Ukraine News

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, as the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives moves ahead with a broad multi-committee impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.  Maguire explained the procedure for why a whistleblower’s complaint about the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President…

A transcript of the July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows the two leaders did talk during their brief conversation about an investigation involving Joe Biden and his son. Neither man, however, mentioned military aid to Ukraine that might hang in the balance.  The White House released the…

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine is at a crossroads. After more than five years of war against Russian forces in its eastern Donbas region, the former Soviet republic is finally inching toward a peace deal with Moscow.  Yet a political scandal in the U.S.—in which Ukraine plays a central role—threatens to complicate matters, some Ukrainian experts say. The…

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s celebration Saturday of its Independence Day marks 28 years since the country split from the Soviet Union. But freedom hasn’t come easy for Ukraine. And the country’s freedom struggle isn’t over.  For more than five years, Ukrainian troops have been bogged down in a war in the country’s eastern Donbas region, where they…

DNIPRO, Ukraine—Viktor Listov was a 10th grade student in St. Petersburg (then known as Leningrad), Russia, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, completing one orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961, aboard his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Listov vividly remembers the day. His teacher interrupted the day’s lesson and told…

KYIV, Ukraine—The recent military tension between the U.S. and Iran underscores a new era of conflict, some military officials and analysts say, in which a country’s power on the world stage is no longer measured solely by economic clout, military force, or even diplomatic sway.  Rather, the audacious use of misinformation to shape public opinion…

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukrainian troops are slowly advancing in the country’s eastern war zone, testing the limits of a shaky stalemate in the five-year-old conflict against Russia and its separatist proxies. In the last year, Ukrainian military forces retook 24 square kilometers (about 9.3 square miles) of territory in the country’s embattled Donbas region, officials said, underscoring…

KYIV, Ukraine—Comedian and political dark horse Volodymyr Zelensky won Ukraine’s presidential election by a landslide on Sunday, dealing a blunt rebuke to the country’s post-Soviet political establishment. “I promise I will never let any of you down," Zelensky said during a Sunday night victory speech. Sunday’s runoff election followed a first round vote in March,…

KYIV, Ukraine—The final two contenders are getting ready to rumble. In a March 31 election, voters narrowed the field of Ukraine’s presidential contenders from 37 candidates to two. In one corner, comedian and political dark horse Volodymyr Zelensky. In the other, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. The first round went to Zelensky, who rolled up about…

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukrainians took to the polls Sunday and voted for their next president. After a bloody 2014 revolution to depose a pro-Russian president, and after nearly five years of war against Russian forces in the country’s east, many voters viewed the election as a landmark exercise of their hard-earned democratic freedoms, and another step toward…

KYIV, Ukraine—Trench warfare is a true test of a soldier’s grit. The constant prospect of death—whether by artillery, rockets, or snipers—gnaws at you every waking moment. The truth is, there’s no way to stay safe, other than to hide underground. Some soldiers simply laugh at the danger and treat the war like a sport. Others,…

KYIV, Ukraine—The impending demise of a Cold War-era arms control treaty has sparked pledges from the leaders of both Ukraine and Russia to develop and field more intermediate-range missiles, highlighting a new flashpoint between the two erstwhile Soviet allies, which have been locked in a limited land war since April 2014. “We are no longer…

KYIV, Ukraine—The U.S. announced on Friday that it was suspending its obligations under a Cold War-era arms control treaty with Russia. “For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad,”…

KYIV, Ukraine—Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar. This year’s holiday was the first for Ukraine’s newly unified, national Orthodox Church, independent from Russian control for the first time since the 17th century. Monday’s milestone marked a major step forward in Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to diminish Russian influence, highlighting an…

KYIV, Ukraine—At the end of the workday on Oct. 17, a rush-hour flood of pedestrians exited the funicular at the top of central Kyiv’s Volodymyrska Hill and passed by the gates of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. It was a clear day and sunlight illuminated the golden roofs of the belltower and main cathedral. There has…

MARIUPOL, Ukraine—The people of Mariupol have lived within earshot of Europe’s only ongoing land war for four and a half years. At first, they plainly showed fear at the sounds of the tank shots and the shelling. Now, they have the temerity to simply shake their heads and shrug their shoulders at the sounds of…

MARIUPOL, Ukraine—The world is finally paying attention to Galina Odnorog. On behalf of the port of Mariupol, the 50-year-old Ukrainian volunteer activist has been coordinating a media outreach campaign since August 2017, trying to alert Western countries to the threat posed by Russia to Ukraine-bound shipping traffic in the Sea of Azov. “Russia has blockaded…