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Soldiers drive a "Marder" infantry fighting vehicle of the German armed forces Bundeswehr during the informative educational practice "Land Operation Exercise 2017" at the military training area in Munster, northern Germany.

Afp Contributor | Afp | Getty Images

Ukraine's relations with Germany have soured this week, with Kyiv asking why Berlin reneged on its promise to provide heavy weaponry.

Tensions over Germany's provision of Leopard tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine or lack thereof came to a head this week when Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, publicly asked why Berlin was backtracking on a pledge made to send these weapons to Ukraine.

"Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now to liberate people and save them from genocide," Kuleba said on Twitter, adding that there was "not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses."

"What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?" he added.

The Marder is a German infantry fighting vehicle designed to be used alongside Leopard battle tanks in combat.

Kuleba's comments came as Ukraine launches counterattacks against Russian forces in both the south and northeast of the country. Ukraine's counterattack in the northeast Kharkiv region was hailed as a particular success, with Russian forces withdrawing from towns and villages across the region, almost completely deoccupying it.

A new Leopard 2 A7V heavy battle tank Bundeswehr's 9th Panzer Training Brigade stands during a visit by German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht to the Bundeswehr Army training grounds on February 07, 2022 in Munster, Germany.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Ukraine is largely reliant on Western weapons systems to fight Russian forces. And its allies in the West, NATO members essentially, have individually sent Ukraine a vast range of military hardware.

In April, Germany promised to give Leopard tanks and Marders to Ukraine. Rather than deliver them directly, it proposed a swap scheme. The intention was that NATO members, Poland or Slovakia for example, could send Ukraine older Soviet-era tanks (such as Leopard 1s), and Germany would then replenish their stocks with its own more modern equivalent weapons (such as Leopard 2s).

Germany justified the proposal to send older weapons by saying that Ukraine's forces were used to Soviet-era weapons, and that it should only supply weapons they know how to use.

The only problem with the plan is that this exchange of weapons has largely failed to materialize and Germany is now facing a backlash from critics, both within Germany and externally and not least of all, from a disappointed Ukraine.

One of the arguments is that they are afraid of further escalation but that's an invalid argument because it's like, an escalation to what? It's bad enough as it is.

Yuri Sak

Ukrainian defense ministry official

Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, told CNBC on Wednesday that Kyiv doesn't understand Berlin's reluctance to send it weapons that could prove decisive on the battlefield.

"It's difficult to read their minds, but Germany's words, during the last seven months on a number of occasions, have not been matched by their actions. And this is disappointing because there was a moment in time when they made this commitment that they would provide Ukraine with these tanks, it was a moment of hope and promise that we looked forward to," he noted.

"If they're afraid of some nuclear strikes or some other attacks on the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which could result in major tragedy, it's another story but as far as the situation on the battlefield is concerned, we don't understand the logic behind it. It could be some internal political games as well," he noted.

Ukraine's need for more weapons comes as the war enters what could be a definitive phase in which the balance shifts in Kyiv's favor.

Russia was seen to have been taken by surprise by Ukraine's latest counterattacks, having redeployed some of its most effective fighting units to southern Ukraine after Kyiv signaled over the summer it would launch a counteroffensive to retake Kherson.

After what seemed like a brief period of stunned silence as it took in Ukraine's rapid victories and advances in the northeast, Russian forces have begun their response to those wins, launching an intense series of attacks on energy infrastructure in the northeast, as well as missile strikes on the south.

All the while, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Ukraine's international allies to continue sending weapons, saying this is when it needs them most to maintain the momentum.

And it's weapons like Germany's Leopard tanks, and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, that Ukraine says could change the balance of the war definitively.

Among Ukraine's NATO allies, Germany the self-professed "leader of Europe" has attracted criticism and even ridicule for its military assistance to Ukraine. Just before Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, Germany's offer to send thousands of helmets to Ukraine was met with derision.

Analysts say that criticism is not entirely deserved, however, noting that after the U.S. and U.K., Germany has been one of the biggest donors of weapons to Ukraine.

Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans run a Dutch open-source intelligence defense analysis website and keep a tally of weapons Germany has delivered to Ukraine.

They note on their site that, to date, these deliveries include a number of Gepard SPAAGs (self-propelled anti-aircraft guns), man-portable air defense systems (known as MANPADS, they'reportable surface-to-air missiles), howitzers, and anti-tank weapons, as well as hundreds of vehicles and millions of rounds of ammunition. The German government has also published a list of the military equipment it has sent to Ukraine, right down to 125 pairs of binoculars it has donated.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz observes damages as he visits with French President Emmanuel Macron, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 16, 2022.

Viacheslav Ratynskyi | Reuters

But when it comes to German tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, Germany has ostensibly dragged its feet, with no decision on the supply of such hardware, let alone deliveries, made despite Ukraine's specific requests from Kuleba and other officials since March. Analysts say Germany's good intentions have just not come to fruition.

"Germany has ... attempted to entice other countries to send their heavy weaponry to Ukraine in a programme known as 'Ringtausch' ('exchange'). Under this policy, countries can receive German armament free of charge in exchange for delivering tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from own stocks to Ukraine," Mitzer and Oliemans noted in an article in early September.

"Although a promising scheme at first, the 'Ringtausch' programme has largely failed to live up to expectations as most countries expect to have their Soviet-era systems replaced by larger numbers of modern weapon systems than what Berlin is currently able (or willing) to offer," they noted.

Pressure has been mounting on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to make a decision on sending such weapons to Ukraine, but there appears to be reluctance at the top to take that decision. On Monday, Germany's defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, said sending more heavy weaponry to Ukraine was "not so simple."

"It's not so simple just to say: I'll just risk that we won't be able to act, the defense of the country, by giving everything away. No, I won't do that," she said. "But we have other possibilities, from industry, with our partners,"Deutsche Welle reported.

CNBC contacted the German Defense Ministry for more comment, and a response to Kuleba's comments, and is yet to receive a response.

Scholz defended Germany's record over weapons deliveries on Wednesday, however, telling reporters that "it can be said that the very weapons that Germany has now provided to Ukraine are decisive to the development of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and they have also made the difference" in battle.

Germany's reticence over certain arms deliveries has prompted some critics to look for ulterior motives for its reluctance, with some even suggesting that Germany does not like the idea of German tanks facing Russian tanks on the battlefield, as they did in World War II.

"We have no alternative. It is about our independence, about our future, about the fate of the entire Ukrainian people," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (pictured here on June 16).

Ludovic Marin | Reuters

Rafael Loss, a defense expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC Wednesday that the German government has put forward various explanations for not sending the weapons.

"The German government itself has put forward explanations for why not to do so, essentially, since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine and even before that. We've heard concerns about the potential for escalation, that Russia might see the transfer of such weapons as some kind of red line."

"We see concerns, mostly from the SPD (Scholz's Social Democratic Party) about the images that German Leopard tanks might produce going toe to toe with Russian tanks in Ukraine. And we've also heard in the past arguments about the tight timeline as a reason for sending the Soviet-produced materiel first. I think that that is a legitimate argument. But it only holds up so long," he said.

"At some point, Ukraine and the countries that will be able to support Ukraine with these types of systems will run out of them, and you can't replace them as easily. So at some point, you need to start thinking about Western supply chains that are based on Western western systems."

Loss characterized Germany's stance toward Ukraine as one of "immense" resistance to sending weapons unilaterally, and that it would prefer some kind of European coalition that jointly sends arms and assistance.

"Over the past six or four months, we've seen an immense reluctance both from the Chancellery and from the Defense Ministry to be proactive, to take the initiative and they've always referred to 'not going it alone,'" Loss said, adding that Germany appeared to want the U.S. to take the lead and for Berlin to follow.

While the pressure is mounting on Berlin to act, Germany's stance is unlikely to change anytime soon, or potentially at all, according to Anna-Carina Hamker, a Europe researcher at political risk analysis firm Eurasia Group. She said in a note Wednesday that Scholz's government a coalition of his Social Democratic Party, Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, uncomfortable bedfellows at the best of times would likely continue to struggle over its Ukraine policy.

"Major adjustments to the government's Ukraine policy are unlikely and the coalition will not significantly step up arms deliveries, despite Ukraine's territorial gains over the last few days," she said in a note.

As such, Ukraine has been left fuming and disappointed by Germany's stance, leaving Kyiv to question Berlin's commitment to supporting it as the war continues into the fall and likely the winter, unless there is a dramatic change of course from the Kremlin.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry official Yuri Sak summed up Kyiv's frustrations toward Germany, noting that "one of the arguments is that they are afraid of further escalation but that's an invalid argument because it's like, an escalation to what? It's bad enough as it is."

Excerpt from:
Germany promised Ukraine weapons but hasn't delivered. Now, anger toward Berlin is rising - CNBC

The major city of Kryvyi Rih struggled to contain damage to its water system from Russian missile attacks. The largest city in central Ukraine, with an estimated pre-war population of 650,000, was targeted by eight cruise missiles on Wednesday, officials said. The missile strikes hit the Karachunov reservoir dam. The water pumping station was destroyed. The river broke through the dam and overflowed its banks. Residential buildings are just a few meters away from the river, Ukrainian legislator Inna Sovsun said.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Krivyi Rih military administration, said in a post on Telegram that 112 homes were flooded but that works to repair the dam on the Inhulets river were under way, and that flooding was receding. He added that water levels had dropped considerably and that there were no casualties.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines foreign minister, called the attack on the Kryvyi Rih hydraulic structures a war crime and an act of terror. Beaten by Ukrainian army on the battlefield, Russian cowards are now at war with our critical infrastructure and civilians, Kuleba said. Russia is a terrorist state and must be recognised as such.

Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was involved in a traffic accident in Kyiv last night, but he is not seriously hurt, his spokesperson said in a Facebook post early on Thursday. Serhii Nykyforov, who did not say when the accident occurred, said Zelenskiys car had collided with a private vehicle. The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found, he said, adding the accident would be investigated. Medics accompanying Zelenskiy gave the driver of the private car emergency aid and put him in an ambulance, he said.

In his nightly televised address, video of which was posted shortly after the accident, Zelenskiy said he had just returned from the area around Kharkiv, adding that almost the entire region is de-occupied after a lightning counteroffensive to dislodge Russian troops. It was an unprecedented movement of our soldiers the Ukrainians once again managed to do what many thought was impossible, he said. After visiting the liberated city of Izium, Zelenskiy said Ukraines troops had recaptured around 8,000 sq km (3,100 square miles) of territory.

Kirill Stremousov, one of the Russian-imposed leaders of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, has claimed that about 120 Ukrainian soldiers were killed while trying to enter Kherson region in the south of Ukraine via the Kinburn Spit.

Should the US decide to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles, that would cross a red line and the US would then become a party to the conflict, Russias foreign ministry said Thursday. Ukraine is already using US-made high mobility artillery rocket systems just not US-made longer-range missiles.

Rail services will resume between Kharkiv and Balakliia in Kharkiv oblast on Thursday. Workers have already repaired bridges and dozens of damaged tracks after Balakliia was liberated on 8 September.

Ukraine has continued to consolidate control of the newly liberated Kharkiv region, the UK Ministry of Defence says in its latest briefing. The update said some Russian forces appeared to have fled the Ukrainian troops advance in apparent panic, leaving behind key equipment.

Ukraines defence ministry found what its officials believe to be a torture chamber used by Russian troops to hold Ukrainian prisoners in the city of Balakliia. While some Balakliia residents told the Guardian that they had little interaction with the Russian forces, who mostly stayed on edges of the town, and did not experience the scenes of torture and execution seen elsewhere in the country, Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv region national police investigation department, said that 40 people had been detained during the occupation. One resident told the BBC that he was held by Russians in the citys police station for more than 40 days and was tortured with electrocution.

Ukraines state border guard service rescued five teenagers who had been locked in a basement for seven days by Russian troops in the recently liberated city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. The teenagers, four girls and a boy aged 15 to 17, are all students of the same educational institute. They said Russian soldiers had locked them in the basement without an explanation. They are safe now, the state border guard service said on Telegram.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, has arrived in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where he is later expected to meet Chinas Xi Jinping.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv Thursday morning. She has tweeted that she will be meeting Zelenskiy and Ukraines prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. On Wednesday, addressing the European parliament in Strasbourg, Von der Leyen insisted Putin will fail and Europe will prevail and said that the EU would stay the course with its sanctions on Russia. The sanctions are here to stay, she said. This is the time for us to show resolve not appeasement.

Germanys economy minister, Robert Habeck, said on Thursday that according to Kyivs own estimates, Ukraine needs 350bn (300bn / $350bn) for reconstruction.

The prospects for peace in Ukraine are currently minimal, the UN secretary general said on Wednesday after a phone conversation with Putin. I have the feeling we are still far away from peace. I would be lying if I would say it could happen soon, Guterres said, adding: I have no illusion; at the present moment the chances of a peace deal are minimal. Even a ceasefire was not in sight, he said.

Kremlin sources are now working to clear Putin of any responsibly of the defeat, instead blaming the loss of almost all of occupied Kharkiv oblast on under-informed military advisers, according to the US-based think-tank Institute of the Study of War. In a statement reported by CNBC, the institute said that Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv oblast, a marked change from their previous pattern of reporting on exaggerated or fabricated Russian successes with limited detail.

Putin still believes he was right to launch an invasion of Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday after a 90-minute telephone call with the Russian president. Sadly, I cannot tell you that the impression has grown that it was a mistake to begin this war, Scholz said in a press briefing.

Germany has delivered four more Gepard anti-aircraft guns and 65 refrigerators to Ukraine, the German government announced on Wednesday. The four additional units bring the total number of Gepard units provided by Germany to Ukraine to 24.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest news: what we know on day 204 of the invasion - The Guardian

Like the first green shoot after a devastating bushfire, the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag was raised above the burned-out city hall in Izium on Tuesday, just days after the city was recaptured from Russian forces.

It's one of dozens of settlements in Ukraine's north-east Kharkiv region back under Ukrainian control, following lightning advances made by Kyiv's soldiers last weekend.

Abandoned Russian tanks and armoured vehicles point to a chaotic retreat by the occupying force, which Moscow has tried to pass off as a "regroup".

The surprise eastern counteroffensive, planned months in advance, has been hailed as a turning point in the war.

But it comes as a separate assaultdrags on in the south of the country, whileRussia maintains its grip on the sprawling Donbass region.

Whether Ukraine can capitalise on the momentum that saw it claw back thousands of square kilometres relies on several key factors, not least the ongoing support of the West.

It only took a few days for Ukraine to liberate as much territory as Russia had captured over several months, as the occupying force crumbled then withdrew from Izium on Saturday.

Ukraine appears to have borrowed a US military tactic favoured during the Iraq War called a "thunder run".

The daring, high-speed manoeuvre involves a military convoy using heavy weapons and armoured vehicles to plunge into enemy territory and overrun the surprised defending forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since claimed more than 6,000 square kilometres has been reclaimed in the east and the south since the beginning of September.

The situation was so dire in some towns and villages, residents later told reporters, that Russian troops were seen fleeing on stolen bicycles, attempting to disguise themselves in civilian clothes.

"The Russian army these days is demonstrating its best ability to show its back," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video address.

The eastern city of Izium is a logistical hub and the gateway to the Donbass region, which includes the two Russian-controlled separatist states Donetsk and Lugansk.

Winning the city back, combined with Ukraine's other sweeping gains, is perhaps the biggest upset in the war since Russia's dramatic retreat from the capital Kyiv in late March.

But less than a fortnight ago, the battle for the southern port city of Kherson seemed to be Ukraine's main priority.

So, did something change?Or was a southern fake-out always on the cards?

It all began with a war game.

With the deadline of winter looming, the Ukrainian president needed a consequential win to boost his people's morale and shore up future support from the West.

"Slowly Ukraine was starting to lose face and the Western countries were starting to lose faith in the Ukrainian Armed Forces," said Marina Miron, a research fellow in the Defence Studies Department at King's College in London.

"So, first of all, they saw themselves under pressure to deliver something, to deliver some sort of victory.

"Because, before that, all the victories were essentially in the information domain, but you have to show something on the battlefield."

The Ukrainian military devised a plan to reclaim Kherson and Mariupol, both home to prizedports, hoping to turn the tide six months into the war.

During the summer, US and Ukrainian officials teased out the possibility of a broad offensive in the south targeting the strategic cities, which grant access to the Black Sea.

But the exercise, first reported by CNN, suggested such an ambitious blitz was doomed to fail.

The Ukrainians were adamant, though: they needed to move quickly to stop Moscow further exploiting its control of gas supplies to Europe when the chill sets in.

The continent has already seen a dramatic spike in energy prices, with Russia's deputy prime minister now promising to cut gas exports by a third.

Drawing on US intelligence, the Ukrainians planned two smaller offensives.

They hoped to turn their dominance in the information sphere plus an influx of new weaponry into a decisive win on the ground.

For the past several months, the conflict has ground on in the east and the south with neither side seemingly able to break the stalemate.

But, behind the scenes, Ukraine was quietly amassing billions of dollars' worth of foreign military aid and learning how to use it.

Since the war began on February 24, the United States alone has injected some $US14.5 billion ($21.7 billion) into the war, including providing HIMARS, a type of powerful long-range rocket launcher.

The munitions for the GPS-guided systems can strike targets with precision from more than 60 kilometres away.

By some accounts, thefive-tonneHIMARS trucks, the first of which arrived in June, are having an outsized impact on the battlefield because they allow the Ukrainians to hit targets deep behind enemy lines.

But Dr Miron argued US intelligence probably played a weightier role.

"I think the importance of HIMARS was basically, in a tactical sense, it created some parity in terms of artillery," she said.

"However, I don't think it was the catalyst of change in this war."

It now seems likely the two-pronged offensive capturing the east while eyes were on the south was always the plan.

"The Ukrainians are conducting operations that are forcing the Russians to make decisions on the battlefield about where they're going to apply their resources, and how," a senior US military official said during a recent Pentagon briefing.

"So, what we've seen is the Ukrainians applying the capabilities that they have, [including] those that have been provided by the US and our allies in order to again change the dynamics on the battlefield."

But the strategic masterstroke, and the thousands of soldiers needed to pull it off, came from the Ukrainians alone, the official was careful to note.

Taras Berezovets, a former Ukrainian national security adviser turned special forces press officer, went so far as to label the tactic a "big special disinformation operation".

"[Russia] thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment," he told the Guardian.

"Then, instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected, and this caused them to panic and flee."

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has carefully stage-managed the domestic coverage of the invasion of Ukraine.

He still refuses to call it a war, instead euphemistically describing it as a "special military operation", meant to "de-Nazify" Ukraine and liberate its people.

On state television, he has consistently been backed by a cheer squad of presenters parroting Kremlin talking points.

But even some of Mr Putin's most ardent supporters appear shaken by Ukraine's change of fortunes.

The frustration is also starting to seep through online.

"We need to be honest, the Ukrainian command has outplayed us here," said Yuri Podolya, a pro-Kremlin military blogger with 2.2 million followers on Telegram.

Mr Podolya called the recent losses "large" and said the Russian Ministry of Defence had failed to rectify "problems identified by the first months of the war".

On the world stage, Russia is also becoming increasingly isolated, even from its most powerful allies.

In separate meetings with Mr Putin this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to tacitly rebuke the invasion of Ukraine, while China's leader Xi Jinping made no mention of it at all.

"I know that today's era is not an era of war," Mr Modi said.

Mr Putin has held power in Russia since 1999, both as president and prime minister.

His potential electoral opposition has been sidelined or jailed but he is acutely sensitive to public sentiment.

He's also spent roughly two decades building up Russia's modern military, once ranked among the world's best, which now appears to be in tatters.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence sought to frame Russia's hasty retreat as a pre-planned decision to regroup and redeploy.

But it has already lashed out with missile strikes on critical infrastructure, plunging parts of the country into darkness and flooding Mr Zelenskyy's hometown.

"Strength is the only source of Putin's legitimacy," Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Mr Putin, told The New York Times.

"And in a situation in which it turns out that he has no strength, his legitimacy will start dropping toward zero."

The Ukrainians are hoping the West will help them solidify their gains in what remains contested territory, while trying to rebuild cities devastated by months of Russian occupation.

After surveying the destruction left behind in Izium, including mass graves, Mr Zelenskyy has also called on foreign governments to investigate alleged human rights abuses.

"Earlier, when we looked up, we always looked for the blue sky," he wrote in a statement.

"Today, when we look up, we are looking for only one thing the flag of Ukraine."

His foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, also condemned the recent missile strikes on water systems as "a war crime" and an "act of terror".

It remains unclear how far Russia will be willing to go to halt Ukraine's momentum.

But some fear cyber, chemical and even nuclear attacks may be on the cards.

So far, the European Union's top official, Ursula von der Leyen, has been a sympathetic ear.

"It's absolutely vital and necessary to support Ukraine with the military equipment they need to defend themselves," she said.

But the US has rebuffed a request to provide more HIMARS munitions.

"I'm not sure that Ukraine will get the weapons it's requesting because the West [is] not interested in having Ukraine so powerful that it can potentially launch attacks deep inside Russia, because then everything would spin out of control," Dr Miron said.

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Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is going so badly even loyal bloggers are turning on him - ABC News

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President Putins unjustified war against Ukraine puts millions around the globe at risk of increasing food insecurity. The Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the worlds largest exporters of food, has led to the damage or outright destruction of many of Ukraines arterial roads, railways, ports, and food storage facilities that are essential to getting its agricultural goods to international markets. These actions guarantee that the pain of this war will also be felt by the worlds most vulnerable populations.

Today the Conflict Observatory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of State, released an independent, first-of-its-kind, and detailed assessment of the devastating impact of Russias war on food storage sites in Ukraine. An estimated 15.7% of Ukraines crop storage facilities have been affected during the conflict either due to seizure by Russias and Russia-aligned forces, or because facilities have been destroyed, damaged, or degraded to the point of compromising the stocks contained inside. The report notes that intentional destruction of such facilities may constitute a war crime and a violation of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949; the United States calls for further investigation through appropriate mechanisms. This report and other analyses are available online at the Conflict Observatory website.

Russia has exacerbated a global food security crisis, contributed to significant spikes in the cost of wheat, and forced a scramble to keep hungry and vulnerable populations fed. This summer, the United Nations and Turkey mediated an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to allow safe grain exports from Ukraines Black Sea ports. Since August 1, that agreement has reduced global food prices and brought more than 2.7 million metric tons of grain to global markets. But if agricultural infrastructure within Ukraine continues to be damaged in the war, this progress on global food security will be endangered.

In 2022, Ukraine has become the scene of the worst mass-scale violence that Europe has seen in eight decades. Local hardships are compounded by its farmers strained ability to operate during wartime, replenish diminished food supplies, and prepare for planting seasons ahead. The ramifications of Russias aggression reverberate far outside Europe, and now affect the health and wellbeing of tens of millions of people worldwide. Since February, the United States has provided over $5.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to scale up emergency food security operations in food-insecure countries.

The United States will continue to firmly stand with Ukraine as it defends its freedom, for the sake of its own people and of people across the globe who rely on the harvests from Ukraines farmlands. Our support for Ukraine remains unwavering.

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Documenting Russia's Destructive Impact on Food Storage in Ukraine - United States Department of State - Department of State

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine An inferno had already fully engulfed a two-story dermatology clinic on Joyful Street in central Mykolaiv by the time Stanislav Ustich and his team of firefighters arrived, just minutes after a Russian rocket slammed into the courtyard in front of the building, carving out a crater big enough to swallow a car.

As the firefighters unfurled hoses, Mr. Ustich, or Stas as he is known, tore down a portion of the iron fence to give his comrades a point of entry. A group of men, some wearing only underwear after being jarred awake by the blast, stood across the street watching as huge tongues of flame lapped up the buildings facade.

So it goes just about every night for the firefighters of Mykolaiv, a southern Ukrainian city about 10 miles from the front lines that has been a target of near-incessant Russian shelling since the war began in February.

Over six, 24-hour shifts, a reporter and photographer with the New York Times followed Stas and his team of firefighters, as they raced to control the damage from a torrent of rocket and artillery attacks, risking their lives to save as much of their beleaguered city as possible.

You understand that above you jets and rockets are flying and that at any moment one could hit you, Stas said. But you just hear a voice and you start to rummage, dig, pull, because you know that person is alive and you have to get him out, you have to.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Though Ukrainian forces recently scored a stunning victory over Russia in the northeast, in the south the war remains a slog. And Mykolaiv, among other cities, is in the crosshairs. This week, heavy shelling in the city damaged apartment buildings and a school, and killed two people, according to the regional military governor, Vitaly Kim.

At the dermatology clinic, the blast radius was huge. Across the street, the wave from the explosion had warped the heavy steel doors of a municipal court building, and firefighters had to use a special saw and a crowbar to free a security guard trapped inside. At the end of the block, Lyubov Slyusarenko and Andrei Kosenko, the caretakers of a childrens performing arts school, had just emerged from the basement when the explosion occurred, sending glass and shrapnel flying in all directions. The schools windows were shattered, and chunks of metal and other refuse littered a courtyard.

I cant endure this anymore, Ms. Slyusarenko said. Im covered in glass. If we were just a little farther over there wed no longer be here.

As often happens, the rocket hit just after the all clear had been given following an earlier air-raid alarm. Ms. Slyusarenko had come out to make herself a late-night cup of tea.

Idiots. Animals. Bastards, she said, stifling a sob.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

At the fire station, the tension mounts as darkness falls. Most rocket attacks happen in the early morning hours, often between 2 and 6, but the first air attack alarms often sound much earlier, sending firefighters scrambling into a dank and fetid bunker beneath the firehouse.

As soon as it gets dark my heart starts to beat faster, Stas said.

They pass the long hours of the night in nervous anticipation. Sometimes they play dominos as a distraction or listen to President Volodymyr Zelenkys nightly address on their phones. Stas watches reruns of Super Bowl games.

Before the war, he played American football because, he said, he thinks soccer is for wimps. He only ever wanted to be a soldier or a firefighter because saving lives, he said, is the work of real men. But he is not afraid to show his emotions. He cries, sometimes several times a day, tormented by the horrors he has witnessed over the last six months.

You come home, and you try to fall asleep, he says, and you dream about it all in a cold sweat and wake up in tears.

Then it begins. A steady thwomp, thwomp, thwomp of rocket strikes that seem to pierce the heart and loosen the contents of the stomach. With each strike every muscle of Stass 6-foot-3, 240-pound body seems to tense. The firefighters count the rocket strikes and wait, looking up as if to gauge for the hundredth time the structural integrity of the concrete ceiling.

When the call comes, though, all of the painful anxiety melts away. They race up the stairs, out of their shelter and into the treacherous open air of the night. The vast cloud of the Milky Way offers nearly the only illumination until the blue lights of the fire engine switch on.

These are the same kind of heroes as the soldiers, Mr. Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regions military administration, said of the citys firefighters. They show up in five minutes under fire and start to work.

Firefighters playing dominos. Second from right is Stanislav Ustich Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

How Russia selects its targets is a subject of debate and bewilderment in Mykolaiv. Rarely, it seems, do the Kremlins forces hit military targets, but they have destroyed plenty of schools, universities, hospitals and homes.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, more than 500 apartment buildings and roughly 700 homes have been damaged in rocket attacks on the city, many of them beyond repair, according to the city government. More than 130 civilians have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded.

Around the corner from the dermatology clinic, two rockets had slammed into a cluster of private homes, and firefighters had to pull dazed residents from the rubble. One, a young man named Andrei, covered in dust, pointed to a spot in the rubble he said used to be his bedroom. Another, Svetlana Kharlamova, pushed herself out of a window to escape when her roof caught fire. Firefighters later fetched some clothes and her cane from inside her damaged home.

The main thing is that were alive, she said.

One evening, a rocket hit so close to the fire station that most of the windows were blown out and the roof of the gym caved in. The firefighters were unharmed.

A strike on a Mykolaiv apartment building in late June sheared off most of the buildings top three floors, killing nine people, including two young women who had just graduated from college and a Red Cross volunteer. It was the third time a building on the block had been hit.

Its difficult when you talk to someone in the evening, and in the morning, you learn that theyre gone, said Oksana Mushchinskaya, who continues to live on the first floor of the building with her two Yorkshire terriers.

I think this is probably to scare us, so that we give up Mykolaiv, Ms. Mushchinskaya said. But they wont succeed. Mykolaiv is Ukraine and it will remain Ukraine. Not one Russian will be allowed to enter here. Not one.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Even as the bombs fall, a semblance of normal life is evident on the streets of Mykolaiv. Some restaurants and cafes are open and department stores continue to do some business. On the ground floor of the Hotel Mykolaiv, Yekaterina Kondrachuk, 21, was boxing up products at the clothing boutique where she works. Days earlier, a rocket had slammed into the front of the hotel, taking out a chunk of the top few floors. But Ms. Kondrachuk was not leaving. She was merely moving the store to another location across the street.

Its frightening, of course, she said. But our family and our home are here.

Perhaps the biggest hardship aside from the bombs is water. With Mykolaiv cut off from its main source of freshwater, it relies on makeshift wells that only provide salt water out of the tap. For drinking water, residents line up each day to fill up bottles at large tanker trucks parked around the city.

Were staying strong, said Tatyana Lukyanova, 63, as she waited in line to fill plastic jugs with water. Its a little scary, but were carrying on.

Just coming outside, though, is a gamble. Not far from where Ms. Lukyanova stood, a rocket struck near a bus stop at a busy intersection in the middle of the day, killing at least seven people and injuring nearly 20, according to the city government.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Ten miles from central Mykolaiv, the battle is raging in earnest, and in the silence of the night you can hear the booms of artillery exchanged between Ukrainian troops and their Russian adversaries.

While life continues to hobble along in Mykolaiv, the villages along the front lines are mostly abandoned, save for a handful of families who rarely leave their bunkers.

At the start of the war, Russian troops reached the Mykolaiv city limits, but were pushed back by fierce Ukrainian resistance. Now, in trenches cut through village courtyards and wheat fields, Ukrainian soldiers hold the line, making sure that the nearby Russian troops move no farther west.

Its now a fight for position, said Senior Lt. Sergei Savchenko, whose unit with Ukraines 28th Brigade is dug in along the border with the Kherson region, the Russian-controlled territory west of Mykolaiv. Were not letting them move, though they are trying to.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Before dawn on the morning of July 28, two Russian rockets slammed into Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 49, a primary school in a hard-hit neighborhood in the citys southern end. One rocket smashed directly through the schools front door leaving only splintered beams. Framed class pictures of children with toothy grins littered the floor, though some still clung to cracked plaster walls.

Since the start of the war, Russian forces have attacked around 50 educational institutions in Mykolaiv, according to the mayors office. Though Ukrainian troops have at times deployed in schools, mainly as a place to rest from the fighting, there was no evidence of any military presence in any of the attack sites visited by New York Times reporters. Some have speculated that the attacks could be directed at what the educational institutions represent: Ukrainian thought, culture and language.

hey are just targeting universities, said Leonid Klimenko, standing in the wreckage of the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University in central Mykolaiv, where he is rector. There have never been any soldiers here.

On Aug. 17, two rockets punched a hole through the universitys heavy brick facade, gutting offices and classrooms. The rockets failed, however, to take out the Ukrainian flag waving in front.

Its nothing, Dr. Klimenko said. Well rebuild.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

The red fire truck careened through wheat fields on the outskirts of Mykolaiv toward a column of smoke so thick and black that at times it obscured the blazing summer sun. On the scene, firefighters tried to beat back the flames, but the heat was too intense.

After the fire had burned itself out, the culprit was discovered: remnants of a Russian rocket, including the nose cone and engine, lay on the black scorched earth, as a flock of storks scoured the ground for newly uncovered insects.

The fields burn every day, said Sergei Serdega, a deputy fire chief.

Whether Russian forces are intentionally shelling fields to destroy Ukraines crops is unclear, but hundreds of acres have burned since the growing season began in spring. Though the attacks rarely cause casualties, it is particularly dangerous work for firefighters who have to be mindful of unexploded ordnance and mines.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

For Stas, the worst day of the war came in March, when Russian forces staged a rocket attack on the headquarters of the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade, flattening the barracks where hundreds of soldiers were sleeping.

Officially, some 50 marine infantry troops were killed, but Stas and others said that the real toll was probably in the hundreds.

There were just pieces of meat, Stas said. Theres a head. Theres a body. Below that there should be legs, but the legs are wrapped around the head.

There was no evidence of any military presence at the dermatology clinic hit on Aug. 1. A man dressed only in underwear and a T-shirt with a picture of a Turkish-made Bayraktar drone on it, told the firefighters that the clinic was used as a site for handing out humanitarian aid like food rations and medicines. He and his wife appeared to be the only people on the premises when the rocket hit, though they escaped with only minor injuries.

It took more than four hours to put out the fire and it was light outside by the time the flames were extinguished. A woman wearing a white lab coat arrived at about 6 a.m. to start her workday. Standing in front of the smoldering ruins, she let out a whistle and cursed.

Stas and his fellow firefighters were panting, dripping with sweat.

I wouldnt mind just a few days of quiet, Stas said. Really, just two days to sleep soundly without waking up to these explosions.

He is still waiting.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Read more:
Fire and Fear in South Ukraine - The New York Times