Latest news with #Yurii
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ukrainian widow gives birth to son conceived through IVF after husband's death at front
A Ukrainian woman has given birth to a baby boy conceived using reproductive technology after her husband was killed in action defending Ukraine. Source: Rivne Oblast Perinatal Centre on Facebook Details: The baby boy was born at the Blahodar Perinatal Centre on 20 May 2025. His mother, Natalia Hordiichuk, is the widow of Yurii, a serviceman who died on 21 May 2024 defending Ukraine. The couple had struggled with fertility issues during their marriage, so Yurii had provided biomaterial for storage. "My husband and I had been trying for this pregnancy for over a year," says Natalia. "We went through tests and visited the Blahodar centre. He provided the biological material – they told him to come back three days later for the results. That was in March. Then he went to the front line." "On 21 May, they called me and said he was gone. I didn't believe he had died until I saw for myself," she adds. Yurii Hordiychuk has become a father posthumously Yurii Hordiichuk served as a rifleman in the National Guard of Ukraine and was killed in action near the village of Sokil in Donetsk Oblast. After her husband's death, Natalia decided to use his frozen samples for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). When the doctor asked Natalia if she was truly ready to take this step, she recalled her husband's words: "You are strong, you will cope." A few months later, Natalia learned she was pregnant. "I cried so much. I went straight to Yurii's grave and told him," she recalls. The day before the first anniversary of her husband's death, Natalia gave birth to a boy. She named her son Yurii in honour of his father. The young mother says that after she lost her husband, she didn't want to go on living, but her son's birth has given her life new meaning: "Some part of him lives on. I have someone to live for." The fertility clinic said this is their first case involving biomaterial from a deceased soldier. Quote from the centre: "This story is about love stronger than death. About motherhood, inspired by memory. About life born against all odds. We are proud to have been part of this unique story." Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Grey zone at front significantly expands due to massive FPV drone use
Modern warfare is becoming less and less like traditional infantry battles and is turning into a confrontation between drones and long-range strike systems. Source: Yurii, with the alias Lys (Fox), chief sergeant of the unmanned systems battalion of the 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade in the national joint 24/7 newscast, as reported by ArmyInform Quote: "If a year ago the grey zone was about 500 metres to 2 kilometres, now it has expanded to 5-6 kilometres, and in some areas even up to 7 kilometres." Details: The chief sergeant said that there are approximately 50 different UAVs in the air every minute, both reconnaissance and attack. This applies to both Ukrainian and Russian drones. Yurii noted that the Russians are also actively building up their own unmanned capabilities and partially copying the tactics of the Ukrainian military in shooting down UAVs and mining. "Now the war is no longer a battle of infantry or armoured vehicles, but a long-range remote fight. Distances have grown, kill zones have increased," the chief sergeant stressed. He also said that the Russians are increasingly using motorcycles, ATVs and light vehicles to break through the areas controlled by Ukrainian drones. "Indeed, the Russians are trying to disperse their forces as much as possible, resorting to infantry assaults or assaults with motorcycles, ATVs, and light vehicles. The terrain near Chasiv Yar is not very favourable for the use of heavy equipment," explained Yuriy "Lys". He added that this poses a significant challenge for Ukrainian unmanned systems units, as these mobile groups require constant monitoring and the deployment of a large number of attack drones. Nevertheless, Ukrainian reconnaissance, firepower, and roadblock tactics are proving effective. Despite the new Russian tactics, the situation remains under the control of the Ukrainian military. "We are creating many unpleasant surprises for the enemy with the help of drones. Meanwhile, we are striving to build up our strike forces to more effectively deter the enemy's offensive, especially now that the weather is favourable for the enemy's rapid movement," the chief sergeant summed up. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Guardian
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Ready, fire, boom' – on the frontline with a Ukrainian artillery unit
From a line of trees the Ukrainian gun team prepares to fire. An artilleryman, Yurii, loads a 152mm shell into an old Soviet-made howitzer. 'We are ready!' Yurii says. He moves away from the barrel. 'Fire!' the unit's commander replies. There is an almighty boom. White smoke fills the dugout, which is hidden beneath camouflage nets and cut pine branches. From the undergrowth, a chiffchaff resumes its spring warbling. Nearby, in the north-east of Ukraine, Russian troops were trying to advance. In February 2022 they rolled in to the town of Dvorichna at the beginning of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion. Six months later Ukraine's armed forces pushed them out as part of a successful counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region. In January, the Russians came back and occupied Dvorichna for a second time. The battle is taking place on either side of the picturesque Oskil River. Before the war, it was a place for recreation. Visitors would grill kebabs on its sandy beaches or go kayaking past a ridge of low chalk hills and a small national park. Now it is a zone of war, waged by drones, artillery and bombs. The Russians are trying to expand a slender bridgehead on the river's right back, near Dvorichna. Their goal is to seize the R79 highway leading to the railway hub of Kupiansk, immediately to the south – and, after that, to encircle Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city. 'Our task is to stop them from crossing the river. We do this by firing at their logistics in the rear,' explained Serhii, an artillery captain with the 1st or 'Burevii' brigade of Ukraine's national guard. Over the past two months, the Russians had scaled back their attempt to bring reinforcements across the Oskil, Serhii said, because of heavy losses. As soon as Russian engineering teams build pontoon bridges his battery destroys them, he added. Video shows how three Russian armoured personnel carriers were hit. They sank. Others got stuck on the bank and were finished off by kamikaze drones. The corpses of Russians soldiers lay around. 'Sometimes they collect their dead. Sometimes not. Dogs eat their remains,' Yurii – the artilleryman – said matter-of-factly. He added: 'A lot of Russians have been killed. We like this.' Fighting takes place across a landscape of fields and broken copses, shredded by repeated shelling. Green foliage and blossom makes it easier for both sides to conceal their technical equipment. Tactics have changed, Serhii said. The Russians had abandoned big military columns and were sending groups of infantry to the frontline on innovative forms of transport. These included armoured fighting vehicles – 'three or four at a time' – motorcycles, quad bikes, golf buggies and civilian cars. 'Often they take a position. We counterattack and get it back. It's back and forth. There's no significant advance,' he said. Despite US attempts to negotiate an end to hostilities, the Kremlin is still trying to grab more territory. On Monday, Putin announced a ceasefire to coincide with Victory Day and a parade in Red Square celebrating the Soviet Union's defeat in the Second World War of Nazi Germany. Ukrainian commentators pointed out he had announced a similar truce over Easter only to massively violate it. Last autumn Russia made military gains. Recently its progress has slowed. The main thrust is in the industrial eastern Donetsk region. In one city, Pokrovsk, Ukraine's troops have stabilised the frontline. In another, Kostyantynivka, the Russians creep forward. Putin appears determined to seize the entire oblast, ignoring Donald Trump's plea: 'Vladimir, stop!' The US president's solution to the conflict includes giving Crimea and four eastern Ukrainian regions to Moscow. Ukrainian soldiers said this would create a disastrous geopolitical precedent. One observed: 'It would legitimise the redistribution of territory by force and open a Pandora's box around the world. Putin would go on to attack the Baltics, Finland or Moldova. It's our country and state. It's not up to Trump to decide where our borders lie.' Russia's latest assault has brought fresh misery to a population that had already experienced occupation. In 2022 Russian troops entered Dvorichna quickly, leaving it mostly intact. After intense recent fighting it has become a wasteland. According to survivors, Russian soldiers arrived just after new year. They opened fire on the handful of civilians who were still living in the ruined town and sheltering in basements. One of them, Yevhen, said his neighbour Volodymyr was badly injured. There was no medicine. He died 10 days later of his wounds. Yevhen said he and two neighbours carried Volodymyr's body up from a cellar but did not have time to dig a grave. They left him next to a woodshed. The trio waited until the soldiers disappeared and escaped, walking 4 miles to the Ukrainian-controlled village of Kutkivka. Andriy Besedin, the mayor of Kupiansk, said the district was under continual fire. This month there have been 1,500 attacks from shells, mortars and airstrikes, he said. Five people have been killed and 35 injured. On Saturday a surgeon was wounded when a Russian drone targeted his car. The same day a bomb dropped by a plane killed an 88-year-old man and damaged several houses. About 750 residents were still living on the left bank of the Oskil, right next to the frontline, Besedin said. The Russians are 1.5 miles away. 'We have told our people to leave. They refuse. They have no gas, water, communications, hospital, or communal services', he said. Besedin was optimistic Kupiansk could hang on, despite daily bombardment. 'We believe in our armed forces,' he declared. Other soldiers said they expected Moscow to launch a large summer offensive – based on a 'gut feeling', as one put it. This week, Russia's defence ministry said it had fully recaptured the Kursk region, where Ukraine's armed forces in August launched a mini-invasion. The Kremlin is expected to increase its attacks on the adjacent province and city of Sumy. A Russian missile recently hit Sumy's centre, killing 35 people. On Sunday Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the situation was difficult across the frontline. 'Fighting continues. The occupier continues its offensive attempts,' the president wrote on social media. Global pressure on Russia to bring the war to an end was 'not sufficient', he added. Moscow had snubbed a proposal by Washington for a 'full and comprehensive ceasefire', which Kyiv accepted in March, he pointed out. A drone operator with the first brigade, Alex, confirmed that the Russians were not letting up. 'As soon as they see a weakness they take what they can get,' he said. 'The dynamic we see now is that Russia's advance is rather slow. But it is perceptible. If we don't do something to counteract it they will inch forward. Our plan on a local level is to kill as many of them as possible until they have nobody to throw at us.' Alex called the US's peace efforts 'pretty disappointing'. 'It's easy to put pressure on a Ukraine that's on the back foot, rather than on Russia,' he remarked. Zelenskyy faced a predicament, he added. He could agree to Trump's Moscow-friendly deal, knowing that Putin would soon 'try again' with another attack on Ukraine. Or Zelenskyy could refuse, and see himself blamed by the Americans and Russian propaganda. Nearby, other soldiers were customising drones in a workshop. They included surveillance models fitted with thermal cameras and mine-dropping 'bombers'. Both sides are using fibre-optic drones, which are immune to electronic warfare counter-measures. 'The war has changed. In 2014 there were no drones. In 2022 there were very few of them,' said one soldier Roman with the call-sign 'Cedar'. 'Now they are everywhere.' People in the town of Shevchenkove said they didn't want to live under Russian rule again. 'They were here for six months. We had to ask permission to fetch water,' Luda Yermolenko said, sitting with her neighbours on a bench next to her cottage under a cherry tree. 'Most civilians were OK, but they killed a mother and her son.' She added: 'We hope our army can hold this place.'
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ukrainian polar explorer comes back to Antarctica after severe war injury
Ukrainian polar researcher Yurii Lyshenko was in Antarctica when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Upon coming back to Ukraine, he joined the Armed Forces. Yurii sustained a severe injury that led to the amputation of part of his leg. Despite this, he has come back to work in Antarctica. Source: National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine on Facebook Details: Yurii Lyshenko, a native of the city of Kharkiv, trained as a ship navigator and worked in maritime expeditions, including in the Arctic. He first joined a Ukrainian Antarctic expedition in 2011 as a diesel-electric engineer and has since participated in three more year-long missions at the Vernadsky Research Base. In 2021, when Ukraine acquired its first icebreaker from the UK, Lyshenko played a key role in equipping and preparing the vessel for its maiden voyage. Photo: National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine on Facebook Quote from Antarctic Scientific Center: "It was he who put in an extraordinary amount of effort to re-register the British vessel James Clark Ross as Noosphere just five months after its purchase and fully prepare it for the first Antarctic season, which began a month before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine." Details: During the 27th Antarctic expedition, Lyshenko took part in a major overhaul of the Ukrainian station, replacing outdated British diesel engines with more efficient and eco-friendly models. Quote from Antarctic Scientific Center: "For this work, the polar explorer set off for Antarctica a bit earlier than the rest of the expedition. While he was on his way to the icy continent, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began." National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine on Facebook Details: After returning from Antarctica in spring 2023, Lyshenko enlisted in the military and led an assault unit in the 54th Mechanised Brigade. He fought in Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts. However, in October 2023, he sustained a severe injury when a Russian mine struck the defenders' trench. Quote from Antarctic Scientific Center: "Yurii miraculously survived, but his severe injuries led to the amputation of part of his leg." Details: Lyshenko joked that he had "become an Antarctic pirate" with one leg and a penguin on his shoulder. Just a year and a half after his injury, Yurii underwent rehabilitation and learned to walk with a prosthetic. In February 2025, he joined the seasonal Antarctic expedition. National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine on Facebook Lyshenko will oversee the operation of the new engines at the Vernadsky Research Base, as National Antarctic Scientific Center believes that his knowledge and experience are "unique". "Thank you for your resilience, strength, and dedication to Ukraine and our shared Antarctic mission," his colleagues wrote. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
