In late 2021, Russia began building up troops on the border with Ukraine. By February, the much-larger Russia had invaded Ukraine, despite for months insisting it had no plans to do so. The move drew international condemnation, with Western powers supporting Ukraine but avoiding direct military conflict with Russia, a nuclear power. The situation in Ukraine had been tense since 2014 when Russia seized the Crimean peninsula, which had been part of Ukraine.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces are taking back Kherson, following Russia's withdrawal from the strategic southern city.
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Ukrainians are fleeing from Russian-held areas to avoid the sham referendums, which could pave the way for annexation. "It was all staged," said one Ukrainian. "How can you vote when they have guns?"
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In Sloviansk, many of those who remain are over 60. Social workers help with food, medicine and cleaning. An 86-year-old calls her social worker "Firefly," saying, "She brings light in a dark time."
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Ukrainian authorities found a mass burial site near a recaptured northeastern city previously occupied by Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced.
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Progress has been slow but Ukrainian military officers say U.S.-supplied rockets and training are making a difference from when NPR visited in the spring.
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Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake the strategic city of Kherson. But the battlefield "gray zone," spanning more than 100 miles, is confusing — and danger can come in many forms.
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More than 20 people were killed when Russian missiles hit several buildings in Vinnytsia, a central city that has become a major logistical hub for humanitarian aid and military operations.
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A Ukrainian official says Russian shelling and missile strikes in Kharkiv hit only civilian buildings such as a shopping center, a a school and a shopping center, and are "absolute terrorism."
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Russia says it controls Ukraine's Luhansk region, one of the two eastern regions that have been the focus of its invasion. The announcement comes after Ukrainian troops withdrew from Lysychansk.
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Russian forces are strengthening their positions in a grueling fight to capture the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk province, the region's governor said Sunday.