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Some 400 calls for help went unanswered when the helpline at Ukraine’s Veteran Hub went silent for a week after key funding from the United States was abruptly cut last month. The Ukrainian NGO gets all sorts of calls. Some come from military families who have just found out their loved one was killed on the frontline. Some are from injured veterans who are struggling to cope with their return to civilian life or need help navigating the bureaucracy.

Dima never puts out a cigarette until he smokes it right down to the filter, risking burning his fingers to squeeze out one more drag. He spent years on the Ukrainian front lines. He knows the price of a good smoke. As a battalion commander, Dima was in charge of around 800 men who fought in some of the fiercest, bloodiest battles of the war – most recently near Pokrovsk, the strategic eastern town that is now on the brink of falling to Russia. But with most of his troops now dead or severely injured, Dima decided he’d had enough....

A top Ukrainian pilot was killed when a US-made F-16 fighter jet crashed on Monday, a Ukrainian Defence Forces source told CNN. The Ukrainian Defence Forces do not believe pilot error was behind the incident, the source added. The pilot, Oleksiy Mes known as “Moonfish,” was killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack” by Russia against Ukraine, said the source, adding that the pilot was buried on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a big promise when he launched his war on Ukraine: conscripts would not be involved in combat. But as Moscow struggles to contain Ukrainian advances deeper into its territory, families of young soldiers deployed in the area are raising the alarm about their loved ones. Messages shared in Russian Telegram channels and other social media over the past few days have revealed how unprepared Moscow was for this kind of attack, including the fact that its military had left poorly trained conscripts in charge of defending the border with Ukraine – the country Russia has...

Ukrainian forces are pushing further into the Kursk region of Russia, in a cross-border incursion that surprised even American officials, multiple US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN. Ukrainian forces are comprised of a mix of Ukrainian regular and special operations units, unlike previous Ukrainian operations inside Russia that often involved undercover units and local sympathizers. The intention, say US and Ukrainian officials, is multifaceted, in part to disrupt and demoralize Russian forces and in part to divert Russian forces away from other parts of the eastern front. Russia claimed on Thursday to have halted a Ukrainian incursion into its territory,...

“Millions” could die in Ukraine’s war with Russia if US lawmakers don’t approve President Joe Biden’s $60 billion aid request for Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Sunday. Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about a claim made by the US Senator J.D. Vance that the outcome of the war would not change even if Ukraine receives the money, Zelensky said he wasn’t sure Vance “understands what is going on here.” “To understand it is to come to the front line to see what’s going on, to speak with the people, then to go to civilians to understand …...

(CNN)The world's oceans are now heating at the same rate as if five Hiroshima atomic bombs were dropped into the water every second, scientists have said. A new study released on Monday showed that 2019 was yet another year of record-setting ocean warming, with water temperatures reaching the highest temperature ever recorded.

Iran is using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium, President Hasan Rouhani confirmed today. The move marks another breach of the 2015 nuclear agreement which lifted economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for strict limits on the country's nuclear program. In 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- a move which Iran says nullified its own obligations. Trump has since reinstated sanctions on Iran. Iran has already taken steps that are in breach of the landmark deal. It started increasing uranium enrichment beyond the purity threshold it...

MacKenzie Bezos has promised to give at least half of her fortune to charity, just months after finalizing her divorce from the world's richest man. The newly minted billionaire has signed the Giving Pledge, which encourages the world's richest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills. The initiative was launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010 and has so far attracted the support of 204 individuals and families. MacKenzie Bezos became one of the richest people in the world following her divorce from Amazon...