Author: TheGuardian

Vladimir Putin’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine aimed at toppling the Kyiv government, based on the preposterous claim that it is run by “neo-Nazis,” has produced Europe’s worst war in a generation, and it has taken a terrible toll on civilians. The Russian armed forces have hit hospitals, apartment buildings, a shopping center and a theater that was serving as a shelter. The immense suffering has been made worse by sieges, above all the one around Mariupol, large parts of which have also been reduced to rubble. The war has also forced millions from their homes. The UN high commissioner...

Breaking News: Milwaukee’s sister city of Irpin was just declared liberated from Russian forces on March 28. According to Irpin’s Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, civilians were not yet allowed to return to the city, which is located just northwest of Kyiv. There remains a high risk of further attacks by Russia. Every few minutes, an ambulance or an unmarked white van arrives at a dusty courtyard on the western outskirts of Kyiv and an elderly, frail person is helped at times by stretcher from the back. These are some of the last residents of Irpin, a commuter town a few...

The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in. We had been documenting the siege of Mariupol by Russian troops for more than two weeks and were the only international journalists left in the city. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage. Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: “Where are the journalists, for f*ck’s sake?” I looked at their armbands, blue for Ukraine, and tried to calculate the odds that they were Russians...

Since Kherson became the first Ukrainian city to be captured during Russia’s invasion, its population of more than 280,000 has been living under brutal occupation. Two female journalists, whose identities are being protected, have been documenting the struggles they see in the port city as brave residents endure and resist against the humanitarian disaster unfolding around them. Monday 28 February There are huge queues for bread. Flour and yeast have disappeared from stores. I bake four loaves, mixing all the flour in the house – corn, rye – because there is not enough wheat. Then I take bread to...