City Kramatorsk Financial News

Western aid to Ukraine is a "scheme for laundering money", the leader of Russia's Chechen Republic said on Sunday. 

Ukrainian soldiers holding the front line in the war-battered east of the country, the prospect of a 30-day ceasefire with Russia brought little relief — only distrust and suspicion. Senior Ukrainian and US officials walked away from high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia late Tuesday agreeing to present Russia with a proposal to halt more than three years of fighting for several weeks. But in eastern Ukraine, there was little hope that even if Moscow agreed to a pause, the Kremlin would make good on promises to stop fighting. A 44-year-old serviceman with the call sign «Malchik» («Boy») said Russia would claim to adhere to a ceasefire and then find ways to keep attacking. «They'll say in public that there's no fighting and no shelling. But this scum has always harassed us and it will continue to,» he told AFP in the frontline city of Kramatorsk.

Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had secured "combat control" of areas where Russian troops staged an incursion this month in northern parts of Kharkiv region.

CHASIV YAR, Ukraine—The explosion lit up the night sky, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air. Another huge blast followed a few seconds later, then a third. The booms carried for miles across the fields east of Chasiv Yar, and a few moments later, a jet ripped through the sky.

Kramatorsk, a front-line city in Ukraine's Donetsk region, a group of individuals gathers in a basement three times a week. Their purpose? To find respite from the relentless shelling that reverberates through their lives, courtesy of Russian artillery.

Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war The 13:38 express from Kyiv pulls into Kramatorsk, welcomed by a sea of flowers and outstretched arms. Of the passengers who aren’t soldiers on their way to nearby Bakhmut, almost all on board are the wives and girlfriends of those already fighting. Viktoria, 27, and Karolina, 29, have travelled to see their men Alexander, 32, and Vladimir, 33, who are waiting for them on the platform.

Russia's war in Ukraine as the fighting passed the 500-day mark with no end to the conflict in sight. More than 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, have been killed since Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion, the UN's Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said in a statement on Friday, though UN representatives have previously said the real count is likely to be much higher.

There was no respite in Ukraine over the weekend, as some artillery exchanges continued in eastern Ukraine. That's despite Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for a ceasefire to mark the Orthodox celebration of Christmas. 

Artillery fire could be heard from the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after the official start of a unilateral ceasefire declared by Moscow and rejected by Kyiv.

Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in eastern regions on Thursday as Kyiv tried to push back occupying forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to visit Washington DC on Wednesday in his first known trip outside the country since Russia's full-scale invasion in late February.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on Tuesday visited Bakhmut, which has been at the epicentre of fierce fighting in recent weeks. 

Ukraine has retaken dozens of Russian-occupied localities in the south, east and northeast of the country, the military announced on Thursday. 

Toretsk is on the frontline of Ukraine's war with Russia, yet all around you can see cyclists pedalling around the streets, going about their daily business as if defying the surrounding danger. 

Russian shelling pounded a densely populated area in Ukraine’s second-largest city Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 21 with a barrage that struck a mosque, a medical facility and a shopping area, according to officials and witnesses at the scene.

Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang has said that North Korean labour could be sent to repair Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine.

Ukraine expects a fresh assault by Russian ground forces, following widespread shelling which killed more than 30 people, as Kyiv's Western allies brace for a worsening of the global energy crisis if Russia cuts its supply of oil and gas.

At least six people have been killed and more than 30 are feared trapped after Russian rockets hit a five-storey apartment block in Ukraine's Donetsk region, collapsing the building, the region's governor said.

Ukrainian forces are today concentrating on defending Donetsk province in the eastern Donbas after Russia claimed to have taken control of neighbouring Luhansk.

Ukrainian forces are today concentrating on defending Donetsk province in the eastern Donbas after Russia claimed to have taken control of neighbouring Luhansk.

1. Russian forces pound last Ukrainian stronghold in key city