Situated in Easter Europe, Ukraine is the second largest country by area in Europe by area after Russia. Ukraine shares its international borders with Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Its capital is Kyiv. In 1922, the Bolsheviks forcibly reconstituted the Ukrainian People's Republic into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922. Ukraine's freedom took place on 24 August 1991, when the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Leonid Kravchuk was elected as the first president of Ukraine. In recent times, Russia under President Vladimir Putin began building up troop strengths along its border with Ukraine in 2021. Putin announced a More
Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the frontline eastern city of Lysychansk, the focus of Russia's attacks where about 15,000 people remained under relentless shelling.
Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying he could not rule out that tensions would emerge in Moscow's relations with Helsinki and Stockholm over their joining NATO.
"We continue to be in a position where we look at President Putin and we think he has effectively the same political goals that we had previously, which is to say that he wants to take most of Ukraine," Avril Haines, the U.S, Director of National Intelligence, told a Commerce Department conference.
The funding will go towards boosting Ukraine's defence capabilities, including air defence systems, uncrewed aerial vehicles, new electronic warfare equipment and thousands of pieces of equipment for Ukrainian soldiers.
Seeking to demonstrate a renewed determination to stand up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO on Wednesday extended formal membership invitations to Finland and Sweden, bolstered its military posture along its eastern flank and adopted a new strategic plan that envisions Moscow as the alliance’s primary adversary.
NATO also promised to step up political and practical support to Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion.
"If Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn't, but if he were, I really don't think he would've embarked on a crazy, macho war of invasion and violence in the way that he has," Johnson told German broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday evening.
Eight missiles struck the southern city of Mykolaiv including an apartment building, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said, just days after Ukraine said Russian missiles killed at least 18 people at a mall in the central town of Kremenchuk.
Speaking at the UN Security Council Briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday, India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador R. Ravindra said the conflict has resulted in the loss of lives and countless miseries for its peoples, particularly for women, children and elderly, with millions becoming homeless and forced to take shelter in neighbouring countries.
Ukraine said Russia had killed civilians deliberately when it pounded the mall in Kremenchuk. Moscow said the mall was empty and it had struck a nearby arms depot.
Kherson, a port city on the Black Sea, sits just northwest of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. It was occupied during the first week of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, and a large part of the local population has left the region.
The West’s effort to confront President Vladimir Putin of Russia over his war in Ukraine shifted Tuesday from a Group of 7 summit in Germany, which concluded with a fledgling and untested plan to seek price caps on Russian oil, to a NATO meeting in Madrid.
Russia's chosen bullseye this time was the central city of Kremenchuk – a place largely away from war frontlines.
Group of Seven leaders wrapped up the summit in Kruen on June 28 with intentions to send a strong signal of long-term commitment to Ukraine's future, ensuring that Russia pays a higher price for its invasion.
"As a reaction to the constantly expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, 25 American citizens are added to a 'stop list,'" the ministry said in a note accompanying the list.
At least 16 people were killed on Monday in what Kyiv said was a Russian missile strike against a busy shopping center in Kremenchuk and the G7 called a Russian war crime.
Russia, the largest exporter of wheat in the world, must be allowed to export its grain, to cool food prices and interest rates, and boost global growth
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more than 1,000 people were in the mall at the time of the attack, which witnesses said caused a huge fire and sent dark smoke billowing into the sky.
Ukraine’s richest person, Rinat Akhmetov, is suing Russia in the European Court of Human Rights
Russia's February invasion of Ukraine has sparked a major geopolitical shift in the West, prompting once neutral countries Finland and Sweden to apply to join NATO and Ukraine to secure the status of candidate to join the European Union.
Oil prices rose on Monday during a choppy day as traders watched for potential actions against Russian oil and gas shipments that would result from a gathering of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders in Germany.
According to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, a Russian missile strike on Monday struck a busy mall in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, killing two people and injuring several others.
As part of its response to a time of strategic competition, the military alliance, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, will roughly be eightfold the size of its fast reaction forces to 300,000 personnel.
India is participating in the ongoing G7 summit as a guest nation but does not condone or endorse any of the recommendations, statements or announcements in the six-page statement on Ukraine, as it was not part of the drafting team, officials said.
The Russian soldiers had reportedly launched the missile to knock off a Ukrainian aircraft in the sky, according to a video posted on the Face of War Telegram channel.