Ukraine

July 11 (Reuters) - As rebellious Wagner forces drove north toward Moscow on June 24, a contingent of military vehicles diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, according to videos posted online and interviews with local residents.

10 July 2023; MEMO: Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has returned home from a visit to Turkiye, with five commanders of Ukraine's former garrison in Mariupol, a move Russia said violated the terms of a prisoner exchange deal engineered last year, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Saturday that Ankara had promised under the exchange agreement to keep the men in Turkiye and complained that Moscow had not been informed of the move.

KYIV, July 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Monday its troops were advancing in the east and south of the country, and signalled they were tightening the noose around Russian troops occupying the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv's troops had taken back 10.2 square km (3.9 sq miles) of territory in the south and four sq km in the east in the past week of a counteroffensive against Russian forces.

06 July 2023; MEMO: Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will visit Turkiye on Friday for talks with President Tayyip Erdogan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war in Ukraine, the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Thursday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the 500th day of the war Saturday by hailing the country’s soldiers in a video from a Black Sea island that became the symbol of Ukraine’s resilience in the face of the Russian invasion.

Speaking from Snake Island, Zelenskyy honored the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for the island and all other defenders of the country, saying that reclaiming control of the island “is a great proof that Ukraine will regain every bit of its territory.”

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired cruise missiles Thursday at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least four people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded the country last year.

The nighttime attack destroyed the roof and the top two floors of a residential building, injuring 34 people. Emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble.

KYIV, July 5 (Reuters) - In a basement in downtown Kyiv late last month, away from prying eyes, hundreds of engineers and innovators met senior military officials to brainstorm ways to better neutralise the cheap Russian suicide drones that still devastate Ukrainian cities.

It was a rare, close-up glimpse into Ukraine's technology arms race with Russia that draws on private sector innovation seeded with state venture capital, and which is pumping out thousands of combat drones in a booming wartime industry.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After a relative lull, Russia launched a drone attack early Sunday on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, officials said. It was the first such attack of the war in 12 days.

All of the Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones were detected and shot down, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv city administration. In addition to the city itself, the surrounding Kyiv region was targeted. Kyiv regional Gov. Ruslan Kravchenko reported that one person was wounded by falling debris from a destroyed drone.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Saturday morning reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south, as a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began in Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces from its territory.

In an address to Ukraine’s parliament that received several standing ovations, Sánchez said, “We’ll be with you as long as it takes.”

KYIV, June 30 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered top military commanders on Friday to strengthen Ukraine's northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.

He said Ukrainian intelligence and security forces had reported on the situation in Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbour, at a meeting of top military and political leaders.