Putin declares victory in eastern Ukraine region of Luhansk

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, one day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining bulwark of resistance in the province. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu...

Ukraine lays out $750B 'recovery plan' for postwar future

LUGANO, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the reconstruction of his war-battered country is the “common task of the entire democratic world," as his prime minister laid out a $750 billion recovery plan once the guns of Russia's invaders fall silent one day....

Film reveals Macron’s diplomatic bids amid war in Ukraine

PARIS (AP) — “Vladimir .... tell me what your intentions are.” Four days before President Putin ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron was making a last-ditch attempt to prevent the war in a key phone call revealed in a French TV documentary....

Russia claims control of pivotal eastern Ukrainian province

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed control Sunday over the last Ukrainian stronghold in an eastern province that is key to achieving a major goal of Moscow's grinding war. The General Staff of Ukraine's military reported that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk in Luhansk...

Russian diplomats to depart Bulgaria amid soaring tensions

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Two Russian airplanes departed Bulgaria on Sunday with scores of Russian diplomatic staff and their families amid a mass expulsion that has sent tensions soaring between the historically close nations, a Russian diplomat said. Filip Voskresenski, a...

Splintered Ukrainian city braces for new battle with Russia

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — A group of young off-duty Ukrainian soldiers gathered at a military distribution center to enjoy a rare respite from the fighting that has again engulfed their fractured home in eastern Ukraine. As they shared jokes and a pizza, artillery explosions could...

Russia's defense minister says Russian forces have taken control of last major Ukrainian-held city in Luhansk province

Russians press assault on eastern Ukrainian city

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces pounded the city of Lysychansk and its surroundings in an all-out attempt to seize the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk province, the governor said Saturday. A presidential adviser said its fate would be decided within the next two...

Russia's messages with missiles tell West to back off

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The latest in a litany of horrors in Ukraine came this week as Russian firepower rained down on civilians in a busy shopping mall far from the front lines of a war in its fifth month. The timing was not likely a coincidence. While much of the...

Russian missiles kill at least 21 in Ukraine's Odesa region

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian airstrike on residential areas killed at least 21 people early Friday near the Ukrainian port of Odesa, authorities reported, a day after the withdrawal of Moscow's forces from an island in the Black Sea had seemed to ease the threat to the city. ...