Ukraine

15 Mar 2023; MEMO: Ukraine thanked Turkiye on Wednesday for its support for the Black Sea Grain Initiative as the agreement, which was also signed by Russia and the UN, is due to expire Saturday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law,” causing American forces to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle, the U.S. said.

But Russia insisted its warplanes didn’t hit the MQ-9 Reaper drone. Instead, it said the drone maneuvered sharply and crashed into the water following an encounter with Russian fighter jets that had been scrambled to intercept it near Crimea.

NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine, March 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine's future hinges on the outcome of battles in the east, including in and around Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, with both sides describing brutal fighting as Russia intensifies a winter campaign to capture the small city.

Bakhmut has become the focus of Russia's invasion, with the months-long fight becoming Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the center of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding three others in one of Ukraine’s major city strongholds in its eastern Donetsk region as it fights against Moscow’s invasion, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that six apartment buildings were damaged in the blast and rescue efforts were continuing. He posted a video showing gaping holes in the facade of the low-rise building that bore the brunt of the strike.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — There are sandbags around the statues and anti-tank obstacles by the side of the streets, trenches in the nearby forests and land mine warnings in the woods. Signs painted on walls point to the nearest shelter, while air raid sirens occasionally wail across the city, which still sometimes comes under missile attack.

But against this backdrop of war, residents of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, are living their lives as normally as they can while Russia’s invasion of their country continues into its second year.

KYIV, March 13 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to visit Russia as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said on Monday, while Moscow and Kyiv both reported intense fighting in the war's bloodiest battle over the eastern city of Bakhmut.

A visit by Xi next week, days after he secured a third term as China's leader, would come sooner than previously expected. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already publicly invited Xi to Moscow without specifying a date, would be likely to portray it as a show of support for Russia's war on Ukraine.

LUGANSK, March 12. /TASS/: Three civilians were killed and nine more, including children, were wounded in the city of Perevalks in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops, Vitaly Mikhailov, head of the Perevalsk district administration, said on Sunday.

"According to preliminary data, the shelling attack left three civilians dead. Six people were wounded and taken to a hospital, three of them are minors. Three more sought medical assistance in the outpatient department. In other words, three were killed and nine were wounded," he told TASS.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s advance seems to have stalled in Moscow’s campaign to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a leading think tank said in an assessment of the longest ground battle of the war.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said there were no confirmed advances by Russian forces in Bakhmut. Russian forces and units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group continued to launch ground attacks in the city, but there was no evidence that they were able to make any progress, ISW said late Saturday.

KYIV, March 11 (Reuters) - Three civilians were killed in Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Saturday, and one more died in the eastern Donetsk region, regional officials said.

Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said three people, including an elderly woman, were also wounded during the artillery shelling of the city.

"Today the Russian occupiers have hit Kherson again. On a Mykolayivsky road near a shop debris from a shell killed three people...," Prokudin told Ukrainian TV, adding that a car, several buses and a commercial property were damaged.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have made progress in their campaign to capture the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the focus of the war’s longest ground battle, but their assault will be difficult to sustain without more significant personnel losses, British military officials said Saturday.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in its latest assessment that paramilitary units from the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group have seized most of eastern Bakhmut, with a river flowing through the city now marking the front line of the fighting.