According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the SSU The suspects are the deputy commander of the 1st motorized rifle battalion of the 394th motorized rifle regiment of the 127th motorized rifle division of the 5th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Federation and the commander of the assault company of the “Storm” detachment of the same regiment Evidence was collected against both of them The investigation established that on June 17 last year the defendants ordered their subordinates to shoot a Ukrainian prisoner then cut off his head and put it on the hood of a damaged armored vehicle This happened during the fighting near the village of Staromayorske Then both defendants ordered their subordinates not to leave the captured Ukrainian defenders alive and to brutally kill them Both suspects are charged in absentia with violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) Comprehensive measures aimed at establishing the whereabouts and punishment of both war criminals are underway As reported by Ukrinform, in early October last year, six Russian invaders were notified of suspicion for the shootings of Ukrainian prisoners of war 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 Russian troops are actively transporting weapons and military equipment via a recently constructed railway connecting Rostov-on-Don spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces “They’re transferring personnel and military equipment both from Donetsk region and from Russia itself and they’re also moving through Crimea where their ‘Dnepr’ military group is stationed Their training centers for assault units are mostly located in temporarily occupied Crimea A certain amount of equipment and weapons also come from there they are actively using the logistical route—the railway—they’ve recently built,” Voloshyn said When asked whether the Defense Forces are targeting these logistical routes Voloshyn confirmed that strikes are ongoing Because they clearly understand that their success fully depends on logistics,” the spokesperson noted In February this year the Russian Federation launched a full-scale railway route connecting Rostov-on-Don – Mariupol – Volnovakha – Donetsk The Russian forces built the railway to shorten the path for delivering military equipment to the front The line runs from Rostov-on-Don to Mariupol and Volnovakha Ukraine on Sunday claimed that four people were killed and 17 injured due to Russian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region according to the head of the regional military administration the number of the victims of the (attacks by) Russians in Donetsk oblast increased by 4 killed 17 injured,” Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram He added that the reported figures do not include casualties from Mariupol and Volnovakha areas heavily affected earlier in the conflict Russia did not immediately respond to the claims and independent verification remains difficult due to the ongoing conflict A Russian military court sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for the murder of a family of nine, including two children, in occupied Ukraine, the business newspaper Kommersant reported Friday two days after the Kapkanets family was found shot dead in their home in Volnovakha a city in eastern Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don convicted the two men of breaking into the family’s home and murdering them. Their case marks a rare instance of Russia acknowledging crimes committed by its forces in Ukraine Sopov and Rau pleaded not guilty and plan to appeal the ruling Prosecutors reportedly held the trial in secrecy When the trial began in July, the state-run TASS news agency reported that the soldiers pleaded guilty to the murder charges but denied having done so “out of hatred based on nationality.”  Russian media gave somewhat conflicting accounts of Sopov’s and Rau’s motives, with TASS describing the murders as part of a “domestic dispute.” Kommersant reported that there was a disagreement over obtaining vodka claim the two Russian soldiers killed the family of nine after they refused to vacate their home “The occupiers killed the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and refused to give up their home,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said shortly after the massacre last year Russian forces seized Volnovakha shortly after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and it was largely destroyed by artillery bombardments Servicemen in the Russian military have faced accusations of civilian killings in occupied Ukrainian territories but the Kremlin has consistently denied targeting civilians dismissing reports of atrocities as fabrications 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 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 The Russian military executed a Ukrainian prisoner of war near the village of Rozdolne, Volnovakha district, Donetsk region, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General three Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were carrying out combat missions at a position near the village of Rozdolne in the Volnovakha district One of the unarmed Ukrainian soldiers was executed with automatic weapons by members of the aggressor state's army Investigative and search activities are currently underway to establish all the circumstances of the incident as well as to identify those involved in committing the crime among Russian military personnel Under the procedural guidance of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office a pre-trial investigation has been launched into a criminal case on the commission of a war crime that led to a person's death (Part 2 Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) "The killing of prisoners is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a grave international crime The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk regions," the statement said The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights also responded to the execution of the Ukrainian prisoner of war “I emphasize that this is a violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War the norms of international humanitarian law and constitutes a grave international crime I have already sent letters to the UN and the ICRC The actions and response of the international community must take place here and now,” Lubinets wrote He stressed that Russia’s crimes must be documented and those responsible must be held accountable According to the Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, last year, the execution of 109 Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces was officially confirmed a total of 177 cases of killings of Ukrainian servicemen by Russian troops were recorded a video surfaced online showing the execution of Ukrainian soldiers who had been captured by Russian forces in the Kursk region The footage shows an occupier shooting a Ukrainian POW in the head In early March, Lubinets reported that the Russian military had likely killed at least five unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who had been taken captive Russian forces executed an unarmed captured serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the village of Rozdolne in the Volnovakha district of Donetsk region Law enforcement authorities have launched an investigation according to the Office of the Prosecutor General three Ukrainian servicemen were carrying out combat duties at a position near Rozdolne when they were captured by Russian troops during an assault One of the unarmed Ukrainian soldiers was executed with automatic weapons by the invading forces Under the procedural leadership of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office a pre-trial investigation has been launched into a war crime that resulted in the death of a person (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) Urgent investigative and search measures are currently underway to determine all the circumstances of the crime and to identify the Russian servicemen involved "The execution of prisoners is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a serious international crime," the Prosecutor General’s Office emphasized The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has sent official letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the execution of an unarmed Ukrainian serviceman "The international community must act now The crimes committed by the Russians must be documented and those responsible must be held accountable Pressure must be exerted on the Russian Federation to put an end to the arbitrary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war," the Ombudsman stated Lubinets confirmed that the letters have already been sent to the UN and ICRC "These testimonies are crucial to uncovering the truth Such information will help document war crimes and hold perpetrators accountable in line with international and national law," Lubinets added The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office reported this on its Facebook page enemy troops launched an airstrike on the village of Novokhatske Preliminary information indicates that the aggressor state used the UMPB D-30SN system The central part of the village was struck killing a 67-year-old woman who was riding a bicycle at the time,” the statement said The attack also injured three civilians: two men aged 51 and 58 The victims sustained shrapnel wounds to their hands and contusions Under the procedural guidance of the Volnovakha District Prosecutor's Office a pre-trial investigation into the war crime was launched in accordance with Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine Russian forces targeted a civilian car with an FPV drone As reported by Ukrinform, this information was shared by the Office of the Prosecutor General on Facebook three Ukrainian servicemen were on combat mission at a position near the village of Rozdolne in Volnovakha district One of the unarmed Ukrainian soldiers was shot with automatic gunfire by the armed forces of the aggressor state Under the procedural guidance of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office a pretrial investigation has been launched under criminal proceedings for the commission of a war crime resulting in the death of a person Urgent investigative and search measures are underway to establish all the circumstances of the crime and identify those involved from among the Russian military personnel “The execution of prisoners is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a serious international crime,” emphasized the Office of the Prosecutor General The pretrial investigation is being conducted by the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) in Donetsk and Luhansk regions Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights has sent letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding video evidence showing Russian soldiers executing four Ukrainian prisoners of war spokesperson of the Ukrainian Southern Defense Forces "They are deploying [personnel and military equipment] both from the Donetsk region and from Russian territory and they are also transporting through Crimea as their group 'Dnepr' is stationed in temporarily occupied Crimea Training centers and preparation facilities for Russian assault troops are mostly located in temporarily occupied Crimea A certain amount of military equipment and armaments are also being moved from there they are actively using the logistical route – the railway – which was recently built," Voloshyn said Asked whether Ukrainian forces are targeting these logistical routes "We are targeting these logistical routes They understand very well that their success completely depends on the logistics," he said Russia launched regular railway service between Rostov-on-Don Russian occupiers have developed this railway line to shorten the route for delivering military equipment to the front The line connects Rostov-on-Don to Mariupol and Volnovakha There are also plans to extend the railway line to Crimea ShareSaveCommentBusinessAerospace & DefenseUkrainian Veterans Recall Pivotal Tank Battle In VolnovakhaBySebastien Roblin Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights 07:00am ESTShareSaveCommentThis article is more than 2 years old.VOLNOVAKHA UKRAINE - MARCH 12: A view of burned T-64BV tank is seen amid Russian-Ukrainian conflict .. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) who had been in combat with Russian forces since 2014 seeing action at the battle of Donetsk Airport and even served on the frontline alongside his son in 2016 Standing in front of a captured T-72B3 tank Vasyl provides a rare account of the tank battle for control of the city of Volnovakha begun on the third day of the war His brigade’s costly stand delayed Russia’s encirclement of Mariupol for fifteen days by which time most of Volnovakha was utterly destroyed Butusov’s interview was subsequently provided English subtitles by the site War Translated, which you can see below. Stepan, a translator at War Translated, brought to the author’s attention that a second tanker named Vitaly (callsign Mars) also described the armored battle in Volnovakha in an earlier interview by Butusov. Though not confirmed, the author believes Vitaliy is the deputy commander of Vasyl’s battalion based on which units were in the region and similarities in their accounts. This article seeks to contextualize these two account of their unit’s hasty defensive action begun late in February as part of the larger battle of Volnovakha. (The wording of the original oral translations has been adjusted in places for length and clarity.) Volnovakha was founded in 1881 as a railway station (later, hub) connecting Donetsk 40 miles to the north and the port of Mariupol 30 miles to the south. Its strategic location made it the site of battles in the Ukrainian Revolution (1919-2020) and World War II, particularly in 1943. By 2001 it had a population of 21,000; a survey found 20% were ethnically Greek, 24% Russian, and 52.9% as Ukrainian. Volnovakha's train station in 2018 culminating in January 2015 when a Russian rocket barrage killed 12 civilians traveling in a bus it was destined to remain a frontline city in the following years When Putin launched his full-scale invasion on February 24 2022 Volnovakha was again in the crosshairs—and in fact before the war had even started were bombarded by Separatist 152-millimeter howitzers the night of Feb While Crimea-based forces broke through Ukrainian defenses and advanced on Mariupol from the west securing Volnovakha would allow Russian troops to descend upon the strategic port from the north completing the encirclement and cutting the defender’s remaining supply line running along the H20 highway Separatists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR or DNR) spearheaded the attack These troops were generally considered less well trained and equipped than regular Russian military units though some did benefit from prior combat experience DPR 100th Brigade (known for blue vests and berets similar to Russian airborne units) DPR 3rd Separate Guards Motorized-Rifle Brigade (1000-2000 personnel) DPR ‘Sparta’ an elite ultranationalist reconnaissance/assault battalion Defending was Ukraine’s 53rd Mechanized Brigade which Russian propaganda claimed had been ‘surrounded’ and begun surrendering on day one the attached 24th “Aidar” Assault infantry battalion and elements of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Azov and Donbas battalions Google/Maxar satellite map of area around Volnovakha bus station, where a tank battalion of ... More Ukraine's 53rd Mechanized Brigade made it stand on Feb. 26, 2022 against pro-Russian separatist tanks and infantry advancing from two directions. Ironically, in an adjoining park an ancient T-34/85 tank stood on a pedestal commemorating Soviet tankers killed in World War II. A T-34/85 tank serves as a memorial to Soviet tankers who diead in action in World War II located .. More close to the bus station in Volnovakha Vasyl’s company engaged Russian forces immediately after deploying: “They started attacking us from two sides Since I’m the driver-mechanic I had smaller range of view [peering through the hull vision slit put the vehicle into reverse gear and the shell glanced off the turret But I’d saved the tank.” [Note: Though the sequence of events is unclear it seems that when Vasyl backed up the tank it caused a shot to ricochet off a side or corner angle of the armor.] particularly in the storage ‘bustle’ on the rear turret Such external fires risk panicking the crew and damaging sensitive external sensors.] But while Vasyl’s crew was extinguishing the fire outside their vehicle It wasn’t a sight for the weak-hearted.” [Ammunition storage in the turret makes all later Soviet tanks prone to fatal detonation when penetrated UKRAINE - MARCH 12: Civilians walk by a destroyed BMP fighting vehicle in the city of .. Vasyl recounts: “There was smoke everywhere I could only see the asphalt in front of me due to the explosions Vasyl recalled: ‘they were saying later on the new that only 50 of them came Both Vasyl and Vitaliy report one tank was captured “Our T-64 rolled out on a position that happened to be just 200 meters in front of the enemy tank The T-64 came to a stop 200 meters away and fired the first shot There was an explosion under the tank and the crew simply fled.” Vasyl recalled “Although one of our tanks was hit there UKRAINE - MARCH 12: Civilians are seen in a bomb shelter under the hospital amid .. More Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the city of Volnovakha Vitaliy emphasized the stress and fear of experiencing combat for the first time: but you don’t know whether you hit it or it rolled back into cover Then all of the sudden there’s an explosion in front of your tank Vitaly felt the battle revealed the superior performance of Ukraine’s T-64s over Russian T-72 tanks which he says may also be due to more experienced mechanics DPR T-72s are mostly older models lacking many of the upgrades on Russia’s latest T-72B3 tanks Russian shelling killed 20 civilians there most of the town’s citizens were left shivering in their basements or were hastily buried in the backyards of family homes bolstered increasingly by Russian regular forces and heavy artillery and air bombardments Pro-Russian media circulated imagery of dead and surrendering Ukrainian troops claiming the 53rd brigade had been annihilated and its command section had abandoned troops in the field That Russian media repeatedly needed to declare Volnovakha ‘captured’ hinted at the rocky course of events as more troops from both sides were sucked into the struggle Reinforcements on the Ukrainian side—many retreating from compromised positions—included the Georgian Legion (a foreign volunteer unit) the 15th Mountain Assault Infantry battalion the 56th Motor-Rifle brigade (mounted in Gazelle vans) and the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade also contributed to the defense discernible from equal parts media coverage and soldier’s obituaries Vasyl was nonplussed when they found a bottle of vodka and a chocolate bar in the backpack of a dead separatist fighter. “I thought to myself, what the hell are they going to battle with? Then we captured three of them. One of them turned out to be from Horlivka, another from Yenakiieve, and a youngster from Kharkiv. They admitted they were sent into slaughter, they never thought we’d have tanks here.” DONETSK, UKRAINE - MARCH 11: A tank is seen in Volnovakha, Donetsk, Ukraine on March 11, 2022. ... More Civilians have been seeking refuge in basements in Volnovakha, Ukraine's Donetsk area, for more than two weeks. Some citizens who died were buried by their family directly next to their homes. (Photo by Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Vitaliy concurs in his account: “Their [separatist] IFVs, APCs, tanks were simply going up in flames. Their people were not ready for this. These are just children, not trained, villagers used only to manual labor... And they’re very fast to abandon a vehicle. If there’s a breakdown with a vehicle, say it doesn’t turn properly, that’s it, they bail out. There’s no need to shoot, they’ll simply run away from us.” Artillery proved a greater threat. Vasyl recalls in the video: “Every day and night—shelling. The vehicle needs to be warmed up of course to stay in working condition, to be able to get out and do the work on short notice. So I was constantly running under shell fire, warming it up, helping guys who abandoned their vehicle, or whose battery died or they had power go out, I’d go have a look.” Shelling eventually neutralized the combat effectiveness of Vasyl’s tank. “Once our main gun was hit, it wasn’t firing anymore. It needed to be taken out, but we couldn’t due to the shelling.” Vitaliy also says constant shelling prevented crew from exiting from their tanks. Ukrainian civilians are evacuated from Volnovakha on March 3 The plight of civilians drew increasing concern On March 1 an initial batch of 346 civilians were withdrawn from the city which by then reportedly had 90% of its buildings destroyed or damaged Finally on the 7th Russia agreed to create a humanitarian corridor though some of the evacuation vehicles still came under fire 54th brigade anti-aircraft troops downed the Russian Su-25SM3 Red-08 When a Russian Mi-8 rescue helicopter attempted to extricate him A Ukrainian Frogfoot was downed near Volnovakha on the 14th Russia’s growing troop concentration around Mariupol bogged down an attempted Ukrainian counterattack on March 9 Just two days later Ukrainian forces finally withdrew Vitaliy recalled: “The enemy had vastly overwhelming forces but in this case there were many more of them Volnovakha was finally seized by the 163rd Tank Regiment (from 150th Motor-Rifle Division) and the DPR’s 11th Motor Rifle Regiment much of the city had been completely destroyed UKRAINE - MARCH 27: A view of a damaged residential area in Volnovakha city More one of the cities most affected by the war between Russia and Ukraine that started on February 24 Volnovakha has turned into a ghost town due to conflicts one of the 18 regions of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine has been under the control of Russian Armed Forces and pro-Russian separatist since March 11 (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) had been killed March 5 and buried in a military funeral in Donetsk His father Artem inherited command of the unit UKRAINE - MARCH 07: A funeral ceremony of Sparta Battalion commander Vladimir Zhoga held at .. More the Donetsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Donetsk who fought for pro-Russian separatist battalion "Sparta," was killed in action in Volnovakha on March 5 DPR leader Denis Pushilin said that Zhoga died while trying to secure a safe passage out for civilians A company commander in Ukraine’s 503rd naval infantry fell in a rearguard action near Volnovakha on March 12 While the battle’s total casualties remain unestimated it’s safe to say hundreds more soldiers and dozens of civilians fell to be mourned by families across Ukraine and Russia More holds the arm of her deceased husband and son Maksymon March 5 Ukrainians from the eastern and central parts of the country have increasingly fled to western cities as Russian forces advance toward Kyiv from three sides Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine has prompted widespread condemnation from European countries coupled with sanctions on Russia and promises of military support for Ukraine Photos posted on Russian social media confirm Ukrainian forces left behind at least 8 abandoned or destroyed T-64BV tanks One of the knocked-out Ukrainian T-64 had sidled next to the World War II tanker memorial to shield its side armor sealing the fate of the port city’s defenders starving Ukrainian defenders ensconced in the Azovstal factory complex surrendered Vitaliy recalls seeing videos of Russian tanks callously rolling over civilian buildings in Mariupol when enemy comes to your home and is smashing everything.” Vasyl found solace that his unit’s stand at Volnovakha bought crucial time: though the command center certainly knows better we held the defense for 15 days was so that the armed forces could build up the defenses further back strong enough to properly hold and block further advance losses so heavy they caused a political scandal in Russia withdrawal was necessary: “When enemy forces are overwhelming I face a choice: whether to save a crew and a tank When they were attacking from all directions Asked by Butusov in the video what advantage Ukrainians possess in the conflict Vasyl—whose son has already been wounded in combat—concludes: “Our boys’ strength is that they’re fighting for their Ukraine But in my own words: I think if my mom was a bit younger then she would be at positions here as a medic Updated November 13 with commentary from Butusov’s interview of the tank officer Vitaliy also present in the battle of Volnovakha 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 The Russian army has captured the village of Ivanivske in Bakhmut district and advanced near the settlements of Novopokrovske in Pokrovsk district and Staromayorske in Volnovakha district This is reported by the Ukrainian analytical public Deep State “The enemy advanced near Novopokrovske in Staromayorske and captured Ivanivske,” the report says Analysts also made changes to the battle map which means that this settlement is not controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine Deep State maps also show the advance of the Russian army in the area of Novopokrovske and Staromayorske.It should be noted that the fighting for Ivanivske has been going on since the winter of 2023 Ukraine has not officially confirmed the loss of the settlement <script async src="https://telegram.org/js/telegram-widget.js?22" data-telegram-post="DeepStateUA/19672" data-width="100%"></script> The situation in the combat zones has not fundamentally changed The Russians consolidated their position on the north-eastern outskirts of the coke-chemical complex the main bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Avdiivka while the Ukrainians have done likewise in the western part of the village of Krynky on the left bank of the Dnieper (west of Nova Kakhovka) The various attacks and counter-attacks in the other operational directions in the areas of Kupyansk Bakhmut (where Ukrainian forces made another attempt to break the Russian defences along the Bakhmut-Horlivka railway line) Velika Novosilka and Orikhiv also failed to bring about any significant results the intensity of clashes has dropped from 60–70 per day (27–29 October) to 36 (30 October) and the Russians are probably most active in the area of Marinka which they have been attacking between 15 and 20 times a day spokesman for the Taurida Group of Forces Oleksandr Shtupun reported that the invaders had amassed 40,000 troops and 300 tanks in the area of Avdiivka the commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces reported a significant reinforcement of the Russians’ forces around Bakhmut; he admitted that the Russians there had moved from defensive to offensive operations the area of Myrhorod in Poltava oblast was the target of Russian Ch-59 missiles (most likely a military airfield) three Russian Iskander-M ballistic missiles struck a repair yard in Odesa resulting in the destruction or damage of its equipment according to Ukrainian sources; four people were injured an Iskander-M missile also hit Zaporizhzhia destroying what was referred to as a ‘social infrastructure facility’ Two Kh-59 missiles were said to have been shot down over Dnipropetrovsk oblast the Ukrainians reported that three out of four Iskander-K cruise missiles heading for the same area had been neutralised According to communiqués from the General Staff on 27–30 October the invaders used seven or eight missiles of different types each day Russian Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones unsuccessfully attacked Khmelnytskyi oblast as they did in Mykolaiv oblast on 29 October Five drones were used by the invaders on that day and two on the day after that; according to the General Staff a thermal power station in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk oblast was damaged as a result of Russian artillery shelling The cities of Kherson and Nikopol are still under continual shelling and bombing Ukrainian forces carried out a combined attack on Crimea using various types of missiles and kamikaze drones The Strategic Communications Department of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that a strategic air defence facility in the western part of the peninsula had been hit one of the two ATACMS missiles used by the Ukrainians damaged an S-300 system launcher from a grouping located west of Yevpatoria the defenders were said to have used eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles two Neptun missiles and two surface drones which according to Russian sources were destroyed before reaching their targets the Russians reported that 36 Ukrainian drones had attacked Crimea; all of them were shot down or neutralised by means of electronic warfare Ukrainians attacked the Afip oil refinery in Krasnodar krai with kamikaze drones; a fire broke out there Russian sources reported that six Ukrainian kamikaze drones were shot down over Oryol and Tula oblasts the head of the Joint Press Centre for Operational Command ‘South’ reported that the Black Sea Fleet’s hydrographic vessel Vladimir Kozitskiy was probably damaged by a Russian mine at the Sevastopol roadstead Russian sources spoke of a possible Ukrainian attack using the Remus 100 submarine drone; this was allegedly proved by the device’s low explosive power and the fact that the small vessel (with a displacement of around 200 tonnes) was still able to carry out its tasks the TASS agency confirmed reports that the commander of the ‘Dniepr’ Army Group had been dismissed from his post; he had been responsible for the situation in the occupied part of Kherson oblast His position has been taken by the former deputy of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine who is also the commander of the Airborne Forces the German Chancellery announced the transfer of another military support package to Ukraine It includes IRIS-T SLM air defence system launchers with missiles and a TRML-4D radar four armoured personnel carriers (type not indicated) and M26 cluster munitions for HIMARS launchers The package also included five small Sonobot 5 surface drones for surveying the bottoms of inland bodies of water According to subsequent reports in the German media a total of 15 such drones have already been delivered to Ukraine the German Air Force announced the start of training for 61 Ukrainian servicemen to operate the next Patriot system nine people (including two children and their parents) were shot dead in occupied Volnovakha (Donetsk oblast); the murders was carried out at night when the entire family was asleep The crime was quickly reported on by Russian and Ukrainian social media and sparked a wave of outrage on both sides of the frontline The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation then announced the opening of an investigation into the case and on 30 October reported the arrest of the perpetrators allegedly two Russian professional soldiers from the Far East Russian social media reported an assassination attempt on Oleh Tsaryov in the grounds of a sanatorium in Yalta; he was seriously injured and has been taken to hospital the assassination attempt was organised by the Security Service of Ukraine Tsaryov was a deputy in the Ukrainian parliament; in 2014 he switched sides to Russia and took an active part in organising the occupation authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts and in 2022 he supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine demonstrations were held in several Ukrainian cities (including Kyiv Kryvyi Rih and Odesa) by military families increased rotation in the fighting units and demobilisation after 18 months of wartime service The demonstrations took place in a peaceful atmosphere and were mostly attended by no more than a few dozen people The participants also drew attention to the Ukrainian president’s lack of response to a petition submitted two months ago which called for the introduction of the institution of health leave for mobilised soldiers who have spent 18 months on wartime service    Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej 20229:00 PM UTCUkrainian town of Volnovakha destroyed after Russia invasionThe eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha has been completely destroyed following the Russian invasion but fighting continues for territory there to prevent a Russian encirclement [1/43]Local residents walk past a residential building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region REUTERS/Alexander ErmochenkoShare this photo [2/43]A local resident stands next to a residential building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [3/43]Local residents receive humanitarian aid during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [5/43]A woman walks with a bicycle next to a building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [6/43]Local residents walk along a street after receiving humanitarian aid during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [8/43]A local resident rides a bicycle past a charred armored vehicle during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [9/43]Local residents walk past a building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [10/43]A local resident rides a scooter past a building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [11/43]A local resident stands with a bicycle next to a building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [12/43]A woman stands outside a local hospital which was destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [13/43]A service member of pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia jumps off a tank with the letters "Z" painted on it outside a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [14/43]A woman reacts in front of a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [15/43]People gather in the basement of a local hospital which was damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [16/43]A service member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic walks past the top turret of an armored vehicle destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [17/43]A woman leashes dogs while sitting by the fire outside a building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [18/43]People ride bicycles in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [19/43]People gather in the basement of a local hospital in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [20/43]A woman pushes a trolley with her belongings along a street damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region More in this CollectionSee all picturesItem 21 of 43 A local resident carries his belongings while walking along a street in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko[21/43]A local resident carries his belongings while walking along a street in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region REUTERS/Alexander ErmochenkoShare this gallery , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide 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All rights reserved Russia on Sunday said its forces had captured another village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region the latest modest territorial gain for its advancing forces Russian troops had "liberated the village of Chigari" in the Donetsk region the defense ministry said in a daily briefing posted on social media Moscow said its forces had taken control of another small village in the same region where Kyiv says the fiercest fighting across the entire front line is taking place Russia has made a string of battlefield advances since the start of the year beginning with the capture of industrial hub Avdiivka in February But its progress has been grinding as the conflict looks locked in an attritional phase with neither side able to punch a decisive breakthrough and both saying they are inflicting heavy casualties on the other Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday repeated his demand for Ukraine to fully withdraw from the region along with three others in the south and east of the country This is according to Suspilne Donbas which cites Khortytsia Group of Forces Spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn as saying located in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region and part of the Velyka Novosilka settlement community is now under the control of the Defense Forces," Voloshyn said Earlier reports indicated that fighters from the 48th Noman Celebicihan Infantry Regiment had expelled Russian forces from Novyi Komar The Russian occupiers suffered heavy losses and marines from Russia's 40th Naval Infantry Brigade were captured The Russia-Ukraine war turned a city in eastern Ukraine into a ghost town has been under the control of the Russian Armed Forces and the pro-Russian separatist administration in Donetsk since March 11 The city of 21,000 people came to the brink of a humanitarian crisis four days after the war erupted 90 % of the buildings in the city were damaged Almost all of the houses in Volnovakha are abandoned as the bombs destroyed the infrastructure and roads one of the residents who survived the clashes told Anadolu Agency about her experiences during the war Stating that they had terrible moments during the conflicts It is very difficult to describe what we went through." Explaining that the people are trying to survive in the basements of the houses Terpegoryeva said she wants to leave the city with her son and this city has no future implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow At least 1,119 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,790 injured while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher More than 3.82 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries with millions more displaced inside the country The occupiers shot an unarmed captured serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the war crime Under the procedural leadership of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office a pre-trial investigation was initiated in criminal proceedings into the commission of a war crime that caused the death of a person (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) three servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were performing combat missions at positions near the village of Rozdolne One of the unarmed Ukrainian soldiers was shot dead with automatic weapons by representatives of the aggressor state's army Urgent investigative and search actions are being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident and the individuals among the Russian military personnel involved in the commission of the specified crime The killing of prisoners is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a grave international crime The most important from online.ua in your mail By staying online, you consent to the use of cookies files which help us make your stay here even better  Based on your browser and language settings you might prefer the English version of our website Women and children from Ukraine arrive at the border crossing in Medyka Ukraine — What looked like a breakthrough cease-fire to evacuate residents from two cities in Ukraine quickly fell apart Saturday as Ukrainian officials said shelling had halted the work to remove civilians hours after Russia announced the deal The Russian defense ministry earlier said it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for Mariupol The vaguely worded statement did not make clear how long the routes would remain open "The Russian side is not holding to the cease-fire and has continued firing on Mariupol itself and on its surrounding area," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office "Talks with the Russian Federation are ongoing regarding setting up a cease-fire and ensuring a safe humanitarian corridor." Russia breached the deal in Volnovakha as well Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told reporters "We appeal to the Russian side to stop firing," she said Moscow outlet RIA Novosti carried a Russian defense ministry claim that the firing came from inside both cities against Russian positions The struggle to enforce the cease-fire showed the fragility of efforts to stop fighting across Ukraine as people continued to flee the country on the 10th day after Russian forces invaded "We are doing everything on our part to make the agreement work," Zelenskyy said Let's see if we can go further in the negotiation process." Mariupol had been the scene of growing misery in recent days amid an assault that knocked out power and most phone service and raised the prospect of food and water shortages for hundreds of thousands of people in freezing weather wait for transportation at the border crossing in Medyka the head of the Donetsk military-civil administration that includes the city had said the humanitarian corridor would extend to Zaporizhzhia In comments carried on Ukrainian television Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of people had gathered for safe passage out of the city and buses were departing when shelling began "We value the life of every inhabitant of Mariupol and we cannot risk it Before Russia announced the limited cease-fire Ukraine had urged Moscow to create humanitarian corridors to allow children women and the older adults to flee the fighting Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Poland to meet with the prime minister and foreign minister a day after attending a NATO meeting in Brussels in which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members announced that it plans to halt all international flights starting Tuesday in the wake of Western sanctions imposed on Russia had recommended that all Russian airlines with foreign-leased planes halt passenger and cargo flights abroad to prevent the aircraft from being impounded As Russian forces batter strategic locations in Ukraine Zelenskyy has lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over his country warning that "all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you." which would bar all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia But as the United States and other NATO members send weapons for Kyiv and more than 1 million refugees spill through the continent the conflict is already drawing in countries far beyond Ukraine's borders Russia continues to crack down on independent media reporting on the war and more outlets say they are pausing their work inside the country And in a warning of a hunger crisis yet to come World Food Program has said millions of people inside Ukraine senators Saturday by video conference as Congress considers a request for $10 billion in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs In a video message to antiwar protesters in several European cities Security Council scheduled an open meeting for Monday on the worsening humanitarian situation The United Nations estimates that 12 million people in Ukraine and 4 million fleeing to neighboring countries in the coming months will need humanitarian aid Russia's attack on Friday on Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant but Russian forces did not make significant progress in their offensive to sever Ukraine's access to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov which would deal a severe blow to the country's economy A vast Russian armored column threatening Ukraine's capital remained stalled outside Kyiv but Russia's military has launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites across the country As homes in the northern city of Chernihiv burned from what locals described as Russian shelling one resident accused Europe of merely looking on "We wanted to join NATO and the EU and this is the price we are paying At least 331 civilians have been confirmed killed since the fighting began on Feb but the true number is probably much higher Kyiv's central train station remained crowded with people desperate to join the more than 1.4 million who have fled Ukraine Become an NPR sponsor Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved 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  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 6:22 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims. 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." 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 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S Putin's Victory Day truce "doesn't sound like much if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 5 Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote and the candidate from the ruling coalition "It requires the continuation of contacts between Moscow and Washington which have been launched and are now ongoing," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said set to operate within the Council of Europe will focus on Russia's political and military leaders by Nate OstillerRussian-controlled forces stand near a tank in occupied Volnovakha (Photo by Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Editor's note: This article contains graphic content Russian forces in occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, entered a home and murdered nine civilians, including three women and two children, aged five and nine, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's office alleged on Oct According to the preliminary investigation Russian soldiers approached the home several days before and demanded that the residents vacate so that they could reside there The residents refused even though the Russian soldiers threatened them and shot all nine members of the family while they slept those responsible for the murders could face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment located about 65 kilometers from occupied Mariupol and the Black Sea coast has been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the beginning of the full-scale invasion causing an unknown number of civilian casualties and damaging a majority of the buildings in the city Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast and focused primarily on digital misinformation Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine This was announced by adviser to the mayor of temporarily occupiedMariupol Petro Andriushchenko on the air of the national telethon the railroad has been completed and the testing period has begun cargo can be delivered from russia to Volnovakha or Mariupol we have seen that russians are testing locomotives We have not yet recorded the passage of a single large freight train carrying anything But russian locomotives have already been spotted near Mariupol which means that there are only 'hours' left before the start Why they have not launched this railroad yet is a question for us Perhaps these are some bureaucratic obstacles that exist in russia given their love of opening up everything involving a dictator It is known that russians' aim is to connect Rostov-on-Don and occupied Mariupol to supply weapons by rail Earlier Defense Express reported that russian invaders had improved their FPV-drones 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 Russian forces in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region are using thousands of freight carriages as a defensive "train" against Ukrainian troops close to the front line The continuous structure of goods wagons stretches between the Russian-controlled Donetsk towns of Olenivka and Volnovakha It is close to the front lines in eastern Ukraine according to Ukrainian open-source intelligence tracker DeepState the structure contains around 2,100 freight carriages "This is a very specific engineering structure the effectiveness of which is difficult to assess," DeepState wrote "The idea is clear—an obstacle to the advancement of the [Ukrainian] Defense Forces." It is possible the tsar train was built to act as a "defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults," the Institute for the Study of War, the U.S.-based think tank, said on Sunday. However, it may also have been designed for as-yet unknown reasons, the ISW added Satellite imagery from May 2023 and February 2024 shows the long string of train carriages linking the two towns Russia began piecing together the tsar train in July 2023 "It can be considered as a separate line of defense because it is extremely difficult to damage move or blow up a 30-kilometer-long [19-mile] mass of metal and the movement of equipment through such an obstacle without breaking through the corridor is impossible," Deep State said Olenivka and Volnovakha lie just a few miles east of the front lines snaking through Ukraine's Donetsk region where some of the heaviest fighting is taking place which Russian fighters captured in late December 2023 the embattled southern Donetsk town where Ukrainian and Russian forces fought one of the most bloody battles of the nearly two-year-old war in early 2023 The railway line connecting Olenivka and Volnovakha is less than four miles from the front line at its closest point This is an "an area of the front that was relatively inactive when Russian forces reportedly began construction," the think tank added Newsweek could not independently verify this and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment After Moscow seized control of Marinka, Serhiy Hrabsky, a military analyst and former Ukrainian army colonel, told Newsweek that Ukraine's grasp on Novomykhailivka would significantly deteriorate Russian troops desperately tried to capture Vuhledar but Ukraine will need to maintain control of the settlement because of its strategic value On Monday, Ukraine's military said Russia had launched 32 attacks close to Novomykhailivka and the nearby settlements of Krasnohorivka and Pobjeda Russia's Defense Ministry reported clashes around Novomykhailivka on Sunday Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all According to Ukrinform, the press service of the Joint Forces Operation reported this on Facebook A Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber has just been shot down by an air defense unit of the Ukrainian Joint Forces near the town of Volnovakha The pilots of this plane carried out a barbaric bombardment of the civilian population and infrastructure of the city today Ukrainian air defense units shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter aircraft over Irpin near Kyiv Lidia Tarash is a journalist from Volnovakha she became one of 120 fellows of the Voices of Ukraine programme which provides emergency stipends to Ukrainian journalists Lidia had to live in the basement of her parents’ house for two weeks to escape shelling go through the so-called Russian “filtering” procedure refuse to work for the occupation authorities Lidia used to work as Editor-in-Chief of the local newspaper “Nashe slovo” without her previous job or family support and her husband was arrested and imprisoned in a detention centre – the pro-Russian authorities suspect him of espionage The Voices of Ukraine programme has become one of the main sources of support for Lidia in this difficult time “Nashe slovo” was a local newspaper that was distributed to the district Ukraine passed a law on denationalisation of the media we re-registered our newspaper and became a private independent media the frontline was 15 kilometres away from Volnovakha but I cannot say that it shaped our agenda Despite occasional explosions somewhere in the distance ordinary peaceful life continued in Volnovakha Thanks to changes in legislation since 2018 and almost the entire staff has left the city In order to continue working on the newspaper I would have to agree to work for the Russian occupiers The newspaper’s website is also down now We had spent the entire evening the night before preparing the latest issue of the newspaper He told me that the capital was also being bombed and that Putin had started a war the occupation of Ukrainian territories was relatively peaceful they occupied main administrative buildings and announced that it was now “DNR” Those people who didn’t agree with this had the opportunity to leave and no one was prepared for Volnovakha to be wiped off the face of the earth The office of our newspaper was in the district administration building I assumed that this building would be the first to be hit So I asked my colleagues not to come to work After that I took my children – they’re 5 and 8 years old – and moved to my father’s private house it turned out that this area of town was the first to come under fire We spent more than two weeks in the basement All that time the city was shelled nonstop A rocket hit a neighbouring house; fortunately ours survived we realised that Volnovakha had been occupied and a large convoy of Russian militaries entered the city That day I finally decided to come out of the basement and was horrified by what we saw: dead people on the roads It was too dangerous for me as a journalist to stay in an occupied city my children and I left for Kyiv – through Russia you had to go through the so-called “filtration” procedure we were stopped and told that we could go further only by registering at the police department and had to come there with our documents where other civilians from Volnovakha were sitting Only there I understood that this was the so-called “filtration” wanted to know where we had been since 24 February wrote down the contacts of all our relatives and asked for the contacts of The Armed Forces of Ukraine servicemen the next stage was photographing and fingerprinting and then checking our phones Since I am Ukrainian and a pro-Ukrainian citizen I understood very well that everything said on local TV was a big lie my acquaintances who watched Russian television were always for Russia But when they saw what Russian troops had turned Volnovakha into Speaking generally about the residents of Volnovakha I personally saw people who greeted Russians and said “thank you I looked at it and couldn’t believe it as people were left homeless – and were grateful for it Because Russian television was steadily broadcasting in the Donetsk region telling them that Ukraine was a sub-state and that Ukrainians did not exist I would like to be with him at that moment The Union of Journalists of Ukraine helped me a lot as well as the Voices of Ukraine programme the DNR administration called me and invited me to work for them and publish a newspaper in Volnovakha I was asked to think about it and “call them any time” if I changed my mind people with guns came to my house in Volnovakha looking for me “because of her work” I realised that I had to leave Donetsk urgently my colleagues were very supportive: they provided financial support offered to help me join the Journalists-in-Residence programme in Kosovo where I was able to work with a psychologist I would have stayed there for a longer time if I hadn’t found out that my husband who continued to live in Volnovakha for family reasons hadn’t been arrested on suspicion of espionage Now he is in a detention centre in the “DNR” my children and I lived at my son’s dormitory In September 2022 we had to move out and to rent an apartment These scholarships really supported us financially it gives me an opportunity to pay for housing and food and to do something for the liberation of my country Submit your poster to celebrate 10 years of ECPMF Partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) met with European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty to address increasing challenges concerning the economic viability and the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the media landscape Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said this at a briefing on Saturday the Russian Federation began shelling the city of Volnovakha with heavy weapons we had an agreement that we would create two humanitarian corridors - Volnovakha and Mariupol I note the fact that Russia has violated the agreements it has not complied with its commitments and is shelling the city of Volnovakha," she said fighting is taking place in the area of Polohy-Orikhove which makes it impossible for the column to move from Mariupol to Zaporizhia "We appeal to the Russian side to stop the shelling return the ceasefire and give the opportunity to form columns [...] so that children women and the elderly can leave the settlements," Vereshchuk said She also demanded that Russia provide an opportunity to send humanitarian goods from Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia - medicines and food Vereshchuk said earlier that an agreement had been reached between Ukraine and Russia to establish a humanitarian corridor from 09:00 on March 5 in two directions - Volnovakha and Mariupol Evacuation routes have been agreed with the International Committee of the Red Cross The head of the Donetsk regional military administration said earlier that a ceasefire regime was established in Mariupol on March 5 from 09:00 to 16:00 and the evacuation of the population began An entire city in eastern Ukraine has been wiped out in the Russian invasion “Russian-backed separatists claimed on Friday to have captured Volnovakha Days of heavy bombardment from air and ground artillery assaults demolished much of the small but strategically important city of 21,000 people,” reports The Times Videos on social media showed Russian soldiers and armored vehicles in the city Most of the civilians living there had managed to escape before they arrived Volnovakha with its infrastructure as such no longer exists,” he told the Ukrainian television channel Direct Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine on Saturday Why Silknet's eSIM could be your top choice in Georgia  Since its introduction The Sunday TimesAn entire city in eastern Ukraine has been wiped out in the Russian invasion Russian-backed separatists claimed on Friday to have captured Volnovakha Days of heavy bombardment from the air and ground artillery assaults have demolished much of the small but strategically important city of 21,000 people Videos on social media showed Russian soldiers and armoured vehicles in the city Registered in England No. 894646. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. 20227:26 PM UTCInside the almost completely destroyed town of Volnovakha UkraineMoscow said its separatist allies in the southeast had captured the town of Volnovakha [1/22]A service member of pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia jumps off a tank with the letters "Z" painted on it outside a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [2/22]A service member of pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia stands near a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [3/22]Local residents walk to be evacuated from a damaged residential area during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [5/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia gather around a fire outside a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [6/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia drive an armoured vehicle with the letters "Z" painted on it in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [8/22]A service member of pro-Russian troops smokes inside an armoured vehicle during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [9/22]Local residents and service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk past a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [10/22]A woman walks past a tank with the letters "Z" painted on it in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [11/22]A tank with the letters "Z" painted on it is seen in front of a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [12/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk near a church that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [13/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia are seen next to a tank with the letters "Z" painted on it outside a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [14/22]A local resident cooks food outside a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [15/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk near a residential building that was heavily damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [16/22]Local residents walk to be evacuated from a damaged residential area during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [17/22]A service member of pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia stands inside a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [18/22]A local resident walks past tanks in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [19/22]A woman walks in front of a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region [20/22]Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia drive an armoured vehicle with the letters "Z" painted on it in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [21/22]A woman evacuated from Volnovakha reacts upon arrival in the separatist-controlled village of Bugas during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region [22/22]A woman reacts in front of a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Tens of Russian soldiers have died close to the front lines in eastern Ukraine after Kyiv attacked a training ground with U.S.-supplied HIMARS according to a Ukrainian official and media reports Ukrainian forces fired on a training area for Russian troops close to the Donetsk city of Volnovakha with a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Around 65 Russian soldiers were killed at the training ground near the village of Trudivske, Bratchuk said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. The Ukrainian military used two missiles in the strike, the BBC's Russian service reported on Tuesday Units of Russia's 39th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade were stationed near Trudivske Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military and Russian Defense Ministry for comment Bratchuk posted two videos he said showed the "consequences" of the HIMARS attack showing what look to be dozens of bodies strewn across a field Images appearing to show the same site have circulated widely across social media It is not possible to independently verify the footage and the images Newsweek has not included a link to the materials due to their graphic nature Several prominent Russian military bloggers referenced the alleged strike an account with more than one million subscribers and links to Russia's Defense Ministry describing the reported attack near Trudivske as a "tragic event." "The issue of formations of personnel in zones where the enemy is conducting active reconnaissance and where crowded people can become targets for high-precision munitions remains relevant," another Russian military blogger with a significant following wrote on Tuesday Volnovakha and Trudivske are in Russian-controlled territory in south Donetsk to the southeast of the embattled town of Vuhledar and the frontlines sweeping from Donetsk to the southern Zaporizhzhia region but this is not recognized by the international community and Moscow does not fully control the regions Russian military bloggers said that a number of Russian soldiers were killed near the Luhansk city of Kreminna after the troops gathered for a commander's address giving Ukraine the opportunity to fire on the fighters with HIMARS "They stood in the open air for two hours listening to the speech," an anonymous Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Post at the time Ukraine has been using HIMARS since the summer of 2022, and the U.S. has sent 39 HIMARS to the country since February 2022, according to Pentagon documents by Illia PonomarenkoA view of a heavily damaged building in Volnovakha on March 27 (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)“Mom you just have to get out,” I was saying into the phone Nobody knows if the worst is to happen soon.” I was breaking into her quiet and very routine world of living in the town of Volnovakha in Donbas and working as a mid-ranking clerk I was begging her to leave this comfortable routine because of something that made no sense to her ears — the gathering storm of a big war “You just lost your mind,” she would argue every evening I was seeing that the insanity of Russia’s war crisis was quickly tipping over into the worst scenario Anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russia was flaming up every single day Exalted propaganda was reveling in blood and fury demanding that Ukraine be eliminated as an independent nation for the sake of “historical justice.” was delivering the most imperialistic and hateful speeches since Adolf Hitler The Russian horde of over 150,000 at the border was painting tactical signs Z and V on its armor My hometown of Volnovakha was situated just 20 kilometers away from the Donbas front line I eventually made my mother take a night train to Kyiv which took me a lot of real angry yelling on the phone She boarded the train on the evening of Feb after a sleepless night in front of my laptop when she was sleeping in the overnight train to Kyiv “Wake up and call everybody in town,” I said The rolling thunder of the first Russian airstrikes upon Kyiv was already shaking the glass of my windows What followed was the largest and the most destructive war of conquest in Europe since World War II Russian helicopters landing an elite airborne force in the Hostomel Airfield Giant armored columns rushing toward Kyiv through the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone Russian Spetsnaz’s Tigr vehicles breaking through the Kharkiv defenses It seemed like a bad doomsday dream after which one wakes up in cold sweat My mother left Donbas just hours before Putin launched a full-fledged war Soon the whole region once again became a giant battlefield Volnovakha was just one among many little known cities and towns of Donetsk Oblast It was established in 1881 as a small train station the Russian Empire was establishing a huge network of railroads to connect its new particularly Yuzovka (which later became Donetsk) and Mariupol The settlement was initially home to just a handful of workers maintaining the imperial railroad the town has preserved its role as an important railway junction Much of the town worked for the local train depot and much of its life was focused on railroading My early years in a local elementary school to which I had to walk over two kilometers every day passed on to the sound of rumbling metal tracks It was a very typical quiet workers’ town of nearly 20,000 people living its slow life amid fields of wheat and corn a modest bookstore where I used to spend all my pocket money roaming in the streets and looking for fun there was something good and comforting about that corner of the world When a Rolling Stone reporter asked me about Volnovakha during an interview I came up with an apt description: It was a place where nothing happens to you That includes nothing really bad happening to you as well No wonder my mother refused to believe a big war was coming my hometown Volnovakha became spoken of worldwide on two occasions when a Russian BM-21 Grad fired on a local bus full of people on a highway just outside the city with blood pouring out of the bus’s riddled compartment Volnovakha remained under Ukrainian control and was developing very fast over the last few years Lots of people were coming from Russian-occupied territories for shopping The government was investing a lot of money People were getting pretty decent salaries The Ukrainian military jokingly nicknamed it “Volno-Vegas” admitting the town’s edge over many other places in Donbas The end of days came with Russian hordes coming from the east on Feb Volnovakha was of strategic importance as a key transportation junction and a fortress north of Mariupol So Russia’s combined regular and militant forces had no mercy for it my townsfolk was starving in the dark of basements under relentless shelling Those who managed to make it say they were seeing ruined streets full of dead bodies of those who ended up being less lucky My mother’s best friend Oksana survived because she just took her bicycle and went at random in the absolute dark She very accidentally came to a Ukrainian military checkpoint My elderly grandmother was saved by my uncle but not before she spent two weeks in the basement with almost no food or drinking water The Ukrainian military was deterring the enemy as hundreds of civilians were being evacuated the local authorities admitted that Volnovakha effectively ceased to exist as a human settlement It was turned into a heap of lifeless ruins Volnovakha was spoken of across the world again Those scorched ruins the world is looking at in pictures and videos used to be the Mariupol State University where I spent five happy years as a student The now-infamous Drama Theater that was destroyed by bombing is where I used to bring girls on dates That other ruined building used to be a music store where I bought my first guitar That was our dormitory where we had drunk all-night-long parties That was the cargo terminal where I had side jobs my buddy and I had a three-week-long car trip around the country And as our final stop before getting back to Kyiv just to say hi to old friends and visit a couple of old places I was genuinely surprised by how the city had changed for the better food courts almost as good as those in Kyiv the ensemble of 25 white dove figurines blazing in the sunset Mariupol was razed to the ground by Russia The grief of death is universal and far-reaching was killed by a Russian artillery shell in Mariupol as he was trying to get some firewood in the street My friend’s father Ilya Gubenko was killed in his apartment in Mariupol My Kyiv flatmate Ivan spent weeks trying to find out if his sister was still alive in Mariupol (she’s now safe though very traumatized) we have no idea what happened to dozens of our friends and acquaintances I noticed and loved it during my bicycle travels in the Kyiv Oblast It is the place I decided to invest my humble savings in and purchased a half-finished apartment I got myself registered as the apartment’s owner and resident Now Bucha is known worldwide as a symbol of Russian war crimes and atrocities Now as you google “Bucha,” you don’t see pictures of local parks and bodies of civilians shot in the head with their hands tied Putin has drowned in blood three out of the four most important cities of my life One of the 40 million having to see this — just because a mad hateful dictator decided that Ukraine is not a real country The central railway station was cold and gloomy Thousands of cars blocked all key streets and highways The worst and the unthinkable had really happened But after we took my mother to a safe place in western Ukraine my flatmate and I decided to get back to Kyiv At least for the sake of not leaving our city behind in the darkest hour We thought that we might come too late and will be there only to see the city’s downfall bursting into the empty city to the flashlights of S-300 air defense intercepting Russian missiles targeting Kyiv suburbs in an apartment just a few kilometers away from the battlefield waking up every night amid artillery barrage Until the Russian military was defeated and fled thoughts and emotions are quite the opposite of where we were on day one we are on a track of having a very real chance of winning this war against all odds and the town where I was about to settle in my very own apartment Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023 He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk near a church damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Local residents walk to be evacuated from a damaged residential area during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia gather around a fire outside a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia are seen next to a tank with the letter "Z" painted on it outside a residential building damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia drive an armored vehicle with the letter "Z" painted on it in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region A local resident stands by a fire outside a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A woman evacuated from Volnovakha reacts upon arrival in the separatist-controlled village of Bugas during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region A tank with the letter "Z" painted on it is seen in front of a residential building that was damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk near a residential building heavily damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A woman walks past a tank with the letter "Z" painted on it in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region Local residents and service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia walk past a residential building damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A local resident cooks food outside a residential building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A service member of pro-Russian troops in a uniform without insignia stands inside a residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region A service member of pro-Russian troops in a uniform without insignia stands near a residential building heavily damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A woman walks in front of a residential building damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A local resident walks past tanks in a residential area of the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Donetsk region A service member of pro-Russian troops smokes inside an armoured vehicle during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region A woman reacts in front of a residential building damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region an economist and mother of three in Volnovakha describes her family’s ordeal and their terrifying escape • Russia-Ukraine war: live updates Russia-Ukraine war: live updates with intense shelling targeting civilian homes About 90% of buildings have been damaged or reduced to rubble Hundreds if not thousands of people are still sheltering in basements without heat or electricity, and dwindling supplies of food and water. Russia has not made good on offers of a ceasefire and humanitarian corridor to allow evacuations. Marina, 38, an economist and mother of three, tells the story of her family’s hellish week under fire – and their terrifying escape. “My life is split into before and after these events happening in my country. I couldn’t hold back my tears about all the destruction. “When we heard the news that the Russian federation was planning to ‘liberate’ some territories, we didn’t believe it, we didn’t even think it was possible in the modern world. That’s why we decided to stay in the place we live. “If we had imagined for even a second what was coming, we would have risked trying to escape the very first moment the shelling started. Our children, who are five, six and 13, have got psychological trauma from this that will last all their lives. “On the 24th of February, we woke up to the sound of shelling, Everyone was scared. We have two children at school, and one in kindergarten. “We didn’t know what to do at that moment, but we decided to prepare our basement, and make some stockpiles of food and water. My brother came over with his family so there were 12 of us altogether. “The very first day, we tried to go back to the house from the basement when it was safe, but after hearing blasts and explosions all around we soon abandoned this idea. We waited for them and they went to cook some food but then the gas and electricity were cut off When we had electricity it was OK; we had a heater “I believe it was the second day that the power went out but I have confused memories about the time because it was days of total hell living in basements it was freezing and particularly hard for the children Shells started to fall on the street near us; all the fences and walls of the house which look on to the street were hit by shrapnel “After that attack we made the decision to move from there to our parents’ house which is in another part of town we thought would be more safe “But in the end we didn’t even spend a single night there A shell had hit the garage of a neighbour’s house We decided it would be too dangerous to stay because if a shell hit the house directly we would be buried under the debris “There was a municipal building nearby that had a kind of half-basement with some windows It was too hard psychologically for us being in the dark in the basement all day and night It was impossible even to go to the nearby houses to collect supplies or cook them because the shelling was so intense“There was a little gas at first but very few supplies – just what we had on us – and it was impossible even to go to the nearby houses to collect supplies or cook them We couldn’t even calculate a window of opportunity to leave we just had a little that had not been cleaned or filtered from a nearby well; the men would run there “There was also a kid with us there who has Asperger’s No one could explain the situation to him and his mother couldn’t calm him down They shared the food they had and told us they would pass on the information that there are civilians stuck here needing evacuation “The biggest problem was that we had no communications So when the soldiers finally came after three or four days and told us you have five minutes to evacuate because the tyres on normal cars would all burst “They dropped us at a village near Volnovakha and left us in the school but we were happy because we couldn’t hear any shells and gunfire We are desperate; we didn’t expect the scale of destruction that we saw when we came out of the basement “Even when we were sitting there and hearing the shelling “We don’t have a lot of money to support ourselves or to travel We need to find a new place where we can start again We have nothing but a few papers and what is on our phone Even our family photos that we stored on our computer don’t exist any more.” The Russian Defense Ministry has reported a cease-fire in two besieged Ukrainian cities to allow citizens to leave, according to Russian media But it quickly appeared to break down with Russian bombardments continuing "Today, on March 5, a cease-fire is announced from 10:00 am Moscow time (8 a.m. GMT, 3 a.m EST), and humanitarian corridors are opened for the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha," the ministry said in a statement from Russian news agency Tass news.  reports from Ukrainian officials say the cease-fire was not being observed and the evacuation from Mariupol had been postponed with negotiations still underway The news agency also report that President Zelenskyy said "We are doing everything on our part to make the agreement work." I can hear shelling every three to five minutes," one resident told the BBC AP reports that the Ukrainian military has not officially recognized the cease-fire The Mariupol City Council had released a statement on their official Telegram channel acknowledging the news of the cease-fire and the humanitarian corridor Earlier, the Mariupol mayor, Vadim Boychemko, issued a statement saying: "Dear Mariupol residents the evacuation of civilians in the city starts today And our main task has always been and remains to protect people In conditions when our hometown is constantly under relentless fire from the occupiers there is no other solution than to allow the residents the city issued a "huge request" for drivers leaving the city to assist with the evacuation which was to take place up until 16:00 Moscow time (2 p.m There are no reports on whether the cease-fire was holding in Volnovakha The Russian offensive will continue throughout the rest of Ukraine Russia claimed on Thursday its forces had advanced further in east Ukraine piling pressure on Kyiv days before the two-year anniversary of the conflict Ukraine has faced intense pressure on its eastern front in recent months as it grapples with ammunition shortages and hold-ups to much-needed Western military aid The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday it captured Pobeda ("victory" in Russian) a small frontline village about five kilometers west of Donetsk city units of the 'Southern' group of troops liberated the village of Pobeda and improved their position along the front line," it said would mark another step westwards for Moscow which last week seized the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka after months of battle Ukraine said in a briefing later Thursday that it was "holding back enemy forces" in Pobeda but did not explicitly refute Moscow's claim "Russians are concentrating their main activity on the Donetsk region," Ukraine's senior commander in the area Oleksandr Tarnavsky acknowledged after the nearby town of Maryinka fell to Russian forces in December marks a turning point for Moscow after over a year of deadlocked fighting Russia has for months been ramping up arms production and driving massive human resources into its offensive at what Kyiv says is an enormous human toll Ukraine said its forces had struck a Russian training ground in the south on the Moscow-controlled eastern bank of the Dnipro River Kyiv has managed to hold a thin bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river in the southern Kherson region since last year but its forces have not made further progress inland targeted a range where Russian storm troops were training military spokeswoman Nataliya Gumenyuk said Around 60 Russian troops were "killed or seriously wounded" when three strikes hit the training ground near the village of Podo-Kalynivka Russia claimed to have taken back the Dnipro River bridgehead earlier this week "Our marines are firmly holding the bridgehead," Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday Ukraine carried out a separate strike on a training ground near the Russian-controlled town of Volnovakha in the eastern Donetsk region on Tuesday Russia did not officially acknowledge that strike but authorities in one region said they were looking into reports of casualties among the 36th Motorized Rifle Brigade "We will bring full and reliable information about the fate of the soldiers directly to each family," Zabaikalsky region Governor Alexander Osipov said Wednesday The town of Volnovakha has seen some of the most fearsome fighting between the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic militia and Ukrainian forces It was the DPR's forces that took control of the town after one week of bloody house-to-house battles Just a day after the town was declared clear of fighting to witness the unprecedented scale of devastation.  The first thing that greeted us was a string of destroyed four-storey high residential buildings: most of the apartments burnt or destroyed by the tank or artillery shells.  In between the buildings in apparent hiding from the clear line of sight a destroyed Ukrainian MRAP vehicle and leaning next to the buildings Just tens of meters from those buildings a man's body lay in a field Further down the road was a church with its domes destroyed and an another Ukrainian tank very close to it In front of the destroyed buildings survivors were sitting next to the rubble "Stop this war....There is no life any more," pleaded Marina .CGTN After winding through the destroyed streets of Volnovakha where barely a single house was left untouched More than a hundred patients were still hiding in its cellars In the hospital corridors we found unused cannon shells Although it's hard to verify the reality of battle senior staff claimed that Ukraine forces were firing from the hospital everything was on the hospital's territory,"Aleksandr Belozerov and from the second and the third floors." CGTN has reached out to the Ukrainian foreign ministry and its embassy in London for a response to these claims and will include any response we receive Ukraine in the past has denied separate claims that it bases troops inside health-care facilities or other civilian infrastructure the survivors were lost as they didn't know what was next for them and petrified with fear but also happy to be alive wearing dirty male clothes and carrying a heavy white plastic bag over her shoulder Hi to my parents!" Valya said through the tears while bitterly cold temperatures persisted here.  In just seven days of fighting Volnovakha had become a ghost town property totally destroyed and people trying to find a piece of bread any way of communicating with the rest of the world to explain to their loved ones that they were alive.  [This article was updated on 18/3/2022 to include that Ukraine has not responded to the claims its troops were inside the hospital in Volnovakha.] Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466 Residents say shelling of Schastia and Volnovakha is revenge for standing up to ‘Russian aggression’ This small town – Schastia in Ukrainian – has been out of the headlines since Moscow took its brutal war against civilians to the country’s biggest cities that the illegal tactics of terrorising civilians for military aims honed in Syria and then brought back so close to home There have been terrible strikes on homes, schools and hospitals around Ukraine But residents of both towns say the barrage of shelling rocket assaults and airstrikes since the start of the war has damaged or destroyed nearly every building in their towns a comprehensive devastation as yet unmatched elsewhere Refugees evacuate Volnovakha in a school bus Photograph: Dmytro LubinetsThe Russian flag has now been raised over the ruins of Schastia the attack is still so intense that dead bodies lie uncollected Ukrainians still brave enough to run rescue missions are going back only for the living Thousands of them are trapped in basements sheltering from an apparently senseless attack on a town Lubinets says has no military defenders in its centre every five minutes there is a mortar landing or artillery shells some buildings have been hit by multiple rocket systems,” he said by phone “In the city there is not any building which has not suffered from direct or collateral damage some are completely destroyed to the ground.” On Friday morning, Ukrainian media claimed that a Russian war plane bombing “residential areas and civilian infrastructure” in the area was shot down. A Russian aircraft near Volnovakha which Ukrainian media said had been shot down Photograph: Joint Forces Operation/ReutersPavlo* a Schastia native who evacuated his family said 80% of the town was damaged in an intense bombardment that lasted days barely any buildings were entirely untouched “People started evacuation after three days when Russian forces stopped bombing the town and people could leave the shelters,” he said electricity for three or four days because of the bombing The devastation in larger cities such as Chernihiv and Kharkiv is deadly and terrible but has still affected only a relatively small portion of the towns even if the terror it instils casts a shadow over every civilian still trapped there But what Russian forces appear to show in these smaller towns is that they are willing to leave behind them a wasteland on a massive scale or – together with Syrian forces – in the ancient city of Aleppo Neither humanity nor heritage stopped them The “I love Volnovakha” sign in the centre of town, which has survived somehow, has a backdrop of ruined houses. It appears at the start of a video, filmed from a moving car, which captures crumpled shops, buildings blackened by fire, and a road strewn with debris. Lubinets says at least 3,000 people are trapped Requests for a humanitarian evacuation corridor have gone unanswered so the military and other volunteers are risking their lives to bring people out in small groups “We drive under fire to the places where people mostly concentrated because the shelling never stops at any second,” he said “Its impossible to use buses because they have low mobility Always when you go there you will get punctures so you just have to drive [the car] out for about 10 minutes to places where big buses can come.” their lives are as irreparably shattered as their homes Their suffering may be a terrible template for the damage Russia will inflict on others if Moscow tries to pound bigger towns and cities into submission “A friend [still in Schastia] told me: ‘I can’t even go to your place to try and collect some papers, or other things, everything there is totally smashed up,’” she said. “Ninety per cent of houses are damaged.” Read moreShe was just out of hospital after major surgery when the war began and her husband is serving on the frontline “For three days I was in such deep stress I couldn’t eat or drink even now they have been swept out of my memory I was so exhausted I had hallucinations that my husband was with me.” Shastia and Volnovakha were on the frontline for eight years of the smaller-scale war between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists and Lubinets believes the carnage inflicted on the towns now is revenge for their resilience through those years “From the very first day of the war they started shelling us directly … They are trying to wipe out the town,” he said “I think someone in Russia is destroying [the town] as a reminder of what they can do to someone who doesn’t break in the face of Russian aggression.” * Name has been changed to protect family members in areas under Russian control Russia makes first known arrests of its own soldiers after 2022 invasion on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha Russian media reported that the killings took place last Friday night and the suspects had used machine guns with silencers to kill the family at night in their sleep It is the first known case of Russia arresting its own soldiers on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians since it invaded in 2022, despite ample evidence collected by independent human rights groups, journalists and the UN showing that Russian soldiers have systematically committed war crimes during their invasion of Ukraine Russian prosecutors said the two soldiers detained came from Russia’s far east and that the reason for the killings appeared to be a “domestic conflict” Graphic photographs circulating online of the aftermath of the killings showed blood-splattered and bullet-riddled bodies in beds Ukrainian officials have previously said they believe Russian soldiers killed all members of the Kapkanets family on 27 October for refusing to give them their house The Ukrainian government said in a statement it had also begun investigating the crime an independent Russian news channel on Telegram quoted the victims’ neighbours in Volnovakha who blamed Russian soldiers for the killings “All of the neighbours are saying that the killers were in the military … We’re all scared,” one neighbour told Astra Russia captured the industrial town of Volnovakha shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Vladimir Putin has previously awarded a brigade that has been accused of committing war crimes in Bucha with the honorary title of “guards” and praised the unit for its “great heroism and courage” Moscow has also sought to prevent soldiers from speaking out a Russian soldier who confessed in an interview to killing a civilian in Ukraine was given a five-and-a-half-year suspended jail sentence by a military court in Russia’s far east on charges of spreading “fake news” about the army New satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show the aftermath of the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities like Volnovakha and Chernihiv The photos from before the war were taken in July 2021 and the photos showing the destruction were taken on March 14 The first photo shows a highway in the southern city of Volnovakha before Russia's military campaign The second photo shows Volnovakha on March 14 with buildings and a train station destroyed after weeks of Russian bombardment The next photo shows apartment buildings and a church in Volnovakha on July 18 The following before and after photos show another part of Volnovakha Maxar also captured satellite imagery showing a damaged Olympic sports training facility in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv The official noted that if these efforts are successful Russia will connect the railway line of Mariupol-Aslanove-Kalchyk-Volnovakha in occupied Ukraine with the Russian cities of Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don Volnovakha links through the railway also to occupied Rozivka Building these new connections would be a boon for Russian military and civilian logistics in the occupied territories and reduce Russia's reliance on the Crimean Kerch Bridge the work on the new railway sections has already begun specifically on a bridge over the Kalmius River near the village of Hranitne The Crimean Bridge, a vital connection linking the occupied peninsula with Russia's Krasnodar Krai, was severely damaged in a Ukrainian strike on July 17 The Ukrainian military said earlier in September that the bridge had not been made fully functional yet. Drone and missile strikes against Crimea also cause regular closures of the Crimean Bridge Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies SatNews Maxar’s recent satellite imagery reveals significant damage to residential and civilian infrastructure in and around multiple Ukrainian cities Russian self-propelled artillery and multiple rocket launchers (MRL) are seen deployed on the outskirts of Chernihiv oriented with their gun and MRL tubes oriented toward the city the aftermath of yesterday’s reported destruction of multiple Russian helicopters is seen at Kherson airfield a new large field hospital compound is identified in the town of Naroulia engineering equipment and attack and troop transport helicopters deployments are noted in the region