along the roads Green wooden crates that were once filled with Russian artillery ammunition are scattered throughout the village A car lies on its roof beside a muddy path Kamyanka is one of many Ukrainian villages leveled during the invasion that face the nearly insurmountable task of reconstruction roads and more need to be rebuilt from the ground up.  The European Commission has pledged around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) to Ukraine for humanitarian purposes and reconstruction while Kyiv has earmarked another 50 billion euros ($54 billion) from its 2024-27 budget.  The current aid commitments are a fraction of what is needed for adequate reconstruction A spring 2023 report by the Ukrainian government the European Commission and the United Nations estimated the costs of Ukraine’s reconstruction and restoration to be at least 383 billion euros ($413 billion).  "The Russian occupiers came and destroyed everything," Larissa says "What would a person feel if they were in our shoes Viktor spends his days rebuilding their house piece by piece.  He uses wood from the ammunition crates to reconstruct the roof Materials supplied by the United Nations and Ukrainian volunteers allow him to make progress in insulating the walls A blue UNHCR tarp prevents rain from falling on his makeshift construction site the lack of two exterior walls makes the house temporarily uninhabitable we have received a lot of humanitarian aid hygiene items and construction materials,” Larissa says “Considering what has already been done we still need about 1 million hryvnias ($26,000) today." The couple hopes that the state will provide part of this money Larissa and their two dogs vividly remember the first weeks of the war He remembers everything," Viktor said in Ukrainian.  Ukrainian forces managed to push Russian troops back far enough to recapture Kamyanka Russian artillery destroyed everything that remained.  Those who could not or did not want to flee were trapped in their basements expecting and hoping that Ukraine would drive the Russian soldiers out of artillery range life in Kamyanka has changed completely since returning Russian fighter planes still periodically fly overhead.  a certain sense of security and calm has returned running water or heating here," Viktor says pointing to his small diesel-powered generator.  He and his wife live in what used to be the kitchen "But we don't have time to watch TV," he jokes Viktor lays out his plans and dreams.  we can stay here permanently next year," he says.  The house is barely stable and supported by a large metal post but the couple estimates that it will not be nearly enough to fix everything.  The remaining exterior walls have been sprayed with the letter "Z" — a symbol used to signify support for Russia's war.  the words "We are from Penza" can be seen despite Viktor’s efforts to paint them over he explains that his grandmother was born in Penza Viktor points to the toilet in the former bathroom.  They nonetheless have to use an outdoor toilet they built in the garden because the village no longer has running water Much of the land around Viktor and Larissa's property is still heavily mined.  local and foreign demining teams are working to defuse critical infrastructure and eventually restore the village's power supply explosions can be heard when the German-donated demining vehicle drives over a mine.  Mine-clearance units explain that critical infrastructure is their priority.  Another demining team from the Kyiv region says that it will "take years to demine the entire village." They add: "But the longer we wait the more unstable and dangerous the mines will become." Viktor and Larissa did not wish to wait that long.  "Demining teams haven't defused mines on our property because we defused them ourselves after we returned," Viktor says we have collected eight 'petals’," — a local term for the Russian-made PFM-1 mines with which the village is filled.  Digging through the bushes at his property line he points to a mine hidden among stones on the ground.  "Twenty-five kilograms of weight are enough to trigger it Viktor and Larissa said they believe that the former residents of Kam’yanka will return in two or three years.  who lack the manpower and equipment to demine the majority of the village mines remain a real danger to everyone in the village a villager who was collecting mines from his property accidentally stepped on one Long-term effects from the war such as this will make it nearly impossible for many to return Viktor and Larissa are doing what they can to rebuild and thrive They keep chickens and ducks in their yard Small amounts of foreign aid keep them afloat An old metal stove heats the single room they live in They look forward to seeing their daughter in Odesa again Just a few meters from the chicken coop lies a Russian 2S19 self-propelled howitzer destroyed during a Ukrainian counterattack.  "That's a modern Russian howitzer,” Viktor says with pride The casing has already been stolen.”  The blast from the ammunition explosion hit Viktor and Larissa's house and the artillery turret fell onto their land it is a souvenir from harder times and a reminder of their freedom When asked what motivated them to return and rebuild after the destruction both Viktor and Larissa look puzzled by the question but do not hesitate to their answer.  We see ourselves nowhere else but on our land and we will not give the Russians the satisfaction of driving us away from our land." Not everyone shares this optimism. Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced and tens of thousands have been killed in Russia’s war. Millions more currently live under Russian occupation.  Even for those who have the opportunity to return home, simply starting the rebuilding process will require billions in humanitarian and reconstruction aid the war’s long-term consequences will impact the Donbas region significantly It will likely take years for electricity and water to be available in many of Ukraine’s war-torn regions Entire cities and villages must be demined the mines will pose a deadly threat to farmers and children alike for decades.  Until the day comes when the majority of Ukrainians can return to their homes and land Kamyanka’s rebirth remains a testament to the resilience and persistence of two Ukrainian villagers everything will be fine,” Larissa says Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help. Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact. By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us. Nina Melenets finally buried her son in November, more than seven months after she said he was killed by shelling in their village in eastern Ukraine. The 62-year-old is still looking for her husband, Serhiy, who has been missing since late March. Her surviving son has given DNA samples to forensic experts to see if there is a match among the bodies exhumed from a mass grave nearby in the city of Izium. "It will be easier for our hearts if they match the DNA," Melenets told Reuters in Izium, where she had rented a small house for a few days. "We will know where he lies," she added, holding her hand close to a gas flame on her cooker for warmth. "We spent 44 years together. We spent our whole lives together." Thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, and thousands more are missing as fighting rages in the east and south and frontlines shift. The task of identifying the dead is complex, as is trying to track people who are unaccounted for. The Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons, an intergovernmental organization, estimates that more than 15,000 people have gone missing across Ukraine during the war, including detainees, those separated from their loved ones and people killed and buried in makeshift graves. For Melenets, the journey has been long and painful, and it is not over. She recently returned to the east of Ukraine to organise the funeral of her elder son, Oleksandr, who was 44 when he died in fighting in their home village of Kamyanka early in the conflict. Even though Russian forces have been driven back from the area and Ukraine now controls the territory, she and her 37-year-old son Mykola doubt they will ever return for good. "We could come home but now there is nothing there. Our village is totally destroyed." Melenets has been trying to piece together what happened to her husband and elder son. Reuters could not independently verify her account, and she has relied partly on testimony from friends and neighbours who stayed behind in Kamyanka. Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the missing cases mentioned in this article or on missing Ukrainians more broadly. Melenets said she left her home village with Mykola and some other residents on March 21, when the Russians took control and allowed them to evacuate. Serhiy and Oleksandr decided to stay to protect their homes and help others get out. A few days later, a shell struck close to her son Oleksandr's single-storey house and killed him. Russian troops who found him asked local residents who he was and covered his body with tarpaulin. Villagers later buried him on the spot, they told his mother. Serhiy, 65, went missing at about the same time and has not been found. In October, when Ukrainian forces marched back into Kamyanka following a Oleksandr's body was exhumed and taken to the recaptured city of Izium where it was stored. In early November, the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office set up a temporary mobile laboratory for DNA testing at a local police station there to help relatives identify loved ones. In Izium, people queued in the cold, waiting for their turn to climb the stairs to an office where their documents were processed. Paperwork was stacked high and officials struggled to cope with the number of visitors. Once registered, relatives, including Mykola, went into the mobile DNA lab to have saliva swabs to be compared against the recovered bodies. In Levkivka, a village about 11 miles (18 km) from Izium, Anna Ozerianska is also looking for her husband, who she said was taken away by pro-Russian forces on April 12 and has not been heard from since. The 61-year-old has put up posters of him around Izium, hoping that someone may have heard something about the fate of her husband Oleksandr, whom she calls Sasha. "Sometimes I wake up early in the morning, I have to get up, but I don't know where to start," she told Reuters. "I bury my head in my pillow and think, what should I do now?" Ozerianska keeps her phone at the home of her friend Lena, who has a mobile signal, in case she receives a call about Sasha from the missing persons administration office. The day after Mykola visited the DNA lab, Oleksandr's coffin was taken from a morgue in Izium to the cemetery in Kamyanka to be buried in the presence of a small number of relatives and neighbours. On a dank, misty morning under a flat grey sky, the group walked slowly along a path through the overgrown grass and scrub, careful not to tread on "butterfly" mines that littered the ground and were hard to distinguish from autumnal leaves. The graveyard was marked by craters from earlier fighting, and crosses stood askew from the impact. Melenets wept over the coffin covered in embroidered cloth. The thud of distant explosions could be heard. The mourners cried as Oleksandr was lowered into the ground. Mykola held his mother close. Outside the cemetery, the people said their farewells. As they were leaving, another van arrived carrying a coffin. This time there was no-one to greet it and it was quickly taken away to be buried. The Melenets visited their home village before heading back west, to near the Carpathian mountains, where they have settled. Like many other buildings in Kamyanka, Nina and Serhiy's house had been flattened to rubble, with only a few walls partially standing. Wooden ammunition boxes were strewn on the side of a dirt track, the letter "Z" used by Russian forces was painted in white on cars, fences, tanks and houses, and a burnt-out armoured vehicle lay on its side. "Thank you Russia," Melenets said as she surveyed the devastation. "This is the gift you give us." (Reporting Clodagh Kilcoyne; Photo Editing Kezia Levitas; Writing Mike Collett-White; Text Editing Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char; Layout Kezia Levitas) A tank lies on its side next to a bridge, in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. A destroyed car with the letter 'Z' painted on it is seen in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Unused rockets lie on the ground in front of a destroyed home, in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. A child's drawing of a tank is seen among the debris in the home of Oleksandr, in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. A cross lies over the grave of a person exhumed from an improvised cemetery, in the town of Izium, Kharkiv region. A cross lies in the empty grave of a person exhumed from an improvised cemetery in Izium, Kharkiv region. Anna, wife of missing man Oleksandr, speaks with a member of staff at the missing persons administration office, in Izium, Kharkiv region. Anna moves the door of her underground shelter, at her home in the village of Levkivka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Photographs of missing man Oleksandr sit on a table in the home of his wife Anna, in the village of Levkivka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Anna shows notes her husband, Oleksandr, kept for the rabbits he bred and labels for vegetables he was growing, at her home in the village of Levkivka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Anna tends to the rabbits that Oleksandr bred, at her home, in the village of Levkivka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Lab staff work inside a mobile DNA laboratory run by the Ukrainian Prosecutor Generals Office in Izium, Kharkiv region. Nina shows a photo on her phone of her missing husband Serhiy Melenets, 65, in Izium, Kharkiv region. Nina cries in a car as she waits for the delivery of her son Oleksandr’s coffin, in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Nina cries as the doors of a delivery van opens to reveal Oleksandr’s coffin, in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Family members walk behind the coffin of Oleksandr in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. The village of Kamyanka is seen damaged, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. An anti-tank landmine is seen near the home of Oleksandr in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Mykola comforts his mother Nina as the coffin of his brother and her son, Oleksandr is lowered into a grave in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. A shoe is seen amongst the debris in the destroyed home of Oleksandr in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. A Christmas decoration is seen stuck to a door in the destroyed home of Oleksandr in the village of Kamyanka, on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv region. Woman volunteering with a charity organisation peel carrots and potatoes for hot meals that will be donated to local residents and municipal workers who are without electricity or means to buy or make food, in Izium, Kharkiv region. A tank painted with the letter ‘Z’ lies at the bottom of a section of destroyed bridge in Izium, Kharkiv region. Destroyed residential apartment buildings are seen in Izium, Kharkiv region. People queue for SIM cards in the town square in Izium, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, October 19, 2022. The Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons, an intergovernmental organization, estimates that more than 15,000 people have gone missing across Ukraine during the war, including detainees, those separated from their loved ones and people killed and buried in makeshift graves. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world A destroyed tank on the outskirts of the village of Kamyanka 2022 at 12:37 AM ESTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.The potential addition of Patriot missile defense batteries to Ukraine’s arsenal comes as Kyiv and Moscow both face a critical question with the war in its 10th month: Can they secure enough missiles and artillery through winter to prevail but still wet weather and Russian consolidation along defensive lines has slowed advances by either side on Ukraine’s battlefields The conflict continues to churn through limited reserves of troops and munitions at a frightening pace As the temperatures plunge in eastern Ukraine Sergiy Khmil says he has little choice but to use the stacks of ammunition boxes left by the retreating Russian forces as firewood this winter Khmil says he will probably freeze amid the ruins of his destroyed village of Kamyanka.  "The most difficult thing is to get enough chopped wood," Khmil explains "There's a huge queue to get the donated wood from volunteers." With his home largely destroyed by shelling Khmil is still hard at work converting his summer kitchen into impromptu winter lodging — now filled with blankets ammunition crates and a furnace pieced together from Russian shell casings "I need to cover the walls with another layer of insulation," Khmil adds while scanning the modest room that he hopes will see him through the winter the village was shelled and strafed by helicopters before infantry and tanks stormed the area as Russian forces advanced south from Izyum during the early days of the invasion.  the Russians settled in — commandeering buildings "They started to break into garages and houses and partying drunk overnight," says resident Volodymyr Tsybulya during a break from repairing the roof of his sister's home.  I came to my place and found my bathroom destroyed by a grenade." until a lightning offensive by Ukrainian forces in September crushed the Russian's north-eastern flank routing its troops and sending them further east in disarray.  a trail of destroyed villages was left in ruin including Kamyanka on the outskirts of Izyum in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in the weeks since retaking control of the area Ukrainian officials have scrambled to pick up the pieces while uncovering mass graves and taking stock of the damage to the formerly occupied territories.  Izyum deputy mayor Mykhaylo Ishyuk says the situation is stark at the onset of winter with nearly 30 to 40% of the roofs in the city destroyed by the fighting.  A lack of building materials and construction equipment and a labor shortage have made the much-needed repairs unlikely as the cold sets in Temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing in the coming days.  Nearly all the roofs on the 550 homes and buildings in the village have been damaged or outright destroyed.  "We're watching the situation carefully," he adds He points to the increase in power cuts following waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure sites across Ukraine that have left Izyum and surrounding areas with less and less electricity and heating.  Lyubov Perepelytsya drifts between recounting the horrors experienced during the Russian occupation and sharing her fears about the coming winter.  It's such vile behavior," the 65-year-old resident says through tears as she describes the destruction of her home and the looting of her valuables.  "How could you treat people in such a bad manner?" Most of the village's 1,200 population have left the area but Perepelytsya and her ailing husband will join a few dozen others who are planning to hunker down for the winter in Kamyanka It looks like the war is chasing us everywhere we go," says Perepelytsya.  "I just don't know how we can make it through this We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker a rough dirt track winds through a series of little villages All around are rolling green hills and rich farmland Fierce battles to recapture the villages in late March from Russian occupiers have turned these communities to rubble and dust The rusting wreckage of tanks lie where they were halted burnt out and sinking into the soft ground on streets lined with shattered houses Vilkhivka Hardly anyone is there now; most fled to Kharkiv Some were allegedly taken over the border into Russia – as has happened elsewhere in the country stands on the dusty track in neighbouring Sorokivka and describes what happened on the eve of the area’s liberation He says: “The Russians went around all the houses and told everyone there would be an airstrike evacuate to Verkhnya Rokhanka (the settlement to the north)’ They were walking down this road with only documents in their hands he says he simply had a “premonition” that the threatened airstrikes were just a ruse Of those neighbours he knew who went with the Russian soldiers an older man who doesn’t want to give his name says he saw with his own eyes locals being taken to Russia in trailers hitched to the back of vehicles Nothing is untouched here: from grand villas to very humble cottages, barely a house stands whole. Bomb craters pock roads and fields alike, huge mounds of black earth thrown up where crops should have been sown by now. Outside one modern, red-roofed house a Ukrainian flag flies but it’s been punctured with bullet holes The roof of a neighbouring house has been completely burnt out A phone mast has been wrecked – one of the first things the Russian troops do is to take out communications and lock down escape routes Kharkiv rights activist Nataliya Zubar walks slowly down the street has been to document war crimes – the destruction of buildings and infrastructure grim and dangerous work; the boom of big guns sounds frequently near us after a particularly loud bang splits the air The destruction is there for all to see and documenting it is straightforward but a huge daunting job for Zubar and her team of volunteers But as with the stories of disappeared residents other consequences of the occupation are harder to detail pro-Russian sentiment is common – particularly among the older generation it was until the invasion and mass killing of civilians Known to have infiltrated all levels of Ukrainian society with spies and informants Moscow was relying on the collusion of local officials to smooth the path to victory – as previously happened in the east and Crimea accusations of collaboration with the occupiers are rife Last week the Ukrainian secret service arrested the secretary of Vilkhivka’s village council accused of assisting Russian soldiers by giving them buildings and information about local residents But none of the few residents left in Vilkhivka want to talk about this grim subject it’s right… and her punishment should be in public though he then adds: “I couldn’t kill them Pavlenko admits he knew many people in Vilkhivka who were pro-Russian and looking forward to the so-called ‘Russkiy Mir’ as Kremlin propaganda calls the imposition of Russian rule and says the community here was peaceful – Russian and Ukrainian speakers living side by side “without problems” “We always lived in friendship,” Pavlenko protests “but only now.” He is not the only person in these villages using alcohol to cope with what has happened Another man who’d been drinking heavily reacts angrily when asked about collaborators in the village Aleksei Borbik is also uneasy when asked about the arrested village leader Antonova “Maybe she was forced to do it,” he suggests As we drive on the dirt road between the two villages a horrible sight: the body of a grey-haired man What looks like a shrapnel wound is visible in his back A tin of food is tucked inside one of his boots we find discarded Russian equipment – gas masks We’d been told Russian troops holed up here the uniforms strewn over gym benches are Ukrainian She admits it’s often hard to know what’s actually happened and in all the places occupied by Russian troops Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed As Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches its first anniversary Its ultimate outcome remains in the balance It is to extinguish Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence and establish a veto over Ukraine’s decision-making a neutered and dependent nation on its southern flank with no prospect of joining NATO or falling into the West’s orbit Ukraine’s objective is national survival: to expel Russian forces from its territory and ensure its ability to determine its own form of government and chart its own course as an independent nation meaning a negotiated settlement is not in prospect The outcome of the war will determine the political outcome Defeat for Ukraine would mean its extinguishment as an independent nation Defeat for Russia would mean the end of Vladimir Putin’s rule and the overthrow of Moscow’s ruling class But the war’s outcome will also determine the trajectory of the global political order the foundational principles that underpin the modern world including the sovereign equality and political independence of nation states and the prohibition on acquiring territory through aggression we will revert to a Hobbesian world order where “might makes right” where larger nations bend smaller ones to their will and where the use of armed force and even the threat of nuclear weapons become normalised as tools of statecraft the war is now settling into a pattern familiar and favourable to Moscow It is becoming a drawn-out conflict of attrition in which Russia can bring its superior resources to bear and which drains Ukraine of its resources and weakens the resolve of its Western backers Russia’s mobilisation of 300,000 additional soldiers is having an impact on the battlefield. Further mobilisations may follow. Though achieved at great expense, Russia has seized the town of Soledad and is pressing on to Bakhmut All the signs are that Russia is preparing for a renewed offensive in the northern hemisphere spring With the stakes so high, and the war in the balance, further Western support to Ukraine is critical. This is why Western allies, including a very reluctant Germany, have agreed to send battle tanks to Ukraine The United States is sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and has agreed to allow other nations to re-export the Leopard 2 to Ukraine The United Kingdom is sending 12 of its Challenger 2 tanks the Netherlands and Denmark will all follow suit All up, Western nations have committed some 105 tanks to Ukraine While it will take time to deploy the tanks and for Ukraine to train crews and integrate the tanks into battle plans these new tanks will be a step-change for Ukraine’s capability marking a big improvement on their aged fleet of Soviet-era and other tanks which are increasingly running short of parts and ammunition They will improve Ukrainian firepower and manoeuvrability and strengthen their ability to withstand Russian assaults Australia should be joining this effort and sending a contribution of our own tanks to Ukraine is due to be replaced with a new variant (the M1A2) beginning from 2024 A contribution of 12 Australian M1 Abrams tanks would make a material difference to Ukraine’s fighting ability Ukrainians are already preparing to receive the US contribution of 31 M1 Abrams tanks so a further Australian contribution would be readily integrated including the provision of Bushmasters and a slow-to-start ADF training mission and our support needs to keep pace with developments on the ground When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July, he promised that Australia would “stand side-by-side with the Ukrainian people in their time of need” Supporting Ukraine to resist Russia’s aggression is not only the right thing to do It is also firmly in Australia’s national interest Australia talks a big game about protecting the rules-based global order Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the most naked and aggressive challenge to this order If we are serious about rolling back this threat then the most material impact we can have is to ensure Ukraine’s soldiers – who are bearing the human cost of this war – are provided with the tanks and other weaponry they need to prevail The Interpreter features in-depth analysis & expert commentary on the latest international events, published daily by the Lowy Institute 105 combat clashes have occurred on the frontline Russian occupiers are most active in the Pokrovsk direction where they have already launched 43 attacks according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the enemy attacked the positions of the Defense Forces once in the direction of the village of Kamyanka Zolochiv was hit by an airstrike with a guided aerial bomb (KAB) the enemy attempted one attack on Ukrainian positions near Zahryzove the Russian invasion army carried out 12 attacks near the settlements of Yampolivka Ukrainian forces repelled four enemy attacks in the areas of Bilohorivka the enemy attacked Ukrainian positions once in the direction of Predtechyne the enemy carried out 17 attacks today near Toretsk and close to Diliivka and Krymske the occupiers have attempted 43 assaults to push Ukrainian defenders from their positions in the areas of Sukhaya Balka and in the directions of Novoserhiivka and Kotliarivka Ukrainian Defense Forces are holding back the enemy offensive the enemy did not conduct offensive operations but launched airstrikes on the areas of Ternove the enemy is attempting to advance toward Lobkove Mala Tokmachka was hit by airstrikes with KABs and unguided aerial rockets (NARs) the enemy launched airstrikes on the areas of Vesely In the operational zone in the Kursk region Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled six Russian attacks today dropping three guided aerial bombs (KABs) and conducted more than 110 shelling attacks including five from multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) Russia has lost more than 905,000 soldiers Just in the past day, Russian army losses amounted to 1,180 soldiers This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page As of 22:00 on April 4, 116 combat clashes took place on the front line since the beginning of the day. The majority of the battles occurred in the Lyman and Pokrovsk directions, according to the report from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Russians launched one missile and 79 aviation strikes utilizing one missile and 126 guided aerial bombs (CABs) they deployed 966 kamikaze drones and conducted 4687 shelling attacks on Ukrainian military positions and civilian settlements Russians attempted four advances near Vovchansk they launched four assaults on the positions of our defenders in the areas of Holubivka Russians attacked Ukrainian positions 32 times towards settlements such as Novomykhailivka two clashes took place since the start of the day near Bilohirivka and towards Verkhnokamyanske Both attempts to advance were successfully repelled by Ukrainian forces Russians attacked defense positions 18 times concentrating their efforts around Krymske Russian units have attempted 27 breakthroughs near settlements such as Andriyivka Defense forces are holding the line and have repelled 23 attacks Russian forces also conducted aviation strikes with guided bombs in the Pokrovsk and Sukhy Yar areas Ukrainian forces eliminated 148 Russians on this front and seven satellite terminals were disabled a vehicle and a motorcycle were significantly damaged Russians attacked Ukrainian positions six times near Rozlyv The settlement of Bahatyr suffered airstrikes with guided bombs They also attacked Ukrainian forces' positions once near Novosilka on the Hulyaipil direction while simultaneously conducting airstrikes on Novopil our forces repelled four attacks in the areas of Malyi Shcherbaky and Stepove On the Dnipropetrovsk and Kramatorsk directions Russians did not conduct active offensive operations.