PIVDENNYI PORT, Ukraine — Sailors in blue and orange coveralls milled around on the deck of the freighter Brave Commander on Sunday as a series of chutes and conveyors loaded the ship’s cargo bay with 23,000 metric tons of wheat bound for Africa. The Brave Commander, a Lebanese-flagged freighter, wasContinue Reading
Three ships loaded with grain have been granted permission to leave Ukrainian ports on Friday, days after the first grain-laden vessel left the country since Russia’s invasion under a hard-won deal to free more than 20 million tons of Ukraine’s desperately needed stores. A joint coordination center in Istanbul, createdContinue Reading
ZELENODILSK, Ukraine — Their uniforms are dusty jeans and tank-tops, and they drive tractors, not tanks, along the frontline in Russia’s war in Ukraine. But Ukrainian farmers face many of the same grave dangers as soldiers as they reap this year’s harvest. Across Ukraine, Russian artillery and mines have killedContinue Reading
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — A ship loaded with corn on Monday became the first cargo vessel to sail from Ukraine in more than five months of war, passing through Russia’s naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and raising hopes that desperately needed food will soon reach nations afflicted by shortagesContinue Reading
Good morning. We’re covering a planned counteroffensive by Ukraine and Pope Francis’ apology in Canada. Ukraine to mount a counteroffensive Ukrainian forces are preparing for a high-stakes counteroffensive to retake Kherson, a crucial Russian stronghold in southern Ukraine. Moscow uses the vital port city as a base to launch attacksContinue Reading
ODESA, Ukraine — A string of explosions rocked Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa on Saturday, hitting one of the country’s most important ports less than 24 hours after Russia and Ukraine signed a deal to secure the transit of millions of tons of grain through Black Sea routes. The strikesContinue Reading
Good morning. We’re covering a possible deal on Ukraine’s blocked grain and an interest rate hike in Europe. Ukraine’s grain: Unblocked? Turkey said that Moscow and Kyiv had reached a deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports. The Turkish presidency said the pact would be signed today, but Russia and UkraineContinue Reading
As Russia wages a destructive war in eastern Ukraine, its forces have been busy trying to restore transportation links and other key infrastructure in the vast stretch of land it occupies in the south. Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia’s military, working with Russian Railways, hadContinue Reading
Good morning. We’re covering Russia’s push for a “land bridge” to Crimea, emotional testimony to U.S. lawmakers about gun violence and South Korean parents’ grief years after a ferry disaster. Russia claims it has a “land bridge” Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said its military had repaired about 750 milesContinue Reading
Dolphins burned from bomb or mine explosions. Several thousand suddenly found dead, some washed up on the coasts of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. The sudden and mysterious death of so many of the elegant marine mammals is raising alarm among some scientists that the war in Ukraine may beContinue Reading