Day: February 24, 2023

TBILISI, Georgia — Thousands of people took to the streets of the Georgian capital on Friday in a show of support for Ukraine, one year after Russia launched its invasion of the country. Large crowds moved down Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare Rustaveli Avenue, carrying Ukrainian flags, pro-Ukrainian banners and anti-Putin signs. Some 30,000 demonstrators gathered outside…

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first highly sought Leopard battle tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. The German-made Leopard tanks from Warsaw rolled in to help Ukraine repel Russian troops as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki…

The United States on Friday announced sweeping sanctions aimed at increasing economic pain for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and sharpening efforts to crack down on Moscow’s ability to evade existing restrictions. The White House said the latest measures against Russia were rolled out “in coordination with G7 partners and allies,” while Britain announced…

Dozens of Russians have been detained for staging anti-war pickets and other acts of remembrance across the country, as Feb. 24 marks exactly one year since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  Mass anti-war protests are effectively outlawed under legislation passed in the wake of the invasion last year, and most prominent opposition activists have…

Over 15,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the Kremlin’s invasion, according to an independent tally published on the war’s one-year anniversary Friday. The independent Mediazona news website and the BBC Russian service have been verifying the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine using publicly available information from media…

SHEBEKINO, Belgorod region — When Russian tanks began rolling through the streets of this small town six kilometers from the Ukrainian border in late February last year, most locals didn’t believe that Russia was about to invade its neighbor.  “It just sounded unbelievable,” recalled Alexander, 27, a local businessman who requested his name be changed…

Oligarchs reportedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who have had bank accounts frozen or property seized after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are pushing back against the Western sanctions — or finding ways around them. Authorities have frozen about £18.4 billion ($22.2 billion) of Russian assets in Britain, and 17 billion euros worth ($18 billion)…

In the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022, after months of posturing and threats, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to launch an all-out assault on Ukraine from both Russian territory and that of its ally Belarus. Initially marked by Russia’s confident predictions that Kyiv would fall to Moscow within days, the war that…

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday vowed that Russia would be victorious in its war against Ukraine, saying that Moscow is ready to fight up to the Polish border to counter alleged “threats” against it. Medvedev, whose rhetoric has become increasingly radical over the past year, is one of the most vocal supporters of…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory against Russia on Friday on the one-year anniversary of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, as commemorations were held by Kyiv’s Western allies. “We endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year,” Zelensky said in a statement released on social media.…

China called Friday for urgent peace talks as it released its plan to end the war in Ukraine, but Western powers quickly rebuffed the proposals while warning against Beijing’s closening ties to Moscow. The 12-point paper calling for a “political settlement” of the crisis follows accusations from the West that China is considering arming Russia,…

The head of Russia’s Wagner Group on Friday said that his fighters had captured a village near Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut, the scene of fierce fighting between the two sides for months. Berkhivka “is entirely under our control,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement released by his press service on the one-year anniversary of…

An uncrewed Russian Soyuz capsule took off early Friday from Kazakhstan for the International Space Station to eventually bring home three astronauts whose return vehicle was damaged by a tiny meteoroid. The Soyuz MS-23 vessel lifted off successfully from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome, live video broadcast by ISS partner NASA showed. Though the capsule is…

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, marking the one-year anniversary of the war with a call for a “just and lasting” peace. Ukraine earned strong backing in a nonbinding vote that saw 141 of the 193 UN members in support, seven opposed and 32,…

Russia on Thursday claimed Ukraine was ramping up efforts to invade Transnistria, Moldova’s Moscow-backed separatist region, and pledged a “response.” The Russian defence ministry’s statement was released on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Since the launch of the full-scale assault against Ukraine a year ago, the Kremlin has been…