Ukraine

KHROMOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Pressure mounted Saturday on Ukrainian troops and civilians hunkering down in Bakhmut, as Kyiv’s forces tried to help residents flee amid what Western analysts say may be preparations for a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern city that Russian forces have spent months trying to capture.

A woman was killed and two men were badly wounded by shelling while trying to cross a makeshift bridge out of Bakhmut on Saturday, according to Ukrainian troops who were assisting them.

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) — The pops of welding torches and the piecing 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.

CHASIV YAR, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) - Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday, on the cusp of Moscow's first major victory in half a year after the bloodiest fighting of the war.

The head of Russia's Wagner private army said the city, which has been blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine's troops.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian officials accused Ukrainian saboteurs on Thursday of crossing into western Russia and attacking local villages, an accusation that Ukraine denied and alleged would be used by Moscow to step up attacks.

The exact circumstances of the incident reported in the Bryansk region were unclear, including what the strategic purpose of such an attack would be.

NEAR CHASIV YAR, Ukraine, March 1 (Reuters) - Russian forces carried out relentless attacks on Bakhmut on Wednesday, trying to encircle the small eastern Ukrainian city and claim their first major prize for more than half a year after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Moscow of throwing waves of men into battle in Bakhmut with no regard for their lives. The leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said the Ukrainians were putting up "furious resistance" trying to hold the city at all costs.

KYIV, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Russian forces on Tuesday pressed forward their weeks-long drive to encircle and capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut where the commander of Ukraine's ground forces described the situation as "extremely tense".

The Russian troops, including mercenary fighters from the Wagner Group, are trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders' supply lines to the city, scene of some of the war's bloodiest battles, and force them to surrender or withdraw.

KIEV, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States has provided about 50 billion U.S. dollars in aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Monday, citing visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"In the field of security, economy, humanitarian and social support, we have already provided about 50 billion dollars in assistance," Yellen said after her meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

KUPIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — A tank carrying Ukrainian infantry speeds toward a target position marked with a metal sheet. The soldiers climb down, hurl grenades and unleash a crackle of machine-gun fire. Then they repeat the moves, getting faster with every iteration.

VUHLEDAR, Ukraine (AP) — The murky water oh so slowly trickles from the filthy drainpipe into her grimy container — the ticking seconds ramping up the risk that Emilia Budskaya could lose life or limb to Russian artillery strikes torturing her front-line city in eastern Ukraine.

Gaping gashes from deadly shrapnel in the courtyard walls around her testify to the dangers of being outside — exposed and without the body armor that Ukrainian soldiers defending Vuhledar wear when they venture from their bunkers.

MARINKA, Ukraine (AP) — The hulking Russian tank swiveled into position between the ruins of two pulverized apartment blocks, paused and fired, a ball of fire and fumes spewing from the muzzle of its cannon.

Just 12 seconds later, it fired again, unleashing another shell on its targets about 50 meters (yards) away on the other side of what had once been a street — many years ago, before fighting destroyed it.