Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised 125 anti-aircraft guns and other air-defense technology as he made an unannounced visit Saturday — his first — to Ukraine’s snow-blanketed war-time capital for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The air-defense package, which Britain valued at 50 million pounds ($60 million), comes as Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s power grid and other key infrastructure from the air, causing widespread blackouts for millions of Ukrainians amid frigid weather.

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — A week since the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was liberated, residents can’t escape reminders of the terrifying eight months they spent under Russian occupation.

People are missing. There are mines everywhere, closed shops and restaurants, a scarcity of electricity and water, and explosions day and night as Russian and Ukrainian forces battle just across the Dnieper River.

Despite the hardships, residents are expressing a mix of relief, optimism, and even joy — not least because of their regained freedom to express themselves at all.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s electricity grid operator warned of hours-long power outages Friday as Russia zeroed in on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with renewed artillery and missile attacks that have interrupted supply to as much as 40% of the population at the onset of winter.

Grid operator Ukrenergo said outages could last for several hours with colder temperatures putting additional pressure on energy networks.

KYIV, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Russia pounded Ukrainian energy facilities and a huge rocket booster factory on Thursday in a new wave of missile strikes that Ukrainian officials denounced as terrorism.

Explosions echoed though cities including the southern port of Odesa, the capital Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro and the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia where officials said two people were killed.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s southern Odesa region and the city of Dnipro for the first time in weeks on Thursday morning, and air raid sirens sounded all across the country amid fears that Moscow unleashed another large-scale missile attack.

An infrastructure target was hit on the Odesa region, Gov. Maksym Marchenko said on Telegram, warning about the threat of a “massive missile barrage on the entire territory of Ukraine.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian airstrikes inflicted more damage on Ukraine on Thursday, with the latest barrage smashing into energy infrastructure, apartment buildings and an industrial site.

At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in drone and missile strikes around the country, authorities said.

Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced an extension of a four-month-old deal to ensure the safe delivery of export of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers from Ukraine through the Black Sea just days before it was set to expire.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The orders came from on high, from Ukraine’s president and one of his ministers: Get trains running again to the latest city newly retaken by our troops.

“So literally: tanks, then trains,” said Ukrainian rail network boss Oleksandr Kamyshin, recalling the presidential instructions he received as the southern city of Kherson was being liberated last week, ending eight months of Russian occupation.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Waves of Russian airstrikes rocked Ukraine on Tuesday, with authorities immediately announcing emergency blackouts after attacks from east to west on energy and other facilities knocked out power and, in the capital, struck residential buildings.

A senior Ukrainian official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, described the situation as “critical” and urged Ukrainians to cut back on their power usage and “hang in there.” Power provider DTEK announced emergency blackouts in the capital and authorities announced similar steps elsewhere, too.

TSENTRALNE, Ukraine (AP) — Relatives embraced in the middle of the road. They squeezed hands and choked back tears. Others sobbed outside their homes. All had yearned for this same moment — to be reunited with their loved ones after Russian troops withdrew from their villages in southern Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday likened the recapture of the southern city of Kherson to the Allied landings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watersheds on the road to eventual victory.

Ukrainian police, meanwhile, announced plans to investigate alleged Russian torture sites in now-retaken areas, and U.N. investigators said they’ll look into enforced disappearances and detentions.