EU close to approving a $106B loan for Ukraine after months of deadlock

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union on Wednesday was on the cusp of approving a massive loan for Ukraine as oil began flowing again through a key pipeline toward Hungary and Slovakia, lifting a major obstacle to approving the funds.

Ukraine completes Druzhba pipeline repairs, hoping to unlock blocked EU loan

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine has completed repairs on a damaged oil pipeline and is preparing to resume flows, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, while warning that there is no guarantee Russia will not target the infrastructure again.

Bulgarians give ex-president a convincing mandate for change

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) – The center-left coalition of ex-president Rumen Radev has emerged as the clear winner of Bulgaria’s parliamentary election, the country’s central electoral commission said Monday, ending half a decade of political fragmentation.

Russian attacks kill at least 2 as Ukraine strikes a Russian drone factory

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine, officials said Sunday, as the Ukrainian military struck a drone factory in southwestern Russia. A “massive” nighttime drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded four others.

Russia has looted thousands of Ukrainian cultural objects in the war

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – When Alina Dotsenko returned to her museum after Ukrainian forces retook the southern city of Kherson from Russian forces in late 2022, she found thousands of artworks had vanished.

A mass shooting in Ukraine's capital leaves 6 dead before police kill gunman

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A gunman wielding an automatic weapon killed six people and barricaded himself inside a supermarket with hostages in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.

Russian missiles and drones bombard Ukraine, killing 16

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday.

Zelenskyy receives international prize honoring courage and resilience

MIDDELBURG, Netherlands (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was awarded the prestigious International Four Freedoms Award at a ceremony Thursday for his and his nation’s courage and resilience in resisting the full-scale invasion launched more than four years ago by Russia.

Ukraine's army evolves under fire

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) – When a Ukrainian agricultural tycoon founded a volunteer unit of 30 people in the early days of Russia’s invasion, he had no certainty he would live to see what came next – but he did, and so did the force he created.