©(Anatolii STEPANOV, AFP)
Ukraine remained under Russian missile and drone attacks on Friday February 23, while Washington announced new sanctions against Moscow.
The United States plans to impose sanctions on Friday on more than 500 targets involved in Russia's war in Ukraine, as Moscow claims fresh battlefield advances two years after its invasion.
Ukraine, grappling with hold-ups to much-needed Western military aid, has been pushed back from the front line in recent months.
Already outgunned, Kyiv is rationing ammunition as political wrangling in Washington, Ukraine's biggest ally, stalls a critically needed $60-billion aid package.
Russia has been ramping up arms production for months and driving massive resources into its renewed offensive, exacting an enormous human toll.
"There are no more tears, our country has been going through what has been happening for two years now," Oleksandra Terekhovych said as Ukraine endures another winter at war. "We live with horror inside of us."
The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday the capture of Pobeda ("victory" in Russian), a frontline village about five kilometres (three miles) west of Donetsk city.
Last week, it said that it had seized the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka.
With no end to the war in sight, Ukraine's army is struggling with recruitment as well as depleted resources.
US President Joe Biden voiced "confidence" that Congress will soon push through new war aid, while his administration revealed sanctions to be doled out on Friday.
The US Treasury Department told AFP that the measures would hit "Russia, its enablers, and its war machine."
Since Russian troops poured across the border on February 24, 2022, Washington and its allies imposed a host of sanctions, targeting Moscow's revenue and military-industrial complex.
Earlier on Thursday, the US government marked the looming second anniversary of the invasion with charges against a series of wealthy Russians to help cut the "flow of illegal funds that are fueling" Moscow's war.
And the International Monetary Fund said that it would disburse $880 million to Ukraine in the third phase of a $15.6-billion package announced almost two years to the day since Russian forces invaded.
For more than a year, the front line has barely moved.
Kyiv managed to hold a thin bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, but its forces have not progressed inland.
As Russia claimed advances in the east, Ukraine said that its forces struck a Russian training ground in the south, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro.
Kyiv also carried out a separate strike on a training ground near the Russian-controlled town of Volnovakha in the eastern Donetsk region on Tuesday, resulting in numerous casualties.
Russia did not officially acknowledge that strike, but authorities in one region said that they were looking into reports of casualties among the 36th Motorised Rifle Brigade.
This week, tensions on the border with neighbouring Poland also further threatened Ukraine's war effort.
Polish farmers blocked deliveries as they protest Ukrainian competition and farm imports, prompting warnings from Kyiv.
With AFP
The United States plans to impose sanctions on Friday on more than 500 targets involved in Russia's war in Ukraine, as Moscow claims fresh battlefield advances two years after its invasion.
Ukraine, grappling with hold-ups to much-needed Western military aid, has been pushed back from the front line in recent months.
Already outgunned, Kyiv is rationing ammunition as political wrangling in Washington, Ukraine's biggest ally, stalls a critically needed $60-billion aid package.
Russia has been ramping up arms production for months and driving massive resources into its renewed offensive, exacting an enormous human toll.
"There are no more tears, our country has been going through what has been happening for two years now," Oleksandra Terekhovych said as Ukraine endures another winter at war. "We live with horror inside of us."
The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday the capture of Pobeda ("victory" in Russian), a frontline village about five kilometres (three miles) west of Donetsk city.
Last week, it said that it had seized the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka.
With no end to the war in sight, Ukraine's army is struggling with recruitment as well as depleted resources.
New US Sanctions
US President Joe Biden voiced "confidence" that Congress will soon push through new war aid, while his administration revealed sanctions to be doled out on Friday.
The US Treasury Department told AFP that the measures would hit "Russia, its enablers, and its war machine."
Since Russian troops poured across the border on February 24, 2022, Washington and its allies imposed a host of sanctions, targeting Moscow's revenue and military-industrial complex.
Earlier on Thursday, the US government marked the looming second anniversary of the invasion with charges against a series of wealthy Russians to help cut the "flow of illegal funds that are fueling" Moscow's war.
And the International Monetary Fund said that it would disburse $880 million to Ukraine in the third phase of a $15.6-billion package announced almost two years to the day since Russian forces invaded.
Static Frontline
For more than a year, the front line has barely moved.
Kyiv managed to hold a thin bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, but its forces have not progressed inland.
As Russia claimed advances in the east, Ukraine said that its forces struck a Russian training ground in the south, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro.
Kyiv also carried out a separate strike on a training ground near the Russian-controlled town of Volnovakha in the eastern Donetsk region on Tuesday, resulting in numerous casualties.
Russia did not officially acknowledge that strike, but authorities in one region said that they were looking into reports of casualties among the 36th Motorised Rifle Brigade.
This week, tensions on the border with neighbouring Poland also further threatened Ukraine's war effort.
Polish farmers blocked deliveries as they protest Ukrainian competition and farm imports, prompting warnings from Kyiv.
With AFP
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