The Washington Post

Ukrainian incursion in Kursk struggles as Russians retake territory

KYIV — As President Volodymyr Zelensky toured Europe and the United States to pitch his “victory plan” for how to end the war with Russia, Ukrainian forces suffered new setbacks on the battlefield — including, analysts say, ceding up to half of the territory Kyiv claimed during its cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk region this summer.

The surprise incursion into Russia had been hailed as a success by Ukrainian officials because it led to the capture of hundreds of Russian troops who could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners. But recent Russian counterattacks in Kursk have cast doubt on how long Kyiv will be able to continue holding the territory.

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Putin relishes role on stage, but Ukraine war looms over BRICS summit

With the hosting of the annual BRICS summit fortuitously falling on Russia’s shoulders this year, President Vladimir Putin has been handed an opportunity to flaunt his nation’s standing on the world stage, despite Western efforts to ostracize him since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The three-day summit is the largest geopolitical event in Russia since the war and saw the first formal talks between the estranged leaders of China and India in five years, as well as discussions on alternative global financial systems — but there was little focus on the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest ongoing crises.

Leaders and delegations from 36 nations descended on Kazan, one of Russia’s largest and most affluent cities, to discuss their grievances about widely perceived Western hypocrisy over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the dysfunction of the global institutions created since World War II.

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U.S., allies finalize $50 billion Ukraine loan backed by Russian assets

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko held a signing ceremony Wednesday advancing plans to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in loans, breaking a months-long logjam and providing Kyiv with cash it urgently needs before the end of the year.

The plan relies on the interest accruing on roughly $280 billion in Russian central bank assets kept in Western accounts but frozen since the start of the war in 2022. That interest, estimated at several billion dollars each year, would go to repay the loans over time. The United States will lend $20 billion before the end of this year, and European and other Western allies are expected to provide more than $30 billion.

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Zelensky sees NATO momentum on Ukraine joining, but not yet from U.S.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky projected careful confidence over the Western reception to his proposed “victory plan,” including his hopes for an eventual invitation to join NATO, but said that decision will ultimately depend on the U.S. position, which probably won’t be announced until after November’s presidential election.

Ukraine has framed the invitation to join NATO as a key security guarantee for both Ukraine and Europe — and one of the only ways to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from continuing his violent campaign to annex the country.

“Today, we see the consensus of the majority of the allied countries and the restrained position of a few countries,” he said in a conversation with journalists on Monday. “We will work with it.”

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South Korea says at least 1,500 North Korean special forces in Russia

South Korea’s spy agency reported Friday that at least 1,500 North Korean Special Forces are training in far eastern Russia, and it showed satellite photos tracking their movements. Ukrainian officials have accused North Korea of preparing to send as many as 10,000 troops to fight on Russia’s side against Ukrainian forces, a move that could significantly exacerbate tensions between Pyongyang and the West.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it had first tracked a top Pyongyang missile development official visiting Russian front lines in August with dozens of other North Korean officers. They were providing “on-site guidance” to Russian forces using North Korean weapons, the agency said.

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Trump says Ukraine’s Zelensky should ‘never have let that war start’

Former president Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for allowing the war in Ukraine to start, even though Russia was the aggressor, during an interview with a podcaster that was published Thursday.

“I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in we give him $100 billion,” Trump said in the interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David. “Who else got that kind of money in history? There’s never been. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. That war is a loser.”

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Zelensky brings Victory Plan to Brussels, but NATO invite still elusive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky journeyed to Brussels on Thursday to drum up more support for his Victory Plan, but an invitation to join the Western military NATO alliance, a key part of it, appears elusive.

Zelensky has presented the plan in his parliament, describing the first step as an immediate and unconditional invitation to join NATO, a suggestion sure to incense the Kremlin. But NATO officials said they did not expect an invitation to Ukraine anytime soon, especially with the United States absorbed by the last weeks of the presidential race and many European leaders watching to see how the imminent election could change the transatlantic relationship.

Zelensky has visited the United States and toured European capitals in recent weeks to seek their backing, but the visits have drawn limited public comments of support and made little apparent progress.

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Zelensky reveals Victory Plan, calls for NATO membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a broad description of his five-point Victory Plan to Ukraine’s lawmakers on Wednesday, describing the first step as an immediate and unconditional NATO invitation and the last an offer to replace U.S. troops in Europe with Ukrainian units after the war — suggestions sure to incense the Kremlin.

The second point in the plan, Zelensky said, is a permanent strengthening of Ukraine’s security through guarantees from partners that their weapons can be used for strikes inside of Russia and that Ukraine’s neighbors will conduct joint air defense operations to protect Ukraine’s skies. It will also allow for continued operations inside sovereign Russian territory to ensure buffer zones that protect Ukraine, he said.

The third is a nonnuclear deterrence plan, and the fourth guarantees economic security and protection of Ukrainian natural resources.

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Meet Ukraine’s top fighting unit — at least that’s what their ad says

The machine-gunner gripped his weapon — body taut, eyes focused, finger on the trigger.

Atop the hood of his Humvee, a model in cutoff shorts and cherry-red stilettos leaned back on her elbows, bare legs dripping with bubbles. The soldier took aim with his weapon — a power-washer.

Cameras flashed.

This was no battlefield, but the front lines of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade’s next advertising campaign — a modern take on World War II-style pinup girls, complete with scantily-clad models gripping pistols and straddling soldiers. The brigade hopes this campaign will attract recruits, which are increasingly in short supply as the war with Russia drags toward its third year.

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Ukraine boosting its defense industries, with a little help from friends

A recent decision by the European Union to contribute some $440 million to Ukraine’s resurgent arms industry marks a significant shift in the bloc’s approach to Russia’s war against its neighbor, but also highlights the E.U. defense sector’s shortcomings in producing weapons and ammunition.

The E.U. contribution will use money taken from the windfall profits of Russian assets that have been frozen in the West. The funding comes on top of some $190 million that the Danish government is providing.

While Europe, and of course the United States, have been sending billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to help Ukraine in its battle against much larger Russia, their national defense industries — long oriented toward an international scene with fewer conflicts — have struggled to keep up with Ukrainian demand.

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Zelensky takes his ‘Victory Plan’ to Europe after Biden cancels trip

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his “Victory Plan” to end the war with Russia were dealt a significant blow this week by an unexpected foe — Hurricane Milton.

A meeting of Kyiv’s allies, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, scheduled for this weekend at Ramstein Air Base in Germany was postponed after President Joe Biden canceled his travel plans to stay in the United States as the Category 3 storm made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night. It’s unclear when summit will now take place and whether the same senior delegations, including Biden, will attend.

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For a second day, Ukrainian hackers hit Russian institutions

Russia suffered major digital outages for a second day Tuesday after hackers targeted Russia’s court information system, taking down court websites and claiming to have wiped court documents and decisions in the system’s database.

The hackers, who called themselves the “BO Team,” posted a message with an obscenity declaring that the attack was made to mark President Vladimir Putin’s 72nd birthday Monday, the same day a massive attack on Russia’s online state media channels occurred.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the country’s state television and media company VGTRK suffered an “an unprecedented hacker attack on its digital infrastructure.”

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Russia sentences U.S. citizen to nearly 7 years for fighting for Ukraine

A Russian court on Monday sentenced 72-year-old American Stephen Hubbard to six years and 10 months in prison after being accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, Russian state media reported.

Hubbard pleaded guilty to charges in a hearing a week ago, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Hubbard allegedly served in a territorial defense unit in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum before Russian soldiers captured him in April 2022, a few weeks after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. It’s not clear how he was transferred to Russia.

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Ukraine left in security limbo with Zelensky U.S. trip results unclear

KYIV — More than a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” for how to end the war with Russia to top U.S. officials, details of the strategy and how it was received remain hazy, and Kyiv is scrambling for additional international support just a month before the U.S. election.

Zelensky’s administration has so far kept the points of the victory plan, which was shared with President Joe Biden and other top officials, a secret, but it likely hinges on either accelerated NATO membership or binding security guarantees from the Ukraine’s Western partners.

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Years after his capture in Mariupol, his family received only his broken body

The day Oleksandr Ishchenko’s body returned to Ukraine, police warned the soldier’s family not to look.

The scene inside the morgue was gruesome: Ishchenko’s remains spent days in transit from the prison in Russia where he died. Russian medics hadn’t sewn him back up after performing an autopsy. His body was in decay, and a Ukrainian doctor concluded his ribs had been broken by blunt force trauma before his death.

Ishchenko’s mysterious death in Russian captivity in July represents the greatest worry of the many Ukrainian families who have little to no contact with their loved ones in Russian prisons and fear each day that they are being mistreated or may die. More than 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war have died in Russian custody, Ukrainian authorities say, and more than 2,000 have been tortured. The United Nations has expressed concerns over widespread torture in Russian prisons.

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Putin signs law giving criminal defendants immunity if they join the army

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday approved a new law that will exempt Russian defendants and suspects who have signed up to fight in the army from criminal liability.

The bill was introduced by the Russian Supreme Court this summer and passed by Russia’s parliament after three readings and will save defendants from facing trial and from criminal prosecution.

Previously, only Russians who had been convicted or were under investigation had the option to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry and join the “Special Military Operation,” the Kremlin’s euphemism for its war against Ukraine. This new bill is intended to close the gap in the chain so anyone facing criminal charges at any stage can sign a contract and avoid prison.

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