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Russia told the West on Friday that it would view as an attack on itself any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, one day after Moscow accused Ukraine of planning an invasion. In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected Moscow's assertion that Ukraine wanted to take over the region, while Moldova reiterated there was no truth to the allegations. The warning comes amid increased concerns in Moldova, a small ex-Soviet republic bordering Ukraine, of a possible Russian threat. Its pro-European President Maia Sandu this month accused Moscow of plotting a coup. On Thursday, Russia accused Kyiv of...

U.S. President Joe Biden promised new military aid for Ukraine worth $500 million during a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, almost a year to the day since Russia's invasion. In a trip showing solidarity with Kyiv, Biden also said additional sanctions would be announced this week against the Russian elite and companies trying to evade sanctions to "back the Russian war machine". The military aid package will include artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air surveillance radars "to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments," he said. "Freedom is priceless. It is worth fighting for as long as it...

The first task is to wipe off or cover up the Z, says Anatoly, 44, of the call sign infamously daubed on Russian hardware involved in the war in Ukraine. “We don’t want friendly fire later on.” Then the mechanics get to work. In a secret location in Ukraine, within a vast warehouse that could be mistaken for a tank graveyard, what was once Russian – Soviet, in many cases – is being turned Ukrainian. (snip) But for all the efforts of the Nato allies, it is Russia that is unwittingly, and yet by some margin, Ukraine’s biggest donor of...

The German and Dutch foreign ministers on Monday condemned the deportation by Russians of thousands of Ukrainian children, calling it a deliberate policy of cruel and inhumane abductions that is tearing families apart. Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine nearly a year ago, Russians have been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories to raise them as their own. At least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area, local authorities say. Their whereabouts are still unknown. Russia claims that these children don’t have parents...

There has been a “substantive” change in the type of weaponry the US and its allies are providing to Ukraine to meet Kyiv’s requests for firepower, two senior US officials tells CNN. The US’s latest aid announcement included more offensive weapons, such as Bradley Fighting Vehicles and advanced long-range rocket systems, reflecting the nature of the battlefield in Eastern Ukraine and a belief that Ukraine sees a window to regain territory before Russia regroups, one of the officials said, describing the new weapons systems as giving the Ukrainians “much more capability.” One US official also noted that Ukraine has abided...