Latest news with #Ternopil
The Sun
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Russia launches biggest EVER Ukraine blitz with 728 drones & hypersonic missiles after Trump slammed Putin's ‘bulls**t'
NATO scrambled warplanes overnight as Vladimir Putin unleashed hypersonic missiles and kamikaze drones in the heaviest assaults of the war on Ukraine. It comes after raging Donald Trump slammed the tyrant for talking "bull****" about the Ukraine war and making "meaningless" promises. 4 4 4 4 Kyiv revealed there were a total of 741 strikes on Ukrainian territory by the Russian armed forces, a record for the 40-month conflict. This involved 728 drone strikes, mainly Iranian-designed Shaheds, seven seven Kh-101/Iskander-K cruise missiles, and six Kinzhal - or Dagger - hypersonic missiles. Key targets of the massive bombardment were Lutsk and Ternopil in the west of Ukraine, which triggered an emergency response from NATO forces in neighbouring Poland. Both Polish and other Western air force warplanes were scrambled as a defensive measure during the Putin strikes. 'In connection with the attack by the Russian Federation's air forces carrying out strikes on objects located in the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in Polish airspace,' said a statement from Warsaw's armed forces command. 'All available forces and resources at the disposal of the Operational Commander of the [Armed Forces] were activated. 'Duty fighter pairs were scrambled, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness….. 'The measures taken are aimed at ensuring security in areas bordering the threatened areas.' A total of 718 incoming strikes were destroyed - some 303 - or misfired and were lost including due to electronic warfare, some 415, an astonishing success for Ukrainian air defences. Some 296 drones were shot down as were all seven Kh-101/Iskander-K cruise missiles in a significant blow to Putin's firepower. 'The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defence Forces of Ukraine,' said an official statement. The Russian blitzkrieg used a third more drones and missiles than the previous record.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Mariupol is diseased': Residents deny Russia's stories about occupied city
"What they're showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins," says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We've changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities. "They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing," he says. It's been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed. In recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to normal. But the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people - some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation - to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city. "There are a lot of lies floating around," says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine's Ternopil. "I wouldn't say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There's a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn't even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city," she adds. Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages. "Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn't come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it's scary to drink it," says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been changed. Some have even said the water looks like "coca cola". Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol's deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting. "Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would've lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn't even meet the minimum drinking water standard," says Serhii. There are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us. "Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive," says James. The BBC has reached out to Mariupol's Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so far. Despite the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at school. Andrii Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he's escaped to Dnipro. "They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia," says Andrii. He also described special lessons called "Conversations about Important Things" in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022. "Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It's like they are reprogramming the minds of our children," says John, a Mariupol resident. During World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol's central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and white. But some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like "Liberate Mariupol" and "Mariupol is Ukraine". James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city. "The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive," says James. Their main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military. "I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels," says James. Occasionally, the resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. On at least two occasions, the railway line into Mariupol was disrupted because the signalling box was set on fire by activists. It's risky work. Andrii said he was forced to leave when he realised that he had been exposed. "Perhaps a neighbour snitched on me. But once when I was at a store buying bread, I saw a soldier showing my photo to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was," he said. He left immediately, slipping past Mariupol's checkposts and then travelling through numerous cities in Russia, and through Belarus, before entering Ukraine from the north. For those still in the city, each day is a challenge. "Every day you delete your messages because your phone can be checked at checkpoints. You're afraid to call your friends in Ukraine in case your phone is being tapped," says James. "A person from a neighbouring house was arrested right off the street because someone reported that he was allegedly passing information to the Ukrainian military. Your life is like a movie – a constant tension, fear, distrust," he adds. As talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, there have been suggestions from within and outside Ukraine that it would need to concede land in exchange for a peace deal. "Giving away territory for a 'deal with Russia' will be a betrayal. Dozens risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine, not so that some diplomat in a suit will sign a paper that will 'hand us over'," says John. "We don't want 'peace at any cost'. We want liberation." Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
BBC News
29-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
"What they're showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins," says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We've changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities."They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing," he been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people - some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation - to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city."There are a lot of lies floating around," says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine's Ternopil. "I wouldn't say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There's a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn't even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city," she adds. Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages."Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn't come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it's scary to drink it," says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been have even said the water looks like "coca cola".Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol's deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting."Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would've lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn't even meet the minimum drinking water standard," says are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us."Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive," says BBC has reached out to Mariupol's Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he's escaped to Dnipro."They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia," says Andrii. He also described special lessons called "Conversations about Important Things" in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022."Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It's like they are reprogramming the minds of our children," says John, a Mariupol World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol's central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like "Liberate Mariupol" and "Mariupol is Ukraine".James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city."The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive," says main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military."I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels," says James. Occasionally, the resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. On at least two occasions, the railway line into Mariupol was disrupted because the signalling box was set on fire by risky work. Andrii said he was forced to leave when he realised that he had been exposed."Perhaps a neighbour snitched on me. But once when I was at a store buying bread, I saw a soldier showing my photo to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was," he left immediately, slipping past Mariupol's checkposts and then travelling through numerous cities in Russia, and through Belarus, before entering Ukraine from the those still in the city, each day is a challenge."Every day you delete your messages because your phone can be checked at checkpoints. You're afraid to call your friends in Ukraine in case your phone is being tapped," says James. "A person from a neighbouring house was arrested right off the street because someone reported that he was allegedly passing information to the Ukrainian military. Your life is like a movie – a constant tension, fear, distrust," he talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, there have been suggestions from within and outside Ukraine that it would need to concede land in exchange for a peace deal."Giving away territory for a 'deal with Russia' will be a betrayal. Dozens risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine, not so that some diplomat in a suit will sign a paper that will 'hand us over'," says John."We don't want 'peace at any cost'. We want liberation."Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
Times
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Russia launches biggest aerial strike on Ukraine of the war so far
Russia has launched its biggest aerial assault on Ukraine since the start of the war, part of a dramatic escalation in civilian strikes over recent weeks intended to wear down the country's air defences and break public morale. Air raid sirens rang out on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday as more than 500 drones, missiles and glide bombs were launched at cities across the nation. Of those 475 were either shot down or lost, probably after being electronically jammed, Ukraine's air force said. Almost 90 per cent of the weapons fired were Shahed drones — originally designed and produced by by Iran — after Moscow ramped up production this year. Russia also launched seven Iskander ballistic missiles and four hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Many of the areas targeted were hundreds of miles from the front lines and included the western Ukrainian regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil. Cherkasy, Poltava and Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, and Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, in the south, were also hit. The attack killed one person, injured seven people, including a child, and damaged homes and infrastructure, the authorities said. A Ukrainian fighter pilot died 'like a hero' while repelling the attack, the air force said. Having been struck while shooting down aerial targets, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko managed to steer his F-16 jet away from crashing into a settlement but was not able to eject in time. Ustymenko, 31, had a four-year-old son. 'The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude,' the air force said in a statement. President Zelensky also paid tribute to Ustymenko while reiterating his country's desperate need for American-made Patriot air defence systems. President Trump said during a Nato summit in the Hague on Wednesday that he was considering sending additional Patriots to Ukraine, though it was unclear whether he meant donating the defence systems to Ukraine — as his predecessor President Biden did — or selling them. Zelensky has said that Ukraine is willing to buy more missile batteries. 'We need protection: from ballistic missiles, from drones, from terror,' the Ukrainian leader said on Sunday. 'Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defence. That is the best protection for the lives of our people. We are ready to buy these American systems.' Russia has intensified its bombing campaign against Ukraine over the past two months. Last summer, between 10 and 30 Shaheds would target Ukraine on an average night. This summer, Russia has on several occasions launched more than 300 in a single night. Speaking in the Hague this week, Zelensky said that of all the Shahed drones fired since the 2022 invasion, 10 per cent were launched this month. • How Putin's new drone war is getting deadlier Having previously imported the drones from Iran, Russia began producing them domestically in 2023 at a factory in Tatarstan. Since then, production has grown significantly to just under 200 drones a day, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, which believes that Russia plans to increase the rate to 500 a day. Many of those launched do not carry a warhead and are decoys designed to overwhelm anti-aircraft gunners, enabling others to get through. On Friday President Putin said he was prepared for Russia to enter into a third round of peace talks with Ukraine. Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's defence minister, said that Ukrainian officials were working to organise a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin during the next round of negotiations, a proposition that the Russian president has so far balked at.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's race to rebuild power plants under Russian bombardment
Valeria was about to take a bite of pizza when the Iskander landed nearby. The blast from the Russian missile shattered all the windows in the Mykolaiv CHP (combined heat and power) plant in southern Ukraine, igniting a gas fire and propelling shrapnel through the canteen. 'I had imagined what I might do when a missile or a Shahed [drone] comes, like if it really happens to me, and I had told myself I should be really calm at that moment,' says the 27-year-old. She and her twin sister Alyona led a hyperventilating colleague out of the plant's office to her car. The trio were still driving away when the second Iskander hit, devastating the plant's boiler-room. After that Oct 10 strike, the plant was targeted again, in January, February and May, each time with Shahed drones. On Thursday night, Russia renewed its campaign against Ukraine's national energy infrastructure, breaking a loosely followed ceasefire Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump in a phone call on March 18. Power facilities were struck in the western city of Ternopil and targeted in other areas, days after Putin warned he would avenge Ukraine's elaborate 'Spiderweb' attack on Russia's bomber fleet. 'The scumbags haven't hit the energy sector en masse for five months,' wrote Myroshnykov, a Ukrainian military blogger. 'Ballistics on transformers – only the scumbags could do that.' On Friday night, Moscow struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with what the mayor described as the 'most powerful attack' since the start of the war, involving more than 50 Iranian-made drones, one rocket and four guided bombs. At least three people were killed and 22 wounded in the devastating strikes. Harrowing scenes saw bloodied residents being carried out on stretchers from their homes by rescue workers wearing gas masks. Respite is direly needed. Ukraine faces shortfalls in both electricity and natural gas production after the wave of Russian attacks – and every hour without further explosions allows for the progress of repairs. Few appreciate the challenges like Dmytro Myroshnychenko, the chairman of Mykolaiv CHP plant. On a tour of the facility, he grimly points out the legacy of Russia's bombardment: the boiler-room is a tangle of charred iron and splintered rebar; shrapnel perforates an oil tank; flaps of corrugated roof panelling limp over the walls of the destroyed turbine control centre. In full health, the Mykolaiv CHP heats 160,000 homes and provides 26MW of electricity to the national grid. The latter was ended by a February drone strike. That the plant managed to deliver heat over winter is testament to the grit of its staff. After the first Iskander strike in October, Mr Myroschnychenko ran through the facility to check if anyone was injured. 'My first thought was, everyone is lying on the floor,' he says. Luckily, everyone survived. The next day, repairs began. Russia's attack hit two weeks before the start of Mykolaiv's heating season, when residents can turn on their radiators as temperatures sink below freezing. Staff were nervous coming to work but 'everyone understood the importance, as if we didn't rebuild the city would be left without heat'. Only interrupted by air raid alerts, workers frantically shifted pipelines from the two ruined boilers to a 1930s predecessor. When he pushed the button to turn on the heat again, Mr Myroschnychenko felt little relief. 'I knew more attacks would be coming,' he says, 'so we started preparing for them.' The £29.5million needed to build two new boilers is prohibitive; instead, the plant is focused on keeping its elderly system running. Four small metal air raid shelters have been placed on the plant floor, in addition to three underground bunkers. Gennady, a 47-year-old machinist, escaped the boiler room by touch in one strike, unable to see through the clouds of dust. Now, when sirens warn of an impending strike, he often has to climb up and down several ladders: unlike the destroyed computerised systems, the surviving parts have to be operated by hand. He jokes there is one advantage: 'It is difficult to break them so easily, as there are no electronics.' But they are harder to shut down in an emergency. One new metal air raid shelter stands a few feet from the boiler. As Gennady opens the door, a worker caught in a lunchtime nap guiltily slips out. The most serious challenge facing Ukraine ahead of the next heating season is a shortage of gas, with underground storage badly hit by the Russian strikes: Mykolaiv CHP lost large quantities when the Iskander destroyed a pipeline. 'We need to find $2.5 billion and purchase gas, putting aside the risk of further strikes. The task is quite clear, but extremely difficult,' Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of Ukraine's energy research centre, told RBC-Ukraine, a local news outlet, this month. Last winter, Ukraine avoided a crisis. Record high temperatures and low industrial use spared residents from major power cuts. Experts are calling for small boilers, firewood and coal to be delivered to the worst-hit cities – Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih – before winter. Should there be long-lasting blackouts, further waves of refugees will head west. Others will freeze to death. In Mykolaiv CHP, the workers plough on with gallows humour. The plant knows war: it was destroyed by the Nazis when they were forced out of Mykolaiv by the Red Army in 1943. A portrait of Lenin has been left above the doorway in one workshop, with the name 'Morozov' scrawled underneath; a decades-old reference to a lookalike employee. The shipyard next door built Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetzov, before this invasion began. All the plant's staff are protected from conscription. But it needs another 40 people to get up to speed, admits Mr Myroshnychenko. At work, Valeria and her friends no longer eat pizza. The next time they sat down to one after the October strike, an air raid sounded immediately. 'It's become a joke,' she says – and another reason to loathe the Russians. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
