His family is in besieged Mariupol, and he hasn't heard from them in more than two weeks.
Photo: A pensioner sweeping in Odesa, near a barricade...
And other scenes in Odesa, which in normal times would be a bustling tourism hotspot
NPR visited military positions in the southern part of Ukraine in the last 24 hours...
...Will share the details in the next couple hours, but standby, I need to run to an interview...
This is the south of Ukraine, along the Black Sea.
It in this region that Ukrainian officials say that they are prepared for the Russian military if they try an amphibious landing
If the Russian military were to do an amphibious landing near Odesa, this is one of the places they might do it
We observed armored vehicles, mined beaches, and entrenched fighting positions meant to fight off any potential Russian amphibious landing in southwestern Ukraine.
We also observed the sign posts that Ukrainians have taken down and replaced with new messages.
This one tells the Russians where they can go… I’ll let you do the translation yourself.
Scenes across southern Ukraine: wind turbines near the Black Sea, a tower with the a Ukrainian flag, if you look closely
Two weeks ago, and 30km away, a downed Russian pilot was captured in this region… and handed over to the Ukrainian authorities, the UKR military says.
There’s a similarity between the badges I see on Ukrainian kit, and those I've seen in the United States, where ‘Molon Labe’ is very popular
Along the way we met another Eugene, who said that he got this suppressor for his rifle eight years ago when the war broke out, and that it's nearly impossible to find that sort of thing for sale now:
Here I am trying to do a stand-up on an armored vehicle that Ukrainian marines use, when they started it up suddenly
Today’s dog of war is Louie, who accosted me as I was trying to get some reporting done
Neither Louie nor Gilza seem to understand the meaning of "I'm on deadline!"
Senior U.S. defense official: Russian forces have shown almost no signs of advancing over past week.
Artillery shelling, air missions, naval shelling in the Black Sea all up, though no momentum and no imminent landing around Odesa
Senior U.S. defense official, cont.:
Russian mil are continuing to have logistics issues, said the official, and a significant # of their precision-guided weapons are failing to launch/not exploding on impact.
But Russia still has close to 90% of their combat power available.
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Scoop: Trump’s special envoy for Russia Steve Witkoff has a serious conflict of interest: business dealings with a man sanctioned by Ukraine as a threat to its national security.
Len Blavatnik is a longtime business partner of Witkoff’s, and made his money in post-Soviet Russia.
Steve Witkoff, appointed as Trump’s special envoy, has repeatedly shown not just an affinity for Moscow but has openly stated that he “spent a lot of time talking and developing a friendship and relationship” with Putin — a dictator responsible for the deaths of Ukrainians.
After a meeting with Putin, he told Trump that the fastest way to a ceasefire would be to give four Ukrainian territories to Russia, Reuters reported – views that drew direct condemnation from Ukraine’s president this week.
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
Tomorrow Germany will vote. Will it stand by Ukraine or give power to the pro-Russian far right?
Kirill, a Ukrainian in Hungary, warns voters about ‘Orbanization’ of Germany.
Kiril Demchenko has lived in Hungary for four years, so he knows how a country changes when its authorities flirt with the Kremlin, as Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban has done.
Kiril says after the start of the full-scale invasion, Hungarians began to treat Ukrainians badly, especially older people who see Russia as an ally, not an aggressor.
Trump’s suspension of U.S. foreign aid has left numerous Ukraine-based humanitarian projects w/o funding.
USAID is supporting veterans groups, local media, critical infrastructure among other vital areas.
Russian intelligence contact relatives of Ukrainian POWs immediately after capture, trying to manipulate them into sending money or sensitive information.
They also promise prisoner exchanges or better treatment for their POW relatives while in captivity.
EU may ban selling video game consoles to Russia, as Russia is using them to operate attack drones.
Following Western sanctions, Russia's military has been known to use non-military tech for military purposes, like refrigerator parts which are used in missiles and drones.
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
War doesn’t stop, even on Christmas Eve. Nastia and I spent the night at a medical stabilization point near the frontline, where medics were working around the clock to save Ukrainian soldiers.
We had barely started eating Kutya – the sweet Ukrainian Christmas dish you’re obliged to eat first, and with a spoon – when the first call came in for an emergency evacuation.
At the forward headquarters of MOAS, an NGO dedicated to spiriting critical patients away from the frontlines, Christmas Eve dinner was marked with a couple hearty toasts and camaraderie.