donbas

Soldiers spend time swimming in the pool during the course.

A rehab center revives traumatized Ukrainian troops before their return to battle

5:01am March 30, 2023

Built largely with Western donations, the spa-like retreat provides soldiers with counseling, aromatherapy and more. But most soldiers are there for no more than a week.

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China's leader Xi Jinping claps as he listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin via a video link, from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 2, 2019. Xi will meet Putin this week on a visit to Moscow.

Latest on Ukraine: Xi Jinping visits Moscow to meet Putin (March 20)

9:36am March 20, 2023

by NPR Staff

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Max, 33, a Ukrainian sniper, poses in the backyard of the reconnaissance team's safe house in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. He's holding a "trophy" — an antitank missile taken off Russian soldiers.

In the Donbas, Russia's vast numbers of troops weigh heavily on Ukraine's defenders

5:01am March 02, 2023

by Frank Langfitt

Russia and Ukraine are believed to have suffered equally horrific losses in the war. But when it comes to troop strength, the math is on Russia's side. Its population is four times Ukraine's.

Black smoke rises after shelling in Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, on Feb. 3, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Latest on Ukraine: EU just banned Russian diesel and other oil products (Feb. 6)

3:14pm February 06, 2023

by NPR Staff

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Aleksander Dokalenko at a shelter for displaced people in Sinelnikovo, Ukraine, in June 2022.

World News

The Ukraine war isn't new. These intimate photos show 3 families enduring it for years

5:00am December 16, 2022

A photographer and writer follow Ukrainian families whose lives have been upended by conflict since 2014. Their stories show an enduring will to live, even as war rages on around them.

World News

Latest on Ukraine: A weekly recap and look ahead at Russia's war (Dec. 12)

11:46am December 12, 2022

by NPR Staff

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A boy rides a bicycle near an armored tank with a Ukrainian flag in the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian armed forces, in the Kharkiv region on Monday. Russian troops occupied Izium on April 1.

World News

Russia makes moves to annex separatist regions in Ukraine

5:26pm September 20, 2022

by Charles Maynes

Leaders of four separatist and partially Russian-occupied regions said they would hold referendums on whether to formally join Russia, starting as soon as Friday.

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A soldier who goes by the call sign Petrovich holds a string of beads while he sits outside a coffee shop in Slovyansk.

World News

Along the front lines in Ukraine, cut off from resources, a resilient city holds on

7:10am August 31, 2022

As a stalemate sets in on Ukraine's eastern front line, a city lives in limbo with constant shelling, limited fuel and spotty utilities. The government ordered evacuations but some residents remain.

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Firefighters work to extinguish an apartment building and cars burning after shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on Monday.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (June 13)

5:33pm June 13, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Black smoke and soot rise from the city of Sievierodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, during a battle between Russian and Ukrainian troops on Thursday. Ukraine's leader has called it the epicenter of the fight for the Donbas region.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (June 9)

4:53pm June 09, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.