Ruined city of Avdiivka, Ukraine Avdiivka was on the front lines of war between Kyiv and Moscow for almost a decade. Fierce fighting raged there for months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. The withdrawal was far less drawn out. When the Ukrainian military abandoned the town on Saturday, handing Russia its most important victory in months, it was rapid and ruthless. “Leave the 300 (wounded),” one soldier was purportedly ordered, “and burn everything.” Hours after Russian troops raised their flags over Avdiivka, one horrifying story has emerged of several injured soldiers who failed to escape – and were later killed as Russian troops reached their position. Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose fire a SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. The Ukrainian servicemen there were part of the 110th S...

Early Monday morning, as families were preparing to start their week, waves of explosive drones struck Ukraine’s capital. A man falls on the ground following a drone attack in Kyiv. [Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP] The blasts echoed across Kyiv, setting buildings ablaze and sending people scurrying to shelters. At least three people were killed. Exactly how many drones were used in the attack on the capital was not immediately clear. According to the Associated Press, the drones appeared to include Iranian-made Shaheds, though Iran’s government has denied this. A drone flies over Kyiv. [Sergei Supinsky/AFP] Social media video posts showed drones buzzing over the capital and smoke billowing in the early morning light. The sound of sustained gunfire could also be heard in one video, in what appears to be an attempt to shoot a drone down. Russia is allegedly using Iranian-made Shaheds – renaming them Geran-2 – drones that pack an explosive charge and can linger over targets before attacking. Their d...

Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post.   Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. The command posted video Tuesday that appeared to show smoldering rubble and destroyed buildings with the caption: “The consequences of today’s rocket shelling across the Odessa region.” In the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in villages on the coast were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region, po...

Russian forces destroyed five Ukrainian army command posts in the Donbas and in the Mykolaiv regions with high-precision weapons and also struck three storage sites in the Zaporizhzhia region, says the defence ministry. Details later...

Helsinki and Stockholm joining NATO marks one of the the biggest shifts in European security in decades. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned NATO’s “imperial ambitions”, accusing the military alliance of seeking to assert its “supremacy” through the Ukraine conflict. The Russian leader also said on Wednesday that he would respond in kind if NATO deployed troops and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after the two Nordic countries join the military alliance. Putin made his comment a day after NATO member Turkey lifted its veto over the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance when the three nations agreed to protect each other’s security. Helsinki and Stockholm joining NATO marks one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades. “With Sweden and Finland, we don’t have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO, go ahead,” Putin told Russian state television after talks with regional leaders in the central Asian ex-Soviet state of Turkmenis...

At least 11 people are killed and 50 others wounded in a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in central Ukraine, the regional governor says. A Russian strike has killed at least eight civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk as they were out collecting water, Luhansk’s region governor says. Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has killed five people and wounded 22, including five children, regional governor says.  In the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, a Russian missile strike has hit a crowded shopping centre, killing at least eleven people and wounding 50, senior Ukrainian officials say. NATO will increase the strength of its rapid reaction force nearly eightfold to 300,000 troops, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says. The US will provide an advanced air missile defence system to Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirms on the sidelines of the G7 summit taking place in southern Germany.

Ukrainian officials have said they struck a Russian tugboat in the Black Sea using two Harpoon missiles on Friday. It is the first time Ukraine has announced it has destroyed a Russian vessel with Western-supplied weapons. A statement from the Ukrainian military says the Harpoons used were given to Ukraine by the US. Ukrainian military officials have said they struck the Russian Navy's Vasiliy Bekh tugboat in the Black Sea using two Harpoon missiles supplied by the US. The action marks the first time Ukraine has announced it has destroyed a Russian vessel with Western-supplied armaments. On Friday, the attack was announced on Ukraine's Armed Forces Strategic Communications Directorate's Telegram channel. It published a video purporting to show the anti-ship missile blowing up the vessel. Insider could not independently verify the footage. The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Maxim Marchenko, said, "This morning, our naval forces struck th...