Ukraine

KIEV, June 19. /TASS/: Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or national parliament, has approved the country’s withdrawal from a range of agreements within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Ukrainian government’s representative to the national legislature, Taras Melnichuk, said on Sunday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Four months of brutal fighting in Ukraine appear to be straining the morale of troops on both sides, prompting desertions and rebellion against officers’ orders, British defense officials said Sunday. NATO’s chief warned the war could drag on for “years.”

“Combat units from both sides are committed to intense combat in the Donbas and are likely experiencing variable morale,” Britain’s defense ministry said in its daily assessment of the war.

KHERSON, June 18. /TASS/: A bomb went off in the car of Yevgeny Sobolev, head of the Kherson Region penal service, who was taken to a hospital, a law enforcement source told TASS.

His official’s life isn’t in danger, the source said.

"The car of the head of the penal service was blown up. His life isn’t in danger at the moment. He’s been hospitalized," the source said.

KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) - Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region said on Saturday.

"Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, they will throw in all the reserves they have ... because there are so many of them there already, they're at critical mass," Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said on national television.

He said Russian forces already controlled most but not all of Sievierodonetsk.

KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) - With a blessing for its European Union ambitions and a pledge of unwavering support from Britain, Ukraine vowed on Saturday to prevail against Moscow as its troops battled the Russian assault near a pivotal eastern city and communities were pounded by more heavy shelling.

EU leaders are expected at a summit next week to grant Ukraine candidate status following Friday's recommendation from the bloc's executive, putting Kyiv on course to realise an aspiration seen as out of reach before the invasion, even if actual membership could take years. 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poppies, the blood-red flowers that cover the battlefields of Europe’s two world wars, were lain in mourning Saturday on the coffin of yet another dead soldier, this one killed in yet another European war, in Ukraine.

The hundreds of mourners for Roman Ratushnyi, 24, included friends who had protested with him during months of demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russia leader in 2014 and who, like him, took up arms when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor this February.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The executive arm of the European Union recommended Friday that Ukraine be granted candidate status to one day join the 27-nation bloc.

The promise of membership in a union created to safeguard peace on the continent holds deep symbolism for the nation at war. But it is only the first step in a process that could take decades.

And it didn’t silence the guns and artillery that continue to kill civilians and flatten cities as well as sending millions fleeing from their homes since Russia launched its invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24.

June 15 (Reuters) - The head of Ukraine's military on Wednesday said Russia had concentrated its main strike forces in the north of Luhansk region and were trying to attack simultaneously in nine directions.

"The fierce struggle for Luhansk region continues," Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said in an online message. The Russians were using aircraft, rocket-propelled grenades, and artillery, he added.

June 16 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said it hoped the leaders of France, Germany and Italy would not only discuss weapons supplies in their visit to Kyiv on Thursday, but rather to "push President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy to take a realistic look at the state of affairs".

"I would hope that the leaders ... will not focus only on supporting Ukraine by further pumping it with weapons," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters.

"That's absolutely pointless, it will prolong people's suffering and cause new damage to the country."

KYIV/IRPIN, Ukraine, June 16 (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, all criticised in the past by Kyiv for support viewed as too cautious, visited Ukraine on Thursday in a display of solidarity with a country pleading for weapons to fend off Russia's invasion.

"It's an important moment. It's a message of unity we're sending to the Ukrainians," French President Emmanuel Macron said after pulling into Kyiv on an overnight train along with Germany's Olaf Scholz and Italy's Mario Draghi. They were joined by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.