Volodymyr Zelensky

Battle for Kherson: how partisans are fighting back

At their base in no-man’s land outside the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, volunteers with the Kherson Brigade hone their shooting skills on a target of Vladimir Putin. Dozens of bullet holes pepper the Russian leader’s face — one they’d much rather practise on in person.

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Henry Kissinger explores Machiavellian motives and how great leaders play the long game

Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy Henry Kissinger Allen Lane, €30.99

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Russia is branded ‘biggest threat to Western security’ at Nato summit

Nato yesterday branded Russia the biggest “direct threat” to Western security after its invasion of Ukraine and agreed plans to modernise Kyiv’s beleaguered armed forces, saying it stood fully behind Ukrainians’ “heroic defence of their country”.

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Billionaire Richard Branson visits bombed Ukrainian airport in hope of replacing cargo plane

Richard Branson visited a bombed airport outside Kyiv yesterday for discussions about rebuilding the site – which once hosted the world’s largest cargo plane.

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Russian officials in Ireland deny its air force’s deliberate attack on Ukrainian shopping centre

Officials from the Russian embassy in Ireland have denied yesterday’s devastating airstrike on a Ukrainian shopping centre.

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‘Appalling’ attack kills at least 10 as Russian strike destroys shopping centre crowded with civilians

A Russian missile destroyed a crowded shopping mall in central Ukraine yesterday, continuing Vladimir Putin’s attacks on civilians living far behind the front line.

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Zelensky asks for big push to end war before the winter

Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western leaders to make a big push to end the war with Russia before the winter sets in.

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Hellish battles as Russia nears ‘tactical victory’ with two key cities in its sights

Russia has taken several villages in the last few days, raising fears that its forces will soon be in a position to seize the strategically important cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. The Russian advances have led to “hellish battles” in the area, the governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said.

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EU backs Ukraine membership bid to ‘live with us in the European dream’

The European Union gave its blessing yesterday for Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova to become candidates to join the bloc, reaching out deep into the former Soviet Union for what would be a major geopolitical shift following Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

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Richard Curran Opinion We have diced with debt before – a fresh set of challenges must now be confronted

The ghost of crises past presented itself in news headlines on Wednesday. The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to hold an “unscheduled” meeting at short notice. For “unscheduled”, read “emergency”.

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John Downing Opinion As Ukraine takes a step closer to EU membership, we are reminded of Europe’s core ideals

To the cynics, what follows could be stuck in an era of competitive gesture politics as embattled Ukraine burns. But in these difficult times it is too easy to be cynical when what we need are remedies.

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Russia urges surrender as battleground city is cut off

Russia yesterday called on Ukrainian soldiers in Severodonetsk to surrender after it blew up the last bridge into the city, trapping all those left behind in one of the bloodiest battlegrounds of the war.

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Editorial Opinion Ukraine’s hard road to join the European family

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is an enthusiastic supporter of embattled Ukraine’s membership of the European Union. Later this week we will learn more about how realistic such membership ambitions are – especially in a time of war.

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Zelensky hails troops holding back Russian advance into eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said no-one knows how long the war in his country will last but his forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks.

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‘Putin could still win war’ – Latvia warns West

The West must adopt a “war-footing” and arm Ukraine properly to defeat Russia, Latvia said yesterday as Ukrainian officials warned Vladimir Putin’s army could still win his war.

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Evacuation ‘impossible’ for 10,000 civilians trapped in Severodonetsk

Around 10,000 civilians remain stuck in the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk – and evacuations are “impossible” for most because of the intensity of Russian attacks, Oleksandr Stryuk, the city’s mayor, said on Thursday.

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Ukrainian resistance fighters strike blow at Russian leaders by bombing cafe in occupied city

Ukrainian civilians living under Russian occupation in the south-eastern city of Kherson have blown up a cafe close to the puppet government’s headquarters, in what appears to be the first resistance terror attack in occupied territories.

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Ukraine’s vastly outgunned soldiers ‘now deserting front line’ as Russians advance

Ukrainian forces are outgunned 20 to one in artillery and 40 to one in ammunition by Russian counterparts, according to intelligence that paints a bleak picture of the situation on the front line.

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US warns African countries they are being sold stolen Ukrainian grain

The United States has warned drought-stricken African nations that Russia is attempting to sell them stolen grain, presenting them with a choice between not feeding their populations and endorsing war crimes in Ukraine.

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Love on the front line

Stas Krasnov and Oxana Krasnova are doing their morning chores. They share a giggle together at the expense of the TV camera crew filming their routine. The young couple were criminal lawyers in Kyiv before the war. The morning chores — cleaning their automatic weapons.

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100 speeches in 100 days of war: Zelensky rallies Ukraine

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells it, when Russia invaded 100 days ago, no one expected his country to survive. World leaders advised him to flee.

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US and Germany bow to Zelensky by agreeing to supply Ukraine most advanced weapons systems yet

The US and Germany have both pledged to equip Ukraine with the advanced weapons it has long craved for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery, as Russian forces closed in on capturing a key city in the east.

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Meet the Ukrainians now working in Ireland: ‘I never wanted to be a refugee’

Work has been a “great distraction” from the reality of war at home, says one Ukrainian woman who started working just days after she arrived in Ireland.

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Editorial Opinion Voices of reason must prevail to end bloodshed

When you are out of sync with the whole world, it is usually a good indication that you are wrong – something that has yet to dawn on Russian president Vladimir Putin.

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The bloody battle is never-ending for exhausted medics on front line of the war in Ukraine

Field ambulances disgorge their passengers in order. First come the walking wounded: cigarettes hanging from grey lips, faces vacant, camouflage stained dark red.

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Violence must never supplant resolve for peace

The global trauma of World War I sowed the seeds for the League of Nations. It was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace, and it was founded on January 10, 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference. However, the deluded hope that ‘the war to end all wars’ had put such horrors behind us was vaporised by World War II.

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Russian tank commander given life sentence in Ukraine over killing unarmed civilian

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

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Dáil and Seanad chairmen visit aftermath of Bucha horror

Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl has met Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine to thank him for his address to the Dáil last month.

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Ukraine rejects ceasefire and refuses to concede any territory

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow as Russia stepped up its attacks in the east and south, pounding the Donbas and Mykolaiv regions with air strikes and artillery fire.

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Moscow now sending in ‘Terminator’ tanks for big Donbas push

Russia is believed to have deployed “Terminator” tanks to a critical eastern city as Moscow attempts to make a breakthrough in its Donbas offensive.