Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government is launching an initiative Wednesday to streamline and promote innovation in the development of drones and other technologies that have been critical during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As part of the initiative dubbed BRAVE1, the government hopes to bring state, military, and private sector developers working on defense issues together into a tech cluster that would give Ukraine a battlefield advantage.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.

Ukrainian officials said the Russian military used S-300 air defense missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the city center. The Russian military has repeatedly used S-300s, which Ukraine’s air defenses can’t intercept, to attack ground targets.

KIEV, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said Ukraine is in talks with Russia over an "all-for-all" prisoner exchange, local media reported Monday.

Speaking in an interview with RBC-Ukraine media outlet, Budanov said that the two countries "in principle are getting closer" to an agreement, envisaging the release of all captives by the two parties.

Since the start of prisoner exchanges, Russia has freed more than 2,220 Ukrainian captives, he noted.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing one of its workers and wounding 10 other people, part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.

Ukrainian officials said the Russian military used S-300 air defense missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the city center.

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) — The graves are dug in the morning. Four plots, each two meters deep in the section of a cemetery in a central Ukrainian city devoted to the nation’s fallen soldiers.

The day begins for Oleh Itsenko, 29, and Andrii Kuznetsov, 23, shortly after dawn, when the two diggers report for the grueling work. A day in their lives tells the story of Ukraine’s mounting war dead. They won’t be finished until sunset.

KIEV, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged visiting President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso to accelerate the implementation of the bank's projects in Ukraine, Zelensky's press service reported Friday.

"Today, in the conditions of war and urgent reconstruction, speed is a critically important element," Zelensky said during the talks with Renaud-Basso in Kiev.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Ukrainian and Russian troops fight conventional battles on the front lines, Europe’s first major war of the internet age has also sparked a war of technology as both sides vie for the advantage with their drones and satellite communications.

While the two sides have kept pace with one another thus far, Ukraine’s minister in charge of technology told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he was confident his country had the motivation and abilities to out-innovate Russia in the end.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraine’s “rightful place” is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

KYIV, April 20 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday it was time for the military alliance to offer his country membership and that Kyiv needed more weapons to fight Russia.

Zelenskiy made his comments at a joint news conference after talks with Stoltenberg, who offered NATO's solidarity with Ukraine on his first trip to Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion nearly 14 months ago.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.