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    Shelling Kills 6 in Eastern Ukraine

    The rest of the country, though, was largely spared from another consecutive night of large-scale Russian bombardment.Bombing eased across Ukraine after two nights of deadly barrages, but strikes near the front line killed six people and Russian troops pressed ahead in the east, closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk.President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has called Moscow’s far-reaching bombing campaign this week one of the largest since the war began 30 months ago. Several people in the capital, Kyiv, said on Wednesday that they were pleased to have been given a respite after air-raid sirens and explosions shattered the pre-dawn calm on Monday and Tuesday.The eastern region of Donetsk, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting this year, came under fire. A Russian attack killed four members of a family in the tiny community of Izmailivka, the state prosecutor’s office said on Facebook. The settlement is a few miles west of Russian lines and in the path of Moscow’s assault on Pokrovsk, a small city that is a vital transport hub for Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region.“The people died buried under the rubble,” the statement said. The regional military administration said that two other people were killed in another attack on a Ukrainian-held settlement close to the city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured more than a year ago after some of the most brutal combat since the full-scale invasion began.The Donetsk region is one of two that make up the Donbas, and Russian forces have been pummeling it with daily barrages of missiles, drones and artillery fire. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has made controlling the whole of the Donbas a major aim.The Ukrainian authorities have for months pressed civilians to evacuate as Russian forces advanced. But many people have stayed for reasons of poverty, ill health or attachment to their homes and farms.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Zelensky Independence Day Speech Praises Ukraine’s Russia Offensive

    Although the cross-border offensive carries risks, it has been a rare recent battlefield success for Ukrainian troops and caught Moscow flat-footed.President Volodymyr Zelensky, always adept at messaging, used his latest Independence Day speech on Saturday to drive home the idea that Ukraine is taking the fight to Russia, even as his troops struggle along the front line at home.He said the video of the speech was filmed near the site where his troops began a cross-border offensive into Russian territory nearly three weeks ago that caught Moscow by surprise. It was prerecorded from what he described as a location along the Psel River, an area frequently targeted by Russian artillery.“Whoever wished misery upon our land shall find it in their own home,” Mr. Zelensky said of the incursion, which has pushed into the Kursk region of southwestern Russia.He called his military’s operation — which has come after two and a half years of Russia’s all-out, and brutal, invasion of Ukraine — a “boomerang for evil.”The celebration on Saturday marks 33 years since Ukraine declared its independence from a crumbling Soviet Union.Earlier in the war, Ukraine marked Independence Day by parading burned Russian armored vehicles along Kyiv’s central thoroughfare, Khreshchatyk Avenue, using the holiday to boost morale.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Ukraine Attacks Bridges in Russia’s Kursk Region, Aiming to Encircle Troops

    The attacks look to destroy or damage crossings over a river in the Kursk region that are Russian forces’ only routes for resupply or retreat, military analysts say.Russian troops defending a pocket of territory wedged between a river and the border with Ukraine were at risk of becoming encircled, military analysts said Monday, after Ukraine bombed bridges that are the only routes for resupply or retreat.In their counterattack into Russia, which has been underway now for nearly two weeks, Ukrainian troops quickly broke through thinly manned border defenses, fanned out on highways and captured towns and villages, initially pushing deeper into Russian territory.The bombing of bridges, in contrast, takes aim at land between the Seym River, the border and an area inside Russia already controlled by Ukraine, with the potential to entrap the Russian forces positioned there. Three bridges span this stretch of river, all now destroyed or damaged, according to statements released by the Ukrainian Air Force and to social media posts by Russian officials and military commentators. More

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    During Ukraine’s Incursion, Russian Conscripts Recount Surrendering in Droves

    They were lanky and fresh-faced, and the battle they lost had been their first.Packed into Ukrainian prison cells, dozens of captured Russian conscripts lay on cots or sat on wooden benches, wearing flip-flops and, in one instance, watching cartoons on a television provided by the warden.In interviews, they recalled abandoning their positions or surrendering as they found themselves facing well-equipped, battle-hardened Ukrainian forces streaming across their border.“We ran into a birch grove and hid,” said Pvt. Vasily, whose small border fort was overrun on Aug. 6 — at the outset of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that was the first significant foreign attack on the country since World War II. The New York Times is identifying the prisoners by only their first names and ranks for their safety if they are returned to Russia in a prisoner exchange.The fighting marked a significant shift in the war, with Ukrainian armored columns rumbling into Russia two and a half years after Russia had launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine.Russia’s border, it turned out, was defended thinly, largely by young conscripted soldiers who in interviews described surrendering or abandoning their positions. Private Vasily said he had survived by lying in the birch forest near the Russian border for three days, covered in branches and leaves, before deciding to surrender.“I never thought it would happen,” he said of the Ukrainian attack.The Russian military command had, by all signs, made the same assumption, manning its border defenses with green conscripts, some drafted only months earlier. Their defeat and descriptions of surrendering in large numbers could increase Ukraine’s leverage in possible settlement talks and lead to prisoner exchanges.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Ukraine Has Received F-16 Fighter Jets, Zelensky Says

    President Volodymyr Zelensky did not say whether the jets had already flown combat missions. A shortage of trained pilots and a limited number of jets will constrain their immediate impact.President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Sunday that his army had received a first batch of F-16 fighter jets. The long-awaited arrival of the Western-supplied jets should bolster the country’s defenses, although Kyiv appears to have received too few of them so far to have an immediate impact on the battlefield.“F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it,” Mr. Zelensky said in a video posted on social media networks showing him at an air base addressing and meeting Ukrainian pilots. He was standing in front of two F-16s, and two more flew overhead as he spoke.At the very least, the arrival of the jets will boost Ukrainians’ morale, which has been dampened by months of slow but steady Russian advances on the battlefield and devastating attacks on the country’s power grid.Mr. Zelensky said Ukrainian pilots “have already started using them for our country,” but he did not say whether they had already flown combat missions in Ukraine. Nor did he say how many jets had arrived in the country.Ukraine hopes the F-16s, highly versatile aircraft equipped with advanced radar systems and a variety of weapons, will help turn the tide on the battlefield, where Russia has held the upper hand for much of the past year.The presence of the jets will pose a new threat to Russian pilots and help deter them from entering Ukrainian airspace to attack troops on the front line and in cities. The F-16s are also expected to improve Ukraine’s ability to shoot down Russian missiles, easing the pressure on its weakened air defense systems.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump and Zelensky Speak by Phone as Ukraine Worries About U.S. Backing

    Former President Donald J. Trump and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke over the phone late this week amid mounting concern in Kyiv that a second Trump administration would spell the end of American support in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.Ukrainian officials worry that if a re-elected Mr. Trump kept to his vow to end the war quickly — he has suggested that he could end it in one day — it would allow Russia to keep the territory it occupies and leave it in a position to attack Ukraine again.In a social media post about the call, which took place on Friday, Mr. Trump said that, as president he would “bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives.” He said both Russia and Ukraine “will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence.”Mr. Zelensky said in a statement on Friday that he had underlined in the call “the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence.” He said he and Mr. Trump had agreed “to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”It was the first call between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump since the former American president left office in 2020. Although the Ukrainian authorities have tried to remain neutral in the U.S. presidential campaign, officials have started building bridges with Mr. Trump’s camp, hoping to shape his views on Ukraine.Oleksandr Kraiev, the head of the North America Program at Ukrainian Prism, a Kyiv-based think tank, said Ukrainian diplomats had been working on strategies to persuade Mr. Trump to continue supporting Ukraine, mindful that he can be unpredictable in foreign policy. The Republican Party’s platform does not include the word Ukraine, referring only to a broad goal of restoring “peace in Europe.”Mr. Kraiev said that Kyiv could frame its objectives as in being in line with two of Mr. Trump’s top interests: his image as a strong leader and his defense of the American economy.“We can connect with Trump on these two specific topics,” Mr. Kraiev said. More

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    Pushing Quick End to Ukraine War, Orban Plays Trump’s Messenger to E.U.

    Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has been on a self-appointed diplomatic mission that aligns with Donald J. Trump’s preferences in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.After meeting with Donald J. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home on Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary wrote to a top E.U. official to say that Mr. Trump had told him he was planning a swift push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.Mr. Trump’s view, the letter explained, was that the war had to end, and that he had specific plans to broker this outcome quickly, even before being inaugurated, if he were elected.While it was not possible to independently verify Mr. Orban’s account, the positions laid out in the letter, obtained by The New York Times, largely track with Mr. Trump’s long-held views on Ukraine. It did not offer details about how Mr. Trump would end the intractable war, now in its third year, other than to indicate that he would reduce American financial support for Ukraine.Mr. Orban is closely aligned with Mr. Trump and is the fiercest critic-from-within of the European Union’s staunch backing of Ukraine.Mr. Orban Goes to FloridaMr. Orban was in Washington to attend the NATO summit and took time out to see Mr. Trump in Florida. The meeting capped a frantic two weeks of self-appointed diplomacy by Mr. Orban after his country took on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1.Mr. Orban has used the largely secretarial role to bounce around the world. He visited President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow; President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine; and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing. He then met with Mr. Trump, who during his campaign has sat down with a series of foreign officials aligned with his views.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Biden dice ‘vicepresidente Trump’ refiriéndose a Kamala Harris

    El mismo día en el que presentó al presidente ucraniano Volodímir Zelenski como “presidente Putin”, Biden cometió otro desliz.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El presidente Joe Biden se refirió a la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris como “vicepresidente Trump”, cometiendo un desliz en su respuesta a la primera pregunta que se le planteó en una esperada conferencia de prensa durante una cumbre de líderes de la OTAN.Un reportero de Reuters le preguntó a Biden si le preocupaba la capacidad de Harris para derrotar al expresidente Donald Trump si él decidiera abandonar la contienda, algo que Biden ha dicho enfáticamente que no hará, a pesar de la presión de muchos dentro de su partido.“Miren, no habría elegido al vicepresidente Trump para la vicepresidencia si no creyera que está cualificado para la presidencia”, dijo.Biden cometió otro desliz al presentar al presidente de Ucrania, Volodímir Zelenski, como “presidente Putin” después de una reunión de líderes de la OTAN en Washington.“Quiero ceder la palabra al presidente de Ucrania, quien tiene tanto coraje como determinación”, dijo Biden desde el podio con Zelenski a su lado. “Señoras y señores: el presidente Putin”.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More