logo
Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region

Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region

Korea Herald8 hours ago

Russia said Sunday that its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war.
Despite talk of peace, the war is stepping up with Russian forces grabbing more territory in Ukraine and Kyiv unfurling high-profile drone and sabotage attacks on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet and, according to Moscow, on railways.
Russia, which controls a little under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has taken more than 190 square kilometers of the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open-source maps.
Now, according to the Russian defence ministry, units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine's Donetsk region and are attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region.
"The enemy does not abandon its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region," Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces said on Telegram. "Our soldiers are courageously and professionally holding their section of the front, disrupting the occupier's plans. This work does not stop for a minute." Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said the Dnipropetrovsk offensive showed that if Ukraine did not want to accept the reality of Russia's territorial gains in peace talks, then Moscow's forces would advance further.
The pro-Ukrainian Deep State map showed Russian forces very close to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which had a population of more than 3 million before the war, and advancing on the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region from several directions.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson, Dmytro Zaporozhets, said that Russian forces were trying to "build a bridgehead for an attack" on Kostyantynivka, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.
Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of delaying the swap of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. Ukraine denied those claims.
On Sunday, Russia said it was moving bodies towards the border and television showed refrigerated trucks containing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers on the road in the Bryansk region.
Ukraine, officials said, was playing politics with the dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to press on with prisoner exchanges.
"The Russian side is therefore, like always, even in these matters, is trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game," he said in his nightly video address.
"We believe that the exchanges will continue and will do everything for this. If the Russians do not stand by agreements even in humanitarian matters, it casts great doubt on all international efforts — including those by the United States in terms of talks and diplomacy."
Zelenskyy said he had reviewed commanders' reports about areas hit by heavy fighting, including near Pokrovsk, targeted by Moscow for months. He said the situation was "far from easy, but everything depends on the resilience of our units." US President Donald Trump, who says he wants an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, on Thursday likened it to a fight between young children and indicated that he might have to simply let the conflict play out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia, that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Turkey.
Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack on a Bryansk bridge, has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously seeking peace, citing Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire.
Russia is demanding international recognition of Crimea, a peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory.
Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them.
Russia controlled 113,273 square kilometers, or 18.8 percent, of Ukrainian territory as of June 7, according to the Deep State map. That is an area bigger than the U.S. state of Virginia.
The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99 percent of the Luhansk region, over 70 percent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast.
Putin told Trump on Wednesday that he would have to respond to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's bomber fleet and the bombings of the railways.
Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in his video message to be particularly attentive to air raid warnings in the coming days.
The US believes that Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its attacks has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multipronged strike, US officials told Reuters. (Reuters)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region
Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region

Korea Herald

time8 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region

Russia said Sunday that its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war. Despite talk of peace, the war is stepping up with Russian forces grabbing more territory in Ukraine and Kyiv unfurling high-profile drone and sabotage attacks on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet and, according to Moscow, on railways. Russia, which controls a little under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has taken more than 190 square kilometers of the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open-source maps. Now, according to the Russian defence ministry, units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine's Donetsk region and are attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region. "The enemy does not abandon its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region," Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces said on Telegram. "Our soldiers are courageously and professionally holding their section of the front, disrupting the occupier's plans. This work does not stop for a minute." Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said the Dnipropetrovsk offensive showed that if Ukraine did not want to accept the reality of Russia's territorial gains in peace talks, then Moscow's forces would advance further. The pro-Ukrainian Deep State map showed Russian forces very close to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which had a population of more than 3 million before the war, and advancing on the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region from several directions. A Ukrainian military spokesperson, Dmytro Zaporozhets, said that Russian forces were trying to "build a bridgehead for an attack" on Kostyantynivka, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army. Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of delaying the swap of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. Ukraine denied those claims. On Sunday, Russia said it was moving bodies towards the border and television showed refrigerated trucks containing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers on the road in the Bryansk region. Ukraine, officials said, was playing politics with the dead. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to press on with prisoner exchanges. "The Russian side is therefore, like always, even in these matters, is trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game," he said in his nightly video address. "We believe that the exchanges will continue and will do everything for this. If the Russians do not stand by agreements even in humanitarian matters, it casts great doubt on all international efforts — including those by the United States in terms of talks and diplomacy." Zelenskyy said he had reviewed commanders' reports about areas hit by heavy fighting, including near Pokrovsk, targeted by Moscow for months. He said the situation was "far from easy, but everything depends on the resilience of our units." US President Donald Trump, who says he wants an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, on Thursday likened it to a fight between young children and indicated that he might have to simply let the conflict play out. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia, that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Turkey. Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack on a Bryansk bridge, has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously seeking peace, citing Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire. Russia is demanding international recognition of Crimea, a peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them. Russia controlled 113,273 square kilometers, or 18.8 percent, of Ukrainian territory as of June 7, according to the Deep State map. That is an area bigger than the U.S. state of Virginia. The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99 percent of the Luhansk region, over 70 percent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast. Putin told Trump on Wednesday that he would have to respond to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's bomber fleet and the bombings of the railways. Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in his video message to be particularly attentive to air raid warnings in the coming days. The US believes that Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its attacks has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multipronged strike, US officials told Reuters. (Reuters)

Pope Leo condemns 'exclusionary mindset' in Pentecost address
Pope Leo condemns 'exclusionary mindset' in Pentecost address

Korea Herald

time13 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Pope Leo condemns 'exclusionary mindset' in Pentecost address

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Leo XIV exhorted the faithful on Sunday to reject an "exclusionary mindset" he said had led to nationalism around the world. Leo's homily did not call out current events and conflicts nor identify individual leaders. But his choice of language was significant, encouraging people to "open borders" within their hearts and minds. The address marked a month since the former Robert Prevost from Chicago was elected pope, and came during a Sunday mass to celebrate Pentacost held under sunny skies in St. Peter's Square. Before mass, the 69-year-old pontiff made a turn around the sprawling Baroque square in his popemobile to the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, estimated by the Vatican at around 80,000 people. Leo said the Church "must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race." People must move "beyond our fear of those who are different," he said, noting that the Holy Spirit "breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred ..." "Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for 'security' zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms." Leo did not speak of physical borders but his focus on barriers and walls evoked the politics of US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to stem illegal immigration into the United States. The pope also said the Holy Spirit was an antidote to toxic relationships marked by "suspicion, prejudice or the desire to manipulate others." "With great pain," Leo cited "cases where relationships are marked by an unhealthy desire for domination, an attitude that often leads to violence, as is shown, tragically, by numerous recent cases of femicide." In Italy, a slew of femicides have become front-page news over the last month, including the killing of a 14-year girl by her boyfriend last week. Leo also cited the dangers of social media, saying it risked making people "ever more alone" within a "vortex of individualism." "Constantly connected, yet incapable of 'networking.' Always immersed in a crowd, yet confused and solitary travelers," he said. Since his election, Leo has offered to mediate between leaders of countries at war and earlier this week, he had his first telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Several speeches made by the new pontiff — including among his first words from St. Peter's Basilica when he became pope on May 8 — have focused on building bridges between individuals and peoples. Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ.

Trump's travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday
Trump's travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday

Korea Herald

timea day ago

  • Korea Herald

Trump's travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect early Monday

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump's order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from "foreign terrorists." The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The entry of people from seven other countries -- Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela - will be partially restricted. Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a "large-scale presence of terrorists," fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers' identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States. He cited last Sunday's incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban. The travel ban forms part of Trump's policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief. Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump's action. "Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride," he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the US a luxury airplane for Trump's use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the US. Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban. Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies. "Trump's travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional," said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. "People have a right to seek asylum." (Reuters)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store