UZHHOROD, Ukraine — This week marks the beginning of the brand new school yr in Ukraine, an important time for all students, especially teenagers of their final yr of highschool. Ukrainian teenagers have more on their minds than simply grades and college selections — they’re grappling with the realities of war.

A schoolboy, still haunted by memories of his hometown within the Luhansk region, which is nearly entirely under Russian control, struggles to adapt to life within the Kyiv region after surviving the Russian occupation. Homesickness stays, a continuing reminder of what he left behind. Two other teenagers agonize over the selection of their future occupation: planning for the long run while having to take care of the each day threat of Russian-guided bombs and missiles of their frontline cities.

Just before school began, the three found a time of rest and healing at a summer camp on the opposite side of the country. The camp for war-affected children was created and arranged by the Voices of Children charity and sponsored by the Olena Zelenska Foundation, the charity of the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

For the three teenagers, it was a rare opportunity to attach with other young people from Ukraine affected by war trauma and to take a much-needed break to regain strength.

“I am confident that I will have a future”

What 16-year-old Oleksandr Hryshchenko liked most concerning the summer camp in Uzhhorod, near the western border with Slovakia, was that “the war didn’t play a role there.”

“You relax, talk about what has been bothering you during the day,” he says. His village of Vorozhba is at the opposite end of the country, lower than ten kilometers from the Russian border, within the northern region of Sumy.

For him, the camp was a rare opportunity to flee the relentless explosions and danger, especially after the Ukrainian military advanced into the Russian region of Kursk, about 50 kilometers away.

“People who are further from the border are still happy about the capture of new villages, but they do not understand, do not feel, do not know what is happening in the border area,” he said. “The Russians have started attacking cities much more aggressively.”

The intensity of the shelling fluctuated throughout the war, but this summer was particularly difficult. Whereas the Russians previously relied on artillery, they now goal Vorozhba with way more fearsome glide bombs, which he describes as “much worse.”

Although Oleksandr has had the chance to work with psychologists within the camp and communicate with other children there, he stays in constant contact along with his family. During a recent attack, his house was rocked by the blast of a bomb, causing a lamp to fall from the ceiling.

His final yr at his hometown school will probably be mostly online. Many people left the village this summer, but Oleksandr said his family has no plans to go away yet.

“We know that if we leave now, there may be nothing left to return to,” he said. His entire family, including his grandparents, still live there, while his father has been serving on the front lines for the reason that first days of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.

“For me, my father is the bravest person in my life,” says Oleksandr. The war has modified him, he says: he was a gentler character, but now he’s more reserved.

The effects of the war are a continuing worry, he said. “You think about it every night before you go to sleep. You think about it all day long, wondering what will happen next.”

Despite all of the turmoil, Oleksandr looks like he’s in command of his destiny. He focuses on his final yr of faculty, prepares for the doorway exams and chooses a university.

“I am confident that Ukraine will have a future, I will have a future and I know that everything will be fine, but we have to get through these times,” he said.

A community of war witnesses

Sixteen-year-old Valerii Soldatenko still has visions of his hometown in Luhansk region, from which he fled on August 29, 2022, after living under Russian occupation for about six months.

“There are moments when I see it almost before my eyes. I see familiar faces, I see these beautiful white hills,” said Valerii. His home village of Bilokurakyne within the north of Luhansk region is occupied by Russian forces.

For him, education was a key think about his decision to go away. In August 2022, just before the beginning of the brand new school yr, he fled since the Russian curriculum had been forced on him.

“I really didn't want to adapt to the Russian education system,” he said. “So it was clear that I was taking the biggest risk and could put my family in the greatest danger.”

His family settled near Kyiv, but Valerii still has trouble settling in. He longs for his friends, the familiar Luhansk countryside and his old house – a constructing fabricated from clay, hay and chalk with a blue facade and white columns.

Among the few belongings he brought with him is a friend's walnut shell, a precious memento as time and distance make it increasingly difficult to communicate.

“Before we left, we hoped to be back home in November or December and celebrate Christmas and New Year with the family,” said Valerii. “But as you can see, I'm sitting here and not in my home village.”

He got here to the camp to return into contact with other “witnesses of the war” and to reflect and understand how his comrades were coping within the front-line areas.

As he prepares for his final yr of highschool, he’s finalizing his college selections, although he continues to be unsure whether to pursue a profession as a journalist or a history teacher.

“I would say (the war) took away my childhood, especially after I escaped,” he said.

“It’s hard being a teenager in war”

Sixteen-year-old Kseniia Kucher dreams of her graduation day, imagining a celebration or a field trip together with her classmates. But with classes within the northeastern city of Kharkiv largely online attributable to Russian strikes, that will not be feasible.

Her family has packed “emergency bags” with vital items and documents, but has no current plans to go away the country.

“It's really hard, especially when the impacts happen at night. You're literally shaken out of bed because the explosions have shaken you,” she said. “And yet it's easier because you're still at home. You're with your loved ones and not in a foreign environment.”

In the camp, lots of of kilometers from Kharkiv, Kseniia found a rare opportunity to chill out. “I even started having some dreams here,” she said.

She particularly appreciated the nightly conversations with like-minded people, through which they exchanged their experiences and made personal contacts.

“I don't have many friends in general. And now they're all gone,” she reflected. When she's at home, she tries to not take into consideration her life before the war, but to deal with the current.

“I live in the here and now and don't make big plans for the future because, given the current situation, I don't know what will happen in a year,” she said.

She lives together with her mother and younger brother while her father serves on the front. Kseniia sees him once every few months.

“Being a teenager during a war is hard,” she says. “You don't fully understand your feelings and everything affects you – from a hurtful word to a hail of rockets. It's hard to live with.”

Originally published: September 2, 2024 at 11:45 am

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia's Kursk region and shelled a second nearby in a spectacular border crossing that began Aug. 6, cutting off supply lines, officials said Sunday.

The attacks on the bridge, apparently geared toward thwarting a Russian counter-advance on Kursk, could mean that Kyiv is trying to achieve a foothold within the region.

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers acknowledged that the destruction of the primary bridge over the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo will hamper supplies to Russian forces repelling the Ukrainian incursion, although Moscow can still deploy pontoons and smaller bridges. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk posted a video on Friday of an airstrike that cut the bridge in half.

Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops stormed a second bridge in Russia, based on Oleshchuk and Russian regional governor Alexei Smirnov.

As of Sunday morning, there was no official information on the precise location of the second bridge attack. However, Russian Telegram channels claimed that a second bridge over the Seim River within the village of Zvannoe had been hit.

According to Russian news site Mash, just one bridge remained intact within the region after the attacks. The Associated Press couldn’t immediately confirm these claims. If confirmed, the Ukrainian attacks would further complicate Moscow's attempts to accumulate its troops in Kursk and evacuate civilians.

Glushkovo is situated about 12 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border and about 16 kilometers northwest of the fundamental battle area in Kursk. Zvannoe is one other 8 kilometers northwest.

Ukraine could attempt to defend the conquered territories

Kiev has given little detail on the scope and purpose of its push into Russia with tanks and other armored vehicles, the most important attack on the country since World War II that took the Kremlin by surprise and left dozens of villages and tons of of prisoners in Ukrainian hands.

Ukrainians have pushed deep into the Kursk region in several directions, encountering little resistance and spreading chaos and panic as tens of 1000’s of civilians fled the realm. Ukraine's commander-in-chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed last week that his troops had advanced across 1,000 square kilometers of the region, even though it has not been possible to independently confirm what exactly Ukrainian forces actually control.

Analysts imagine that Ukraine could attempt to consolidate its power positions in Russia, but given Kyiv's limited resources, this could be dangerous as its own supply lines extending far into Kursk could be in danger.

The incursion demonstrated Ukraine's ability to seize the initiative and boosted its morale, which had been weakened by a failed counteroffensive last summer and months of arduous Russian gains within the eastern Donbass region.

The invasion of Kursk was much like Ukraine's September 2022 lightning operation led by Syrsky, through which Ukrainian forces took advantage of an absence of Russian manpower and field fortifications to regain control of the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Zelenskyj asks for permission to penetrate deeper into Russia

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Kyiv's allies to lift remaining restrictions on the usage of Western weapons to attack targets deeper inside Russia, including Kursk, saying his troops could deprive Moscow of “any opportunity to advance and cause destruction” in the event that they were granted sufficient long-range capabilities.

“It is crucial that our partners remove barriers that prevent us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war requires. … The courage of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of essential decisions by our partners,” Zelensky said in a post on the social platform X.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and pro-Kremlin bloggers have claimed that American HIMARS missile launchers were used to destroy bridges on the Seim River. These claims haven’t been independently verified.

Ukraine's leadership has repeatedly requested authorization for long-range strikes on Russian air bases and other infrastructure to bomb Ukrainian energy facilities and other civilian targets, including upgraded Soviet-era “glide bombs” which have devastated Ukraine's industrial east in recent months.

Moscow also appears to have stepped up its attacks on Kyiv. On Sunday, town was attacked with ballistic missiles for the third time this month, based on the pinnacle of town's military administration. Serhii Popko said in a Telegram post that the “almost identical” attacks on the capital in August “most likely” used KN-23 missiles supplied by North Korea.

At around 7 a.m., one other attempted attack on Kiev followed, this time with Iskander cruise missiles, Popko said. Ukrainian air defenses shot down all missiles in each attacks on town, he said.

Fears in regards to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are increasing

In a separate development, the pinnacle of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Saturday that the safety situation on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was deteriorating following reports of a drone attack nearby.

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for “maximum restraint on all sides” after an IAEA team stationed at the facility plant reported that a drone-borne explosive device had detonated just outside the protected area.

According to Grossi's statement, the impact occurred “near the main water sprinkler pools” and about 100 meters from the one power line that supplies the plant. The IAEA team on the plant reported intense military activity in the realm last week, it said.

Ukraine has repeatedly claimed that Russia is planning an attack and blamed Ukrainian forces for it. Last summer, Zelensky warned of possible explosive devices that he said Moscow may need placed on the roof of the facility plant in an try to blackmail Ukraine.

---

politics

SOMEWHERE IN UKRAINE (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled Ukraine's newly arrived F-16 fighter jets on Sunday, saying the planes would boost the country's war effort against Russia.

“These jets are in our skies and today you see them,” said Zelensky, standing in front of two of the fighter jets as two others flew overhead in close formation. “It's good that they are here and that we can use them.”

Ukraine can also be trying to steer its neighbouring countries to assist defend against Russian missiles, said Zelensky.

“This decision is probably difficult for our partners, as they always fear unnecessary escalation,” the Ukrainian president said. “We will work on it… I think we have a good option for a NATO-Ukraine Council… so that NATO countries can talk to Ukraine about the possibility of a small coalition of neighboring countries that would shoot down enemy missiles.”

Two F-16 jets covered in camouflage nets and bearing the Ukrainian trident insignia on the tail provided a dramatic backdrop for Zelensky's address on Air Force Day, an event held at an undisclosed location under tight security to guard the fighter jets from Russian attacks.

“Since the beginning of this war, we have been talking with our partners about the need to protect our Ukrainian skies from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft,” Zelensky said. “Now we have a new reality in our skies. The F-16s are in Ukraine. We made it possible. I am proud of our guys who have mastered these aircraft and have already started using them for our country. … Our fighter jets will bring us closer to victory.”

A senior Ukrainian military official said Ukraine may deploy among the F-16 fighter jets at foreign bases to guard them from Russian attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could consider attacks on facilities in NATO countries if the fighter jets utilized in Ukraine are based there.

Made within the USA, the F-16 is an iconic fighter jet that has been the frontline combat aircraft of selection for NATO and various air forces around the globe for 50 years.

Although the F-16s are latest to Ukraine, they are literally older fighter jets donated by Ukraine's Western allies. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have pledged to deliver greater than 60 of those machines to Ukraine in the approaching months, but deliveries could also be slow. Zelensky didn’t say what number of F-16s have arrived in Ukraine or which countries they got here from.

US President Joe Biden gave the green light for the stationing of used F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine in August 2023. However, the US is not going to supply its own aircraft.

The F-16s will boost Ukraine's military strength, especially by improving its air defenses, but analysts say they alone is not going to turn the tide of the war.

Russia is making small but regular battlefield gains within the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, and its regular advance is intensifying as Ukraine steadily loses ground.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine has temporarily disabled U.S.-supplied Abrams M1A1 essential battle tanks in its fight against Russia, partially because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate undetected or be attacked, two said U.S. military officials The Associated Press.

The U.S. agreed to send 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after Kiev waged a months-long aggressive campaign arguing that the tanks, which cost about $10 million apiece, were detrimental to the country's capability Breaking through the Russian lines was crucial.

But the battlefield has modified significantly since then, particularly with the ever present use of Russian surveillance drones and hunter-killer drones. These weapons have made it tougher for Ukraine to guard the tanks in the event that they are quickly spotted and hunted by Russian drones or missiles.

Five of the 31 tanks have already been lost to Russian attacks.

The proliferation of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield means there’s “no open terrain that you can just drive over without fear of detection,” a senior defense official told reporters on Thursday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to offer an update on U.S. arms support to Ukraine ahead of Friday's Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

The tanks have been faraway from the front line for now and the U.S. will work with the Ukrainians to reshape their tactics, said Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady and a 3rd defense official, who discussed the move on condition of anonymity confirmed.

“If you think about how combat has evolved, mass armor can be compromised in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous,” Grady said in an interview with the AP this week, adding that tanks are still vital be.

“Now there’s a way to do it,” he said. “We will work with our Ukrainian partners and other partners on the ground to help them think about how they might use this in the changed environment where everything is now immediately visible.”

News of the disabled tanks comes because the U.S. marks the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries that meets monthly to evaluate Ukraine's battlefield needs and Find out where to seek out needed ammunition, weapons or maintenance to produce Ukraine's troops are equipped.

The latest aid packages, including the $1 billion military aid package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, also reflect a broader reboot of Ukrainian forces within the evolving fight.

The U.S. is predicted to announce on Friday that it is going to also provide about $6 billion in long-term military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said, adding that this might also include coveted ammunition for the Patriot air defense systems will include. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to debate details which have not yet been released.

The $1 billion package emphasized anti-drone capabilities, including .50-caliber bullets specifically modified to counter drone systems; additional air defense and ammunition; and quite a lot of alternative and inexpensive vehicles, including Humvees, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicles.

The U.S. also confirmed for the primary time that it’s deploying long-range ballistic missiles, so-called ATACMs, that can allow Ukraine to penetrate deep into Russian-occupied territory without having to advance and be much more exposed to either drone detection or reinforced Russian defenses.

While drones posed a major threat, the Ukrainians also didn’t employ tactics that would have made the tanks more practical, one in all the U.S. defense officials said.

After the United States announced in January 2023 that it could deliver the Abrams tanks to Ukraine, it began training Ukrainians in the upkeep and operation of the tanks on the Grafenwoehr Army Base in Germany within the spring. They also taught the Ukrainians the right way to use them in combined arms warfare – where the tanks operate as a part of a system of advancing armored forces, coordinating movements with offensive fire overhead, infantry troops and air force units.

As the spring progressed and Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive stalled, the transition from tank training in Germany to deploying Abrams on the battlefield was seen as imperative to breaking through the fortified Russian lines. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on his Telegram channel in September that the Abrams had arrived in Ukraine.

Since then, nevertheless, Ukraine has used them only on a limited basis and has not made combined arms warfare an element of its operations, the defense official said.

Several tanks were lost to Russian attacks in the course of the recent withdrawal from Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine that has been the main focus of intense fighting for months, the official said.

An extended congressional delay in passing latest funding for Ukraine meant that Ukraine's armed forces needed to ration their ammunition and, in some cases, could fire back just once for each five or more times they were attacked by Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were significantly outnumbered and were fighting Russian glide bombs and hunter-killer drones with the ammunition they’d left.

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian and Western leaders were welcomed on Sunday an urgently needed aid package The bill was passed by the US House of Representatives because the Kremlin warned that passing the law would “further ruin” Ukraine and cause more deaths.

Ukrainian leaders and analysts say the long-awaited $61 billion military aid package – including $13.8 billion for Ukraine's arms purchases – will help bolster Russia's gradual progress within the war's third yr decelerate – but that Kiev will probably need much more to resume the offensive.

The House of Representatives immediately agreed $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans united against renewed American support for defense after months of far-right opposition Russia's full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had warned that his country would lose the war without U.S. funding, said he was grateful for U.S. lawmakers' decision.

Speaking on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Zelensky said the help package would “send a strong signal to the Kremlin that (Ukraine) will not be the second Afghanistan.”

Zelensky told NBC that aid “must end in concrete weapons systems” and stressed that Ukraine would prioritize long-range weapons and air defense. This, he said, would allow Ukraine to “break Russia’s plans” in an expected “large-scale offensive” that Ukrainian forces are preparing for.

The aid package goes to the US Senate, which could pass it as early as Tuesday. US President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

It could still be weeks before it reaches the front lines, where it’s urgently needed.

Responding to an issue concerning the deadlines during which Ukraine will proceed to wish such aid packages, the Ukrainian president responded to previous delays within the promised support. “It depends on when we actually have weapons on the ground,” Zelenskyy told NBC.

“We made the decision to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine a year ago,” he said. “A year has passed. We still don’t have any jets in Ukraine.”

“With this we can stop (the Russian troops) and reduce our losses,” said infantryman Oleksandr. He fought for Avdiivka, the town within the Donetsk region of Ukraine lost to Russia in February after months of intense fighting.

Ammunition shortages linked to the help backlog over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration grenades, a drawback that Russia exploited this yr by capturing the town of Avdiivka and is currently slowly moving toward the town of Khasiv Yar, also in Donetsk , moved towards.

“The Russians are coming at us in waves, we are exhausted and have to leave our positions. “This repeats itself many times,” Oleksandr told The Associated Press. For security reasons, he didn’t give his full name. “If we don’t have enough ammunition, we won’t be able to cover the area that is our responsibility to hold if they attack us.”

Many in Kiev welcomed the U.S. vote nearly as good news after a difficult period during which Russia made progress on the front lines and stepped up attacks on Ukraine's energy system and other infrastructure.

“I heard our president officially say that without this help we can lose the war. Thank you very much and yesterday was a great event,” said Kateryna Ruda, 43.

Tatyana Ryavchenuk, the wife of a Ukrainian soldier, pointed to the necessity for more weapons and complained that the soldiers “have nothing to protect us.”

“They need weapons, they need equipment, they need them. We always need help. Because without help, our enemy can advance further and be in the center of our city,” said the 26-year-old.

Other Western leaders who’ve struggled to search out ways to fill the gap left by stalled U.S. military aid also praised the help package.

“Ukraine is using weapons provided by NATO allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. “This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America,” wrote NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on X.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Ukraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia.”

Her statement was confirmed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who described it as “a strong signal in these times.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked House Speaker Mike Johnson while citing the delay in Congress. “Better late than too late. And I hope it’s not too late for Ukraine,” he wrote on X.

In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Saturday described the approval of aid to Ukraine as “expected and predictable.”

The decision “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and lead to the deaths of even more Ukrainians attributable to the Kiev regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

“The new aid package will not save, but on the contrary will kill thousands and thousands more people, prolong the conflict and bring even more grief and devastation,” Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, wrote on Telegram.

The Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said the logistics of getting US aid to the front lines would mean “Ukrainian forces could face further setbacks in the coming weeks as they wait for US security assistance, which will allow Ukraine to stabilize the situation.” Front page.”

“But they will likely be able to blunt the current Russian offensive, provided that resumed U.S. aid arrives promptly,” it said in its latest assessment of the conflict.

Olexiy Haran, a professor of comparative politics on the Mohlya Academy of Kyiv National University, said Ukraine is grateful for help from the United States and other Western countries, “but the issue is, frankly, it is just too late and never enough. “

“This is the third year of the war and we still have no aviation, no new aviation. We don't have enough rockets, so we can't close the sky. Besides, we haven’t even had artillery shells recently,” he said.

“That's why the situation was very, very difficult and the Russians took advantage of that to launch their counteroffensive, or offensive. That's why it's so important to us. And if we had received it six months earlier, we would definitely have saved the lives of many Ukrainians, including civilians.”

Matthew Savill, director of military science on the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said that while the assistance was welcome, it was “likely to only help stabilize Ukraine's situation for this year and with preparations for operations in 2025.” to begin.”

“Funding predictability through 2024 and 2025 will help Ukrainians plan for defense this yr, especially if European munitions shipments also arrive, but further planning and funding will probably be required for 2025, and by then we could have a U.S. election before.” he said.

Locally, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Bohdanivka within the Donetsk region. Ukrainian officials haven’t yet commented on the announcement.

According to the prosecutor's office within the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk, one person was killed and 4 other people were injured in Russian shelling in Ukrainsk.

Two suspects were arrested on Sunday after two Ukrainian soldiers killed a police officer at a checkpoint in Ukraine's Vinnytsia region.

The soldiers opened fire on 20-year-old Maksym Zaretskyi within the early hours of Saturday morning after he stopped their automotive for a routine inspection. Zaretskyi's partner was injured but survived the attack.

Ukrainian National Police chief Ivan Vyhovsky said on Sunday that the suspects – a father and son aged 52 and 26 – were arrested in Ukraine's Odessa region.

---

Elise Morton reported from London. Vasilisa Stepanenko and Jill Lawless contributed to this report from Kyiv.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine