Ukrainian soldiers headed off to battle are trying to ensure the survival of their bloodlines by freezing their sperm before they leave.
The practice — which several local clinics have begun offering for free — has become something of a patriotic duty, according to the New York Times.
Besides being a way to offer a bit of comfort to their partners left behind, at least some of the male soldiers are taking the measure to combat what they see as the Russians trying to exterminate them and their countrymen.
“The modern world allows us to give birth and raise the children of our fallen loved ones — the bravest and most courageous humans in this world,” said Nataliya Kyrkach-Antonenko, who told The Times that her husband died on the battlefield while she was three months pregnant.
“Raise them worthy of their father with the same love for Ukraine, and give them the chance to live in the country for which their father shed his blood,” she said.
Kyrkach-Antonenko has become a poster child for the practice.
Her late husband, Vitaly, froze his sperm before going to war, she said.
And though he was killed, Kyrkach-Antonenko said he will be the father of all her future children.
Now, she uses her Facebook page to encourage other soldiers to do the same for their wives.
The Ukrainian Parliament appears to be seizing the mantle as well, with lawmakers debating a bill that would have the state subsidize the service.
The Ukrainian Parliament is debating a bill that would subsidize the cost of freezing sperm for its soldiers fighting Russia. AP Vitalii Khroniuk and his partner, Anna Sokurenko, hug during their visit to IVMED’s fertility clinic in early February. AP
“This is a continuation of our gene pool,” Oksana Dmytriieva, the bill’s author, told The Times.
The idea isn’t new. The Times said several cryogenic firms offered to freeze American soldiers’ sperm before they headed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
It is unclear how many Ukrainian men have agreed to participate
But Dr. Oleksandr Mykhailovych Yuzko, president of the Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine, said requests have risen at clinics throughout Ukraine.
About 100 soldiers have frozen their sperm at IVMED, a private clinic in Kyiv, according to head doctor Halyna Strelko.
The business has waived the $55 cost of cryptopreservation for those fighting the Russians.
About 100 Ukrainian soldiers have frozen their sperm at one clinic in Kyiv. AP
“We don’t know how else to help. We can only make children or help make them. We don’t have weapons, we can’t fight, but what we do is also important,” Strelko said.
Vitalii Khroniuk and his partner, Anna Sokurenko, decided to go to the clinic after Khroniuk had an epiphany while enduring a fusillade of Russian artillery fire.
His one regret, he said, was never having a child. Sokurenko agreed.
“I think it’s a very important opportunity in the future if a woman loses her loved one,” said Sokurenko, 24. “I understand that it will be difficult to recover from this, but it will give the sense to continue to fight, to continue to live.”
Clips shared by Russian news site 112 show the suspect, Daria Trepova, initially trying to back out of the room after handing a box containing a small statuette to Maxim Fomim, a military propagandist better known as Vladlen Tatarsky.
“Nastya, Nastya, come sit here,” Tatarsky, 40, called out to Trepova, 26, using the pseudonym the assassin allegedly used to hide her identity as a Ukraine-linked anti-war activist.
Trepova — who is due in court Tuesday for her first hearing, accused of terrorism — is seen nervously turning back as the blogger urges her to sit right near him.
Tatarsky was shown admiring the statuette moments before it blew him up.
She compromises by agreeing to stay for the political discussion, but in a different chair several feet to the left of Tatarsky, who has been one of the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Unaware of the horror about to unfold, the blogger is seen affectionately opening the box and admiring the bust he was handing, joking: “Oh, what a handsome guy! Is that me?”
The blogger was putting the bust back in the box when it exploded, killing him and injuring dozens of others.
One clip cut to the suspected assassin during the exchange — showing her holding her hands out and leaning back, before moving her hands over her face as the explosion ripped through the cafe.
Another angle showed that Tatarsky was carefully putting the bust back in the box while being asked a question when the explosion blew him up.
One angle showed the suspected assassin, circled, putting her hands over her face just before the deadly explosion.Social media/e2w
Trepova, who was seen in other footage carrying the box into the café, was also seen outside later as others were bent over in pain and covered in blood, at least one person stricken on the ground. Around 30 people were wounded in the blast.
Russian authorities described the bombing as an act of terrorism and blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating the attack at the riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city.
The Interior Ministry later released a video in which Trepova confessed to bringing the bust to the café.
The Interior Ministry later released a video of Trepova confessing.RT/ East2west News
The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the bombing was “planned by Ukrainian special services” and that Trepova is an “active supporter” of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“The involvement of the Kyiv regime in this bloody action will be another confirmation of its use of terrorist methods,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to state agency TASS.
Russia has labeled the bombing a terrorist attack.ZUMAPRESS.com
The suspect previously spent 10 days in custody for taking part in an anti-war rally.
Her case was transferred to Moscow in a sign of how seriously it was being taken. She is due in Moscow’s Basmanny District Court on Tuesday and faces a life sentence for terrorist crimes.
The anti-war activist now faces life in prison.Social media/e2w
Tatarsky previously joined separatists in eastern Ukraine after a Moscow-backed insurgency erupted there in 2014. He then turned to blogging, amassing more than 560,000 followers on Telegram.
He was an ardent supporter of President Vladimir Putin, who honored him with a posthumous Order of Courage, TASS said.
“Russia is shelling the city with bestial savagery,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post accompanying video showing what he said was a Russian missile striking a nine-story apartment building on a busy road in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. “Residential areas where ordinary people and children live are being fired at.”
At least one person was killed in the attack shown in the Zaporizhzhia video, apparently recorded by closed circuit TV cameras.
Ukrainian media showed several angles of the missile raining down on an apartment building across the street from a shopping mall in Zaporizhzhia, producing a huge plume of gray and black smoke, with bits of concrete flying into the air as cars whizzed by.
A residential multi-story building is seen damaged after a Russian missile hit it in southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22, 2023.AP
Videos showed the violent outcome of the attack: charred apartments, flames and smoke billowing out of several floors of the buildings, and piles of broken concrete and shards of glass on the ground.
Two children were among the wounded, said Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev, adding that 25 people needed hospital treatment, with three in critical condition.
Zaporizhzhia city is about 60 miles from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest which has come under threat during the war and has been shut down for months.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian soldiers hold the flag of a military unit at a position near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency reported the plant had suffered another loss of a backup external power source.
Its six reactors still need power to cool nuclear fuel, and were relying on only a primary source Wednesday, the IAEA said.
Emergency personnel work at the scene following a drone attack in the town of Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
Russian officials have blamed Ukrainian air defenses for some of the deadliest strikes on apartments, saying the deployment of air defense systems in residential areas puts civilians at risk.
Russia sometimes also claims Ukraine is hiding military equipment and personnel in civilian buildings.
The war, which Russia started Feb. 24, 2022, has evolved in two main directions: a front line mainly in eastern Ukraine, centered around the city of Bakhmut, and periodic Russian missile and drone strikes nationwide.
Emergency personnel work at the scene following a drone attack in the town of Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
In addition, periodic — although unconfirmed — Ukrainian sabotage attacks have been launched across the border into Russia.
The front-line fighting largely stalemated over the winter, with expectations of major offensives by both sides expected in more favorable spring weather.
Earlier Wednesday, a drone attack damaged a high school and two dormitories in the city of Rzhyshchiv, south of the Ukrainian capital, officials said.
It wasn’t clear how many people were in the dormitories at the time.
A residential multi-story building hit by a missile is on fire in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
The body of a 40-year-old man was among those pulled from the rubble on one floor, according to regional police chief Andrii Nebytov, adding that more than 20 people were hospitalized.
Video showed what appeared to be a bloodied sneaker and a green ball on the ground near a damaged building, whose top floor was ripped off at a corner.
The attacks occurred as dueling diplomatic missions were winding down.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left Kyiv after meeting Zelensky to support Ukraine.
An injured Ukrainian soldier lies on a bed inside a special medical bus during an evacuation by volunteers from the Hospitallers paramedic organization in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Beijing’s peace proposal, which the West has rejected as a non-starter.
No progress toward peace was reported.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson noted the violent turn of events.
“Just one day after Russia called for peace, Russia is attacking Ukrainian homes as part of its brutal war,” she said in Washington. “What Russia is doing is horrific -– and we are committed to continuing to help Ukraine defend itself against this Russian aggression.”
A police officer gestures to prevent photographing at the scene of a drone attack in the town of Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, Ukraine on March 22, 2023.AP
The drone barrage and other Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure also drew a scathing response from Zelensky.
“Over 20 Iranian murderous drones, plus missiles, numerous shelling occasions, and that’s just in one last night of Russian terror,” he tweeted in English. “Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes.”
Zaporizhzhia’s regional administration said two missiles struck the apartment block, saying Russia’s goal is “to scare the civilian population of the city of thousands.”
“It’s hell in Zaporizhzhia,” Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on Telegram, adding: “There aren’t any military facilities nearby.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, greet each other during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 21, 2023. AP
Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Moscow-appointed regional administration for the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, claimed, without offering evidence, that a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to intercept a Russian missile had hit the apartment complex.
In other attacks, Ukrainian air defenses downed 16 of the 21 drones that Russia launched, the Ukraine General Staff said.
Eight were shot down near the capital, according to the city’s military administration.
Other drones struck west-central Khmelnytskyi province.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to each other prior to Chinese President Xi Jinping leaving after their dinner in Kremlin, Russia.AP
Also Wednesday, Zelensky made another in a series of battlefield visits, meeting with soldiers and officers in the eastern Donetsk region, stopping by a hospital to see wounded troops and giving state awards to the defenders of Bakhmut, a devastated city that has become a symbol of Ukraine’s dogged resistance under a threat of Russian encirclement and for months has been the scene of the war’s bloodiest fighting and longest battle.
Zelensky’s last known visit to the Bakhmut area was in December. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian president also visited Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which his forces recaptured from the Russians last September.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and a soldier pose for a photo after an awarding ceremony at a position near the Donetsk region of Ukraine on March 22, 2023. AP
In other developments:
— The Russian military fended off a drone attack on the main harbor in the Black Sea fleet headquarters city of Sevastopol early Wednesday, the city’s Moscow-appointed head, Mikhail Razvozhayev, reported.
He said the navy destroyed three aquatic drones, that Russian warships weren’t damaged and that several civilian facilities were damaged when the drones were hit and exploded.
The blasts shattered windows in several buildings near the harbor.
No injuries were reported. Ukrainian officials didn’t claim responsibility for the attack.
—Three people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on a monastery in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Tuesday night.
According to Ukrainian Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak, two of four missiles were shot down.
— Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council that Putin chairs, responded when asked on his messaging app channel whether the threat of a nuclear conflict has eased: “No, it hasn’t decreased, it has grown. Every day when they provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer.”
— Ukraine’s Finance Ministry agreed with the International Monetary Fund on a $15.6 billion loan package aimed at shoring up the country’s economy, which the invasion has crippled.
Ukrainian officials hope the IMF deal will encourage their allies to provide financial support, too.
— U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a House of Representatives committee in Washington that her agency has implemented more 2,500 Russia-related sanctions and “degraded the Kremlin’s ability to replace more than 9,000 pieces of heavy military equipment that it has lost on the battlefield.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to offers a strong political boost for the ongoing war.AP
Beijing has called for a cease-fire, but Washington strongly rejected the idea as the effective ratification of the Kremlin’s battlefield gains.
Xi’s trip to Russia comes after the International Criminal Court on Friday issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges.
The Kremlin, which doesn’t recognize the authority of the ICC, has rejected its move as “legally null and void.”
The Kremlin has welcomed China’s peace plan for Ukraine, as China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy. AP
China’s foreign ministry on Monday called on the ICC to “respect the jurisdictional immunity” of a head of state and “avoid politicization and double standards.”
China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy and as a partner in opposing what both see as American domination of global affairs.
Poland will hand over four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days, making the Eastern European country the first member of the NATO bloc to supply warplanes to Kyiv after months of pleading.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, made the announcement Thursday.
“We can say confidently that we are sending MiGs to Ukraine,” Duda said at a press conference in Warsaw. “We have a dozen or so MiGs that we got in the 90s handed down from the German Democratic Republic and they are functional and play a part in the defense of our airspace.”
“They are at the end of their operational life but are still functional.”
Poland will send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, with the first four aircraft expected to arrive in Kyiv in the coming days. AFP via Getty Images Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, right, has been one of Ukraine’s most loyal supporters since the start of the war. via REUTERS
The president added that the first four planes “in full working order” will be handed to Ukraine in the next few days. Additional aircraft will be delivered after being “serviced and prepared for handover.”
On Tuesday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his government could send its MiGs “within the next four to six weeks.”
Polish leaders previously stressed that sending the fighter jets to Ukraine would be only done within a larger international coalition.
Slovakia has also expressed willingness to supply its MiG-29s to Kyiv, but has stopped short of announcing a decision.
Ukraine’s air force is familiar with the Soviet-designed MiGs and could put them to use right away.AFP via Getty Images
The two nations have been lobbying other NATO members to follow suit.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Thursday that the debate about sending fighter jets was ongoing.
“This is something we’re discussing in the group of allied countries. It’s a big wish from Ukraine,” she said.
Ukraine’s air force pilots are familiar with the Soviet-era MiG-29s and could put them to use right away without having to spend months learning to fly them, which would be the case with other foreign aircraft.
Polish air force reportedly has 28 of the warplanes, which it has been using since 1989. Asked last week how many of the aircraft Warsaw might supply to Kyiv, the head of the president’s office, Pawel Szrot, said it would “certainly” be fewer than 14.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on leading NATO countries, including the US and Great Britain, to send Kyiv modern fighter jets to defend Ukrainian cities from Russia’s deadly missile and drone attacks.
President Biden in January flatly rejected the notion of handing over F-16 planes to Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war in Feb. 2022, the US has provided $27.5 billion in vital military assistance, including equipment and munitions, to Ukraine.
In Bakhmut, there is a growing concern that Ukrainian forces are using ammunition at a pace that is outstripping the allies’ supplies.AFP via Getty Images
But according to reporting by the New York Times, even that might be insufficient given the furious pace at which Kyiv’s forces defending the key city of Bakhmut have been burning through ammunition.
American and European officials have warned Kyiv that firing thousands of artillery shells a day at the enemy was unsustainable and could potentially jeopardize Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive aimed at retaking territories controlled by Moscow’s forces.
Ukraine has decided to defend Bakhmut in the east, but experts are concerned that it could put at risk Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive. AP
The US and Britain are preparing to supply thousands of artillery shells and rockets to replenish Ukraine’s dwindling supplies this spring, and European Union countries are pooling their resources to produce and buy more ammunition.
But an American defense official speaking to the Times on condition of anonymity warned that Ukraine’s NATO allies do not have enough ammo in their stockpiles to meet the continually growing demand, and churning out more will take months and possibly years.
Ukraine’s leadership has made a decision to take a stand and defend Bakhmut, which Moscow’s regular forces and mercenaries from the Wagner Group have been trying to capture for months at an enormous cost in lives on both sides.
The Ukrainian military is now facing a crucial dilemma: to hold Bakhmut at all costs, and in doing so potentially imperil a counteroffensive, or to allow the enemy to seize the strategically important city that could open a path for Vladimir Putin’s troops to make additional territorial gains.
Experts are divided on Bakhmut’s importance, with some arguing that Ukraine’s forces are wearing down Russian reserves in the front line “meat grinder” to buy Kyiv more time ahead of the counteroffensive, and others warning that Ukraine itself could run out of troops and ammunition to continue the fight.
A tank carrying Ukrainian infantry speeds toward a target position marked with a metal sheet. The soldiers climb down, hurl grenades and unleash a crackle of machine-gun fire. Then they repeat the moves, getting faster with every iteration.
It’s only a drill. But with the sounds of the real war rumbling just four miles away, this daily training underscores the high stakes on Ukraine’s northeastern front, where military officials say a much-anticipated Russian offensive has already started, with fighting that could determine the next phase of the conflict.
Time is of the essence here, so speed and cohesion is the goal of the exercises that combine reserve tank and the infantry assault units.
“Synchronization will be important to halt Russian offensives toward Ukrainian defensive lines,” said Col. Petro Skyba, commander of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade.
A Soviet-era Grad multiple rocket launcher at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023.AP
Grueling artillery battles have stepped up in recent weeks in the vicinity of Kupiansk, a strategic town on the eastern edge of Kharkiv province by the banks of the Oskil River. The Russian attacks are part of an intensifying push to capture the entire industrial heartland known as the Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and the Luhansk provinces. It would be a badly needed victory for the Kremlin as the war enters its second year.
Triumph in Kupiansk could decide future lines of attack for both sides: If Russia succeeds in pushing Ukrainian forces west of the river, it would clear the path for a significant offensive farther south where the administrative borders of Luhansk and Donestk meet. If the Ukrainian defense holds up, it could reveal Russian vulnerabilities and enable a counteroffensive.
The Associated Press spoke about the fighting with generals, commanders and soldiers from three brigades in the Kupiansk area, as well as civilians in the town affected by the grinding battles.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade take part in a drill, not far from the frontlines, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023. AP
“The enemy is constantly increasing its efforts, but our troops are also increasing their efforts there, making timely replacements and holding the defense,” said Brig. Gen. Dmytro Krasylnkov, head of the Kharkiv military administration.
Across the towns and villages in the path of the fighting, homes have been razed by constant Russian bombardment, with some residences hit repeatedly. Civilians wait in the cold for food and line up to receive rations of milk and materials to cover shattered windows.
“We don’t have anything to do with this war, so why do we pay the price?” asked Oleksandr Luzhan, whose mother’s house was struck twice.
A priest blesses Ukrainian servicemen during a flag ceremony where some of them were honored for their bravery and accomplishments in battle, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, onFeb. 25, 2023.AP
On the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers put a rocket launcher in the fighting position, aiming the weapons in line with coordinates sent by their commanders. They wait for the final order.
Seconds turn to minutes. Snow falls silently in thick wet clumps by a shriveled sunflower field.
“Fire!” — a salvo of rockets blasts into the sky toward Russian targets, often armored personnel carriers or tanks. To escape any counterattack, the servicemen of the Ukraine army’s 14th Brigade pack up and leave, trundling away in the Soviet-era BM-21 “Grad.”
Along the northeast front, there are no quick wins, said Vitaly, the operation’s gunner, who gave only his first name in line with Ukrainian military protocols. “It’s war — someone retreats, someone advances. Every day there is a change of position.”
Russia ramped up attacks earlier in February after deploying three major divisions to the area. Fighting is focused northeast of Kupiansk, where Kremlin troops have gone on the offensive with marginal territorial gains. Ukrainian fortifications have so far deterred major advances, Ukrainian senior military officials said.
Ukrainian servicemen of the Prince Roman the Great 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade stand around a Soviet-era Grad multiple rocket launcher before firing at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023.AP
For Russia, the Kupiansk operation serves two aims: Dislodging Ukrainian forces from settlements along the provincial borders would enable the capture of Luhansk province. Pushing back Ukrainian troops west of the Oskil River and locking them there would create a new defensive line and prevent deployments to the critical Svatove-Kreminna line further south, where a separate Russian offensive is underway to capture the Donestk region by reclaiming abandoned posts in Lyman. Svatove, which was occupied by Moscow last spring, is 37 miles southeast of Kupianske.
Ukrainian forces are counting on improving coordination between infantry and tank units to deprive Russia of the opportunity to breach Ukrainian lines. Ukrainian forces still control settlements inside Luhansk near the border with Kharkiv.
Artillery and ammunition shortages are a real concern on this front where the landscape is heavily forested, small villages are separated by vast farmland and Ukrainian soldiers come under nine hours of shelling some days. Long-range weapons would contribute to quicker wins in such an environment, Krasylnkov said.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade take part in a drill, not far from the frontlines, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023.AP
Serhii, an infantry soldier with the 92nd Brigade who also used only his first name, said ammunition shortages were derailing his unit’s ability to advance and occupy enemy positions.
“They can make 40 shots in our direction, and we can fire back twice on target,” he said. “They have quantity, but we are more efficient.”
The months to come will be critical, he predicted. The Russians clearly “want to cut us off from the Oskil River. They want to make it so that we push back our troops … and they can occupy the entire territory along the river from Kupiansk to Kreminna.”
“But we won’t allow this,” he said.
Medals sit on a table as Ukrainian servicemen adjust their hats before a flag ceremony where some of them were honored for their bravery and accomplishments in battle, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023. AP
In the debris of a destroyed home where a group of servicemen had been resting was the severed hand of a Ukrainian soldier. Russian reconnaissance drones spotted the soldiers, and on Feb. 17 an S-300 missile split the house in two.
Olena Klymko lives next door. The strike shattered her windows and damaged her roof.
Russian bombardment of Kupiansk, a town with a prewar population of 27,000, has become so frequent that “every time we go to sleep we pray to God we will wake up in the morning,” she said. At times the strikes appear to have clear targets where soldiers pass through. Other times, they are indiscriminate.
The shelling is even more intense in the suburbs of Kupiansk, closer to Russian lines where access to supplies is also limited.
Residents from the border village of Vovchansk drive three hours to a makeshift bridge on the Pechenizhske Reservoir leading to Kharkiv. It is the only way they can retrieve supplies, residents said. They rarely leave their homes, fearful of the intense shelling.
But like many Ukrainians living in similar danger zones along the 620-mile front line, most are unwilling to leave their hometowns for good.
In the village of Zelena, dozens of older residents waited under a bus shelter amid heavy snows for a food truck to arrive.
“Today is a quiet day, thank god,” said Victoria Bromska, wheeling her food parcel back home.
Luzhan picked up wooden boards and other items supplied by a Swiss aid group called Heks/Eper to seal his mother’s house. About a quarter of those who seek the group’s shelter kits in Kupiansk are coming for a second time. The kits increase indoor temperatures in battered homes,
The home targeted in the Feb. 17 attack had belonged to an older woman whose children evacuated her to Kharkiv. Offering Ukrainian servicemen a place to rest is common, Klymko said, despite the risks.
“How can we say no? she asked. “They are out there fighting for us.”
Does President Joe Biden truly want to end the war in Ukraine? He sure isn’t acting like it — judging from his refusal Friday to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets and his team’s new warnings that it might take up to two years to send over a mere 31 M1 Abrams tanks.
“None of the options” for the tanks, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Thursday, involve getting them to Ukraine in “weeks or months,” as the Bidenites promised last month (even then, only after much needless dithering).
Her people are now “exploring” options she “thinks” could take “less than two years.” That’s nuts: In two years, Ukraine might not exist.
Biden then made matters worse the next day, ruling out the F-16s “for now.” How mealy-mouthed.
Ukraine needs both the tanks and the planes now, especially with battlefield action heating up. Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, US factories were turning out an average of 2,000 tanks a month. We can’t get 31 existing tanks to Ukraine in under two years?
And why on Earth would the president be open to sending jets later but not now? And why isn’t he making a clear public case for US support for Ukraine, explaining why it’s plainly in the national interest?
His snail’s-pace, “just trust me” approach only prolongs the war and risks an erosion of US will — though time is not on Ukraine’s (or the West’s) side.
President Biden needs to keep up aid for Ukraine.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
In December, Vladimir Putin began mobilizing Russia’s defense industry to ramp up production for a long conflict. Yet with a far smaller population, Ukraine will have a much harder time than Russia replacing lost soldiers as fighting drags on.
Over time, Russia’s advantage is bound to grow — as will the odds of Putin winning part, if not all, of Ukraine, and strengthening positions from which to continue his aggression and further undermine world order.
The Kremlin needs to be defeated not just quickly but completely: A partial win for Putin only kicks the can down the road and confirms his (and other US enemies’) belief that the West has no staying power.
Putin won’t stand down until he’s convinced he can’t win. What will convince him? Massive, overwhelming aid — tanks, jets and whatever other material Ukraine requests — sent quickly.
Biden plainly fears such support might push Putin to go nuclear. Yet a tactical nuke or two wouldn’t actually turn the war, and anything larger guarantees catastrophic reprisals. (Plus, giving in to nuclear blackmail only guarantees more of it, and not just over Ukraine.)
Biden needs to shift gears: Quit the slow-roll, piecemeal step-ups of aid and give Kyiv what it needs for total victory. Now, not later.
On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden said Friday that he’s ruled out supplying the Ukrainian armed forces with F-16 fighter jets, at least “for now.”
The 80-year-old president made the declaration during an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir, and comes despite repeated calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the multi-role aircraft.
“Look, we’re sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now,” Biden told Muir during the White House interview.
“He needs tanks. He needs artillery. He needs air defense, including another [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System]. There’s things he needs now that we’re sending him to put him in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall,” the president said.
“He doesn’t need F-16s now,” Biden added. “There is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military, now, to provide F-16s.”
Biden’s announcement came at the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. AFP via Getty Images
When Muir prodded further, asking the commander in chief if he wasn’t ruling out sending Ukraine fighter jets in the future, Biden said, “I am ruling it out, for now.”
Most recently, top Ukrainian officials met with Democrats and Republicans from the Senate and House on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, urging them to press Biden on the F-16 issue.
Previously, Biden said he would be sending F-16 jets to Ukraine. AP
“They told us that they want [F-16s] to suppress enemy air defenses so they could get their drones” past the Russian front lines, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told Reuters last Saturday.
The president’s remarks on Friday echo his unequivocal “no” response from last month when asked about sending Ukraine fighter jets to fend off the Russian invasion.
The new package includes aerial drones, ammunition for rocket systems and howitzers, and mine-clearing and communications equipment, the Pentagon said.
Russia tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Monday while President Biden was in Ukraine that appears to have failed, according to a report.
US officials told CNN on Tuesday that Russia used a deconfliction line to notify the US in advance of the missile test, which reportedly did not pose a risk to the country.
According to the officials, the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.
US officials believe the test failed since Russian President Vladimir Putin did not mention it in his State of the Nation address on Tuesday.
According to US officials, Putin’s ICMB test launch was not viewed as an anomaly or an escalation.AP
During his address, Putin announced that Russia will be suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.
US officials notified the Kremlin on Sunday, through the de-confliction line, that Biden, 80, would be making the voyage to the Ukrainian capital ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the former Soviet state, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday.
President Biden traveled to Ukraine via train from Poland on President’s Day and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.via REUTERS
The reported test launch of the missile designed to carry up to 15 nuclear warheads, as well as hypersonic munitions, is Putin’s latest apparent attempt at saber-rattling aimed at the US.
Last week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said that the US military intercepted eight Russian fighter jets near Alaska in two separate incidents.
The ICMB reportedly test-launched by Russia on Monday is nicknamed “Satan II.”TV Zvezda/e2w
The first group of four Russian aircraft — which included a Tupolev TU-95 BEAR-H strategic bomber and SU-30 and SU-35 fighter jets — approached the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on Feb. 13 and were followed by a second quartet a day later, according to NORAD.
In both incidents, NORAD sent US fighter jets and support aircraft to intercept the Russian warplanes.
This question bedevils smaller arguments over Western aid to the brave Ukrainian forces. Bringing it into tighter focus is Vladimir Putin’s decision to pass the winter with ever-more-brutal strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilian targets — such as last Saturday’s murderous missile attack on a Dnipro apartment building, which killed dozens including six children.
Putin’s invasion must fail. Anything else represents a serious blow to US interests in Europe, to NATO’s stability and to the larger world order. Atop all Moscow’s brutality, the war on Ukraine is as much an attack on that order as it is a territorial gambit.
But Washington is mired in a game of escalation that’s lethargic, confused — and reactive. Yes, we’ve sent Ukraine lots of help — including lethal aid — but only after Putin upped his violence first. And even US “escalations” are hesitant. Our meager gift of one Patriot air defense system, for example, carries all the risks President Joe Biden professes to fear, but with minimized benefits: Ukraine needs more Patriots for them to be effective.
We’ve also kiboshed MiG transfers from regional allies, balked at sending tanks and said no to more advanced tactical missile systems that would greatly increase Ukrainian range — all on the theory that helping Ukraine strike inside Russia might prompt Putin to go nuclear.
He and other top Russians keep making that threat, because it works to keep the West from doing more.
Yet it’s plain that more is required to force Putin to end the war. A military defeat, at the moment, looks like the only real path to freedom and security for Ukraine. A negotiated settlement seems off the table, as the Kremlin’s demands remain “let us win.”
Putin’s insane territorial claims would almost certainly exceed anything Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might agree to, while Zelensky and his government want everything back, including Crimea. Even if the West threatens to end its support to blackmail Ukraine into some bad deal, Putin’s record shows he’ll break it at his own convenience.
A mild winter (so far) has aided the Ukrainians’ resistance. And the Russian army’s deep-rooted logistical and personnel issues bode ill for Putin’s rumored coming massive troop callup.
Putin plainly means to outlast his way to victory, betting as much on Western will as any battlefield success. Ukraine and its allies can defeat that approach by holding firm.
But ultimate victory relies on a strategy led by the United States that puts Ukraine on the front foot enough to force Russia to give up the fight.
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