INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kyiv said Thursday its forces were gaining ground in Donbas, as Moscow claimed it had killed two generals in a missile strike earlier this
was advancing around Bakhmut and fighting "fierce" battles as part of its counteroffensive launched after weeks of anticipation earlier this
operations in Ukraine.On Tuesday night, a Russian strike destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, popular with soldiers,
journalists and aid workers.Ukraine said Thursday that the death toll of the strike had risen to 12, including three children, and that 65
east, the Ukrainian army said it had made advances near Bakhmut
forces announced their capture of Bakhmut in mid-May after months of grueling warfare and Ukraine has since been posting painstaking gains
around the flanks of the city.Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Kyiv was "gnawing away at every meter of the enemy's land in this
fierce battle."But Ukraine also showed frustration towards its Western allies Thursday, demanding clarity from NATO on its stance on Kyiv's
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.The latest Ukrainian call to join NATO came after Putin's more than two-decade rule
its Ukraine campaign and that Putin had not been weakened.The Kremlin said that footage, which could not be verified, apparently showing
ordinary Russians, especially since the Covid pandemic, which saw him observe strict isolation rules
Some of those restrictions are still in place.'Support and happiness'Moscow late on Wednesday released footage of Putin walking up to a
has insisted that Putin has not been weakened by the rebellion.Vatican envoy in MoscowAs fighting raged in eastern Ukraine, the Vatican's
peace envoy was in Moscow, three weeks after talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.Cardinal Matteo Zuppi met Moscow's ombudswoman
for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who is wanted by the International Court of Human Rights for the illegal transfer of Ukrainian
said that Zuppi could help by arranging for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and the return of thousands of Ukrainian children
Zuppi's visit was to "encourage gestures of humanity, which can help promote a solution to the current tragic situation and find ways to
