“Ukraine – Russia”

In a valley far from the front lines last week, several men practiced dropping a half-full bottle of water from a small aerial drone, as though it were a grenade. Others fired rifles at targets 100 yards away. A third group set off for a trek through the surrounding hills, which burst with white and yellow flowers.

Almost none of them had military experience before last year. The Ukrainian military is racing to turn civilians into elite soldiers for the cutting edge of a critical summer offensive.

Privet 👋 pic.twitter.com/FHWiJSIpKP

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 19, 2023

Move over, Treasury. You’re not the only one with an X-date.

The $48 billion Ukraine aid package that Congress approved in December has about $6 billion left, meaning U.S. funding for weapons and supplies could dry up by midsummer.

That’s raising fresh concerns among lawmakers about what the White House is planning next, including when the administration will ask for another major package and whether it will be enough.

#Ukraine: In the vicinity of Avdiivka, #Donetsk Oblast, a Russian MT-LB loaded with AT mines was hit by the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade using 40x53mm HEDP grenades dropped from a drone, vaporising the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/RcL3fgVuM9

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 19, 2023

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service has said in an interview that Kyiv has assassinated Russian propagandists.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov made the admission to the Ukrainian YouTube channel Rizni Lyudi. According to a translation by the independent Russian-language outlet Meduza, Budanov said that Ukraine had “successfully targeted quite a few people” associated with Kremlin propaganda since the start of the war nearly 15 months ago.

#Ukraine: In the Oleshky Sands, #Kherson Oblast, the Ukrainian 406th Artillery Brigade used an M982 Excalibur precision artillery strike to hit a Russian 2A36 Giatsint-B 152mm field gun, taking it out of action. pic.twitter.com/okJGoLqUf9

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 18, 2023

Russian infantry are dispatched on blind charges nicknamed ‘Zombie Waves’ across no-man’s land, running headlong into machine gun fire

With soaring casualty rates and plunging morale, Russian soldiers on Ukraine’s front line are paying a heavy price for Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade.

Aged on average between 20 and 25 years old, and typically from impoverished backgrounds, some are conscripts while others are attracted by slick online advertising and surprisingly good salaries. As Kyiv prepares to launch a major counter-offensive, what is their daily life like?

Once upon a time, a russian tank and the #UAarmy were playing hide and seek.
The russian tank hid in a hangar, but still lost.
Hola Prystan, Kherson region. pic.twitter.com/PljOrqTggW

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 18, 2023

Russian hypersonic missile scientists have warned the Kremlin that their research could collapse after security services detained their colleagues for treason.

The scientists told the Russian government they cannot continue with their work unless the FSB stops arresting researchers at their Siberian institute.

The rare act of protest, which came in a pointed open letter, raises further questions over Russia’s ability to develop the hi-tech weaponry it needs for its war in Ukraine.

#Ukraine: Counter-battery fire of the Ukrainian army targeted two Russian BM-21 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launchers in #Donetsk oblast- as a result at least one Grad was destroyed. pic.twitter.com/Qz33HiQelf

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 16, 2023

Their web searches suggest perhaps not — and the CIA is closing in on potential spy recruits

The happiness of the Russian public fell sharply last year after the invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis of their internet searches by a team from the University of Cambridge.

The research also found that web searches linked to anti-war sentiment and opposition to President Putin surged in Russia during the first months of the war, and increased again when his regime resorted to mass military conscription.

The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been targeted by further Russian air attacks, described by one official as “exceptional in density”.

Ukraine said all 18 missiles were shot down and footage showed air defences destroying targets over the city.

But Russia said its attack – which used drones and missiles – had hit all its targets.

Moscow has stepped up its air campaign in recent weeks, ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive.

Anti-air systems supplied by the Allies saved many lives tonight. 18 out of 18 missiles were shot down in #Kyiv. Among them 6 hypersonic Kinzhals.

Help The Armed Forces Of 🇺🇦 to defend #Kyiv and other 🇺🇦 cities. Give #Ukraine weapons, #F16sForUkraine @POTUS @NATO pic.twitter.com/YLmP6h3oOd

— ANTS (@ANTS_NGO) May 16, 2023

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group offered to reveal the location of Russian troops to Ukraine in exchange for a withdrawal of Kyiv’s forces from the besieged city of Bakhmut, according to a purportedly leaked top-secret document.

Yevgeny Prigozhin approached Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate on a number of occasions with the proposal as it appeared his forces would fail to capture the Donetsk region town, the Washington Post reported.

Leaked Pentagon documents have revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had planned “behind closed doors” to, among other things, occupy Russian cities and blow up a vital crude oil pipeline between Russia and Hungary, a NATO member.

The leaked intelligence papers, which had not been previously disclosed, include correspondence between Zelensky and top government officials that revealed that the Ukrainian head of state proposed blowing up the Druzhba oil pipeline in order to render the Hungarian infrastructure which relies on Russian oil inoperable, The Washington Post reports.

Prigozhin, standing in the darkness next to a row of bloodied dead bodies, was shouting obscenities. With his yellowish, unnaturally hairless face contorted in primordial hatred, there was something about his appearance that seemed decidedly horrific.

The look goes with his reputation. The head of the notorious Wagner (which cut its teeth as a mercenary force in Africa and the Middle East), Prigozhin is known for his untamed brutality and deep cynicism, and for his ability and willingness to get his hands dirty, or bloody. Perhaps that was why he volunteered to use his mercenaries – many of whom were recruited straight out of Russia’s prisons – for what he called the ‘Bakhmut meatgrinder’, the months-long assault on the Ukrainian town where thousands have been killed in intense urban warfare.

It has been nine years since Russia took the peninsula. Now Ukraine is preparing to win it back

In the classroom Crimean children race each other to assemble their assault rifles. A young girl, her brown hair hanging over her eyes, slams a magazine into her weapon and a teacher asks: “Who won?”

Elsewhere in the building, primary school age boys and girls wearing camouflage gear pose with Kalashnikov rifles and show off hand-to-hand combat moves.

The intended message behind the video, published recently by Russian state media, is clear: Crimeans of all ages are getting ready to fight.

#Ukraine: A Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicle was destroyed by an artillery strike west of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut, #Donetsk Oblast during a Ukrainian counter-attack. pic.twitter.com/lq4OadZquN

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 10, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons they provide for attacks inside Russia and prioritizing the targeting of Russian forces inside Ukraine’s borders.

But behind closed doors, Ukraine’s leader has proposed going in a more audacious direction — occupying Russian villages to gain leverage over Moscow, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, a NATO member, and privately pining for long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia’s borders, according to classified U.S. intelligence documents detailing his internal communications with top aides and military leaders.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has met Pope Francis for the first time since Russia’s invasion of his country.

The Ukrainian president was in Rome for a one-day whistle-stop visit, meeting Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and later at the Vatican, Pope Francis.

One of the worst days ever for the Russian Air Force: Today, at least 4 aircraft- an Su-34 strike jet, an Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters, were shot down by anti-air missiles over Bryansk Oblast within Russia.

So far it is unclear what kind of missiles were used. pic.twitter.com/LjipZShRWC

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 13, 2023

The Ukrainian Army is advancing in attacks near the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian commanders said on Friday, in fighting that has shifted the front line only slightly but is exposing fissures, confusion and alarm among Russia’s forces in the war.

Russia’s pro-war bloggers were quick to claim that Ukraine’s long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun, but Ukrainian officials downplayed the advances and described them in more local terms. Ukrainian soldiers broke through Russian lines south of Bakhmut on Wednesday, they said, and then exploited that breach, assaulting Russian forces near the city and threatening Russian flanks to the north and south.

#Ukraine: A Pantsir-S1 air defence system belonging to the Russian Wagner PMC was destroyed by the Ukrainian Army in Paraskoviivka, North of Bakhmut, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/bBXriCauQN

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 11, 2023

Rocket launchers, precision-guided missiles and billions of dollars’ worth of other advanced American weapons have given Ukraine a fighting chance against Russia ahead of a counteroffensive. But if even a few of the arms wind up on the black market instead of the battlefield, a Ukrainian lawmaker gloomily predicted, “we’re done.”

The lawmaker, Oleksandra Ustinova, a former anti-corruption activist who now monitors foreign arms transfers to Ukraine, does not believe there is widespread smuggling among the priciest and most sophisticated weapons donated by the United States over the last year.

#Ukraine: In #Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanised Brigade destroyed a loaded Russian 2B17(M) 122mm MRL of the modern Tornado-G system with two drone-dropped munitions, igniting the rockets on board. pic.twitter.com/RjUJ8OssNK

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 12, 2023