Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s capital restored most of its power supply on Friday, officials said, as the country again responded swiftly and defiantly to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting critical infrastructure.

In what has become a familiar Russian tactic since last fall, the Kremlin’s forces struck Ukraine from afar amid months of a grinding battlefield stalemate on the front line in eastern areas. The apparent aim is to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms.

KYIV/ZOLOCHIV, Ukraine, March 9 (Reuters) - Russia launched a huge wave of missile strikes across Ukraine while people slept on Thursday, killing at least six civilians, knocking out electricity and briefly forcing Europe's biggest nuclear power plant off the grid.

The first such mass attack on targets far from the front since mid-February shattered the longest calm since Moscow began an air campaign against Ukraine's civil infrastructure five months ago. Kyiv said it included an unprecedented six kinzhal hypersonic cruise missiles, one of Moscow's most valuable weapons.

KIEV, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's grain production will drop by 37 percent this year, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Thursday, citing an official forecast.

The National Academy of Agrarian Sciences projected that Ukrainian farmers will reap about 34 million tons of grain in 2023 compared with some 53.9 million tons last year -- a decrease mainly due to the reduction of planted areas and a lack of fertilizers.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's oilseeds harvest is forecast to increase by 13 percent to 19.3 million tons this year.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed “a massive rocket attack” that hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions of Ukraine, the country’s president said Thursday, with officials reporting at least six deaths in the largest such nighttime attack in three weeks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the barrage that came while many people slept and knocked out power in cities across the country was an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.”

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: Ukraine's President and United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called on Wednesday for the extension of a deal with Moscow that has allowed Kyiv to export grain via Black Sea ports during Russia's invasion, Reuters reports.

KYIV, March 8 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and NATO'S secretary general said it could all fall to the invading army in the next few days.

If Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's claim is true, it would mean Russian forces now control nearly half the city in their costly push to secure their first big victory in several months.

But as one of the bloodiest battles of the year-long war ground on amid the ruins, Ukrainian defenders remained defiant.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military company claimed Wednesday that his troops have extended their gains in the key Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut as fierce fighting continues in the war’s longest battle.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wagner troops have taken full control of the eastern part of Bakhmut. He claimed that they now control all districts east of the Bakhmutka River that crosses the city in the eastern Donetsk region. The center of Bakhmut is located west of the river.

KYIV, March 7 (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops will keep defending the eastern city of Bakhmut and reinforcements will be sent in, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, apparently prolonging the war's bloodiest battle in a bid to break Moscow's assault force.

Moscow has sent thousands of troops in human wave attacks over recent weeks to try to capture Bakhmut and secure its first battlefield victory in more than half a year. Ukrainian forces have dug trenches further west and in recent days had seemed to be preparing to withdraw.

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) — The pops of welding torches and the piercing whine of angle grinders fill the spacious production floor at a steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, the city in central Ukraine that is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s hometown.

Instead of doing their usual jobs producing and repairing mining equipment, some workers are busy building metal bunkers for front-line troops. Ukrainian mining and metals company Metinvest launched the project, and the plant workers say they are happy contributing to the resistance to Russia’s invasion.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian military leaders are determined to hold onto Bakhmut, Kyiv officials said Monday, even as Russian forces continued to encroach on the devastated eastern Ukrainian city that they have sought to capture for six months at the cost of thousands of lives.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said he chaired a meeting with military officials during which the country’s top brass advocated strengthening Ukrainian positions there.