24 hours in Ukraine: A single day shows the reality of life as war hits 1,000 days

24 hours in Ukraine: A single day shows the reality of life as war hits 1,000 days
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The toll from a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa on November 18, 2024 rose to 10 dead and 43 wounded, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. (AFP)
24 hours in Ukraine: A single day shows the reality of life as war hits 1,000 days
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This photograph taken on November 18, 2024 shows a damaged residential building following a missile attack in Odesa, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Updated 19 November 2024
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24 hours in Ukraine: A single day shows the reality of life as war hits 1,000 days

24 hours in Ukraine: A single day shows the reality of life as war hits 1,000 days
  • The Associated Press fanned out across Ukraine to chronicle 24 hours of life just as the country prepared to mark a grim milestone Tuesday: 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 20

KYIV: The clock on her wall stopped almost as soon as the day began, its hands frozen by the Russian bomb that hit the dormitory serving as home for Ukrainians displaced by war.
It was 1:45 a.m. in an upstairs room in the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Natalia Panasenko’s home for just shy of a year after the town she thinks of as her real home came under Russian occupation. The explosion blasted a door on top of her, smashed her refrigerator and television and shredded the flowers she’d just received for her 63rd birthday.
“The house was full of people and flowers. People were congratulating me ... and then there was nothing. Everything was mixed in the rubble,” she said. “I come from a place where the war is going on every day. We only just left there, and it seemed to be quieter here. And the war caught up with us again.”
Nov. 11 was a typical day of violence and resilience in Ukraine. The Associated Press fanned out across Ukraine to chronicle 24 hours of life just as the country prepared to mark a grim milestone Tuesday: 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
The day opened with two Russian bombings — one that hit Panasenko’s apartment and another that killed six in Mykolaiv, including a woman and her three children. Before the day was even halfway done, a Russian ballistic missile shattered yet another apartment building, this time in the city of Kryvyi Rih.
Swimmers braved the Black Sea waters off Odesa, steelworkers kept the economy limping along, a baby was born. Soldiers died and were buried. The lucky ones found a measure of healing for their missing limbs and broken faces.
About a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory is now controlled by Russia. Those invisible geographical lines shift constantly, and the closer a person is to them the more dangerous life is.
In the no-man’s-land between Russian and Ukrainian forces, there’s hardly any life at all. It’s called the Gray Zone for good reason. Ashen homes, charred trees and blackened pits left by shells exploding over 1,000 days of war stretch as far as the eye can see.
Odesa, 6:50 a.m.
The waters of the Black Sea hover around 13 degrees Celsius (55 Fahrenheit) in late fall. The coastline is mined. Dmytro’s city is regularly targeted by drones and missiles.
But Dmytro — who insisted on being identified only by his first name because he was worried for the safety of his family — was undaunted as he plunged into the waves with a handful of friends for their regular swim.
Before the war, the group numbered a couple of dozen. Many fled the country. Men were mobilized to fight. Some returned with disabilities that keep them out of the water. His 33-year-old stepson is missing in action after a battle in the Donetsk region.
For Dmytro and fellow swimmers, the ritual grounds them and makes the grimness of war more bearable. He said the risks of his hobby are well worth the reward: “If you’re afraid of wolves, don’t go into the forest.”
Zaporizhzhia, noon
Managing the Zaporizhstal steel mill during wartime means days filled with calculations for Serhii Saphonov.
The staff of 420 is less than half its pre-war levels. Power cuts from Russian attacks on electricity infrastructure require an “algorithm of actions” to maintain operations. Russian forces are closing in on the coke mine in Pokrovsk that supplies the plant with coal. And the city is under increasing attack by Russia’s unstoppable glide bombs.
Right outside his office, a bulletin board displays the names of 92 former steelworkers who have joined the army. Below are photos of the dead. Staff hold fundraisers for supplies for colleagues on the front, including two bulletproof vests sitting in the corner near his desk.
“The old workers, they carry everything on their shoulders. They are hardened. They know their job,” Saphonov said. “Everyone knows that we have to endure, hold out, hoping that things will get better ahead.”
Chernihiv, 1 p.m.
Dr. Vladyslava Friz has performed more reconstructive surgeries in the past 1,000 days than she did in the previous decade of her career. And the injuries are like nothing she had ever seen before.
Her days start early and end late. In the first months of the war, she said, the hospital was admitting 60 people per hour, and eight surgeons worked nonstop. They’re still catching up, because so many of the injured need multiple surgeries.
On Nov. 11, she was rebuilding the cheek and jaw of a patient injured in a mine explosion.
“Appearance is a person’s visual identity,” she said. “There is work to be done; we are doing it. We have no other options. There are medicines, equipment and personnel, but there are no metal structures for reconstruction. There is no state funding for implants.”
She said she will not abandon her patients but worries that the world will abandon Ukraine as the war approaches its fourth year.
“The global community continues to lose interest in the events in Ukraine while we lose people every day,” she said. “The world seems to have forgotten about us.”
Odesa, 6 p.m.
Yulia Ponomarenko has brought two babies into the world in the past 1,000 days, including Mariana on Nov. 11. Her husband, Denys, is fighting at the front.
Their hometown, Oleshky, was submerged by flooding after the explosion of the Kakhovka Dam. But by then, she’d long since fled the occupying Russian forces, who target the families of Ukrainian soldiers.
Mariana, born healthy at 3.8 kilograms and 55 centimeters (8 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches), will grow up with an older brother and sister and a menagerie of two cats and two dogs.
“This child is very expected, very wanted. We now have another princess,” Ponomarenko said.
Kyiv, 9 p.m.
The actors can’t perform in their home theater in Kharkiv — too many bombs, too few people willing to gather in one place. So they’ve moved to the Ukrainian capital, where they played to a nearly full house on Nov. 11 as guests of the Franko Theater.
“Because of the war, the Kharkiv theater cannot play on its stage. We play underground. It is literally underground art. There are only two to three places in Kharkiv where we can play, and that’s it,” said Mykhailo Tereshchenko, one of the principal actors of the Taras Shevchenko Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre, named for Ukraine’s most famous writer.
Yevhen Nyshchuk, director of the Franko, said the theater paused production for a few months after the war started. Now, it’s packed nearly every night there is a play, and the lengthy applause when curtains close is deafening.
The reason goes beyond the quality of a performance at this point, he believes, and expresses “this inner realization that in spite of everything, we will create, we will live, we will come, we will meet, we will applaud each other.”


Belgian court throws out Covid vaccine case against EU chief

Belgian court throws out Covid vaccine case against EU chief
Updated 12 sec ago
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Belgian court throws out Covid vaccine case against EU chief

Belgian court throws out Covid vaccine case against EU chief
  • The Liege appeals court “declared inadmissible” a set of complaints brought in 2023 by Belgian former lobbyist Frederic Baldan
  • The court “found the complainants wrong across the board,” von der Leyen’s lawyer Adrien Masset said

BRUSSELS: A Belgian court dismissed a lawsuit against EU chief Ursula von der Leyen centered on text messages she exchanged with the head of vaccine maker Pfizer during negotiations for Covid jabs, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Another source close to the case confirmed to AFP that the Liege appeals court “declared inadmissible” a set of complaints brought in 2023 by Belgian former lobbyist Frederic Baldan, as he could not prove suffering “personal harm.”
The court “found the complainants wrong across the board,” von der Leyen’s lawyer Adrien Masset told AFP.
The EU moved swiftly after the Covid pandemic emerged in 2020 to secure vaccines for member countries to buy for their citizens and residents, at a time of massive global demand for the shots.
But many aspects of the procurement from key supplier Pfizer have been kept confidential, leading to claims of a lack of transparency — and several legal proceedings.
Last year Baldan, who argued that von der Leyen both overstepped her role and violated the commission’s code of conduct, lost a similar lawsuit in Brussels.
Another complaint filed by The New York Times against the commission for failing to release the texts despite a freedom of information request is being heard by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union.
Various anti-vaccine groups and personalities, as well as Hungary and Poland, had joined Baldan’s Liege case, which contested the ability of the EU prosecutor’s office (EPPO) to effectively investigate the matter.
The EPPO, an independent body fighting fraud involving EU funds, opened a still-ongoing probe into vaccine purchases in 2022.
“The EU has now become an area of non-freedom, insecurity and injustice,” Baldan said of his latest court defeat.
The commission does not dispute that the text messages existed but says they did not constitute part of the vaccine negotiation — and are no longer available.


Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list

Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list
Updated 21 January 2025
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Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list

Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list
  • Trump on Monday reversed his predecessor Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism
  • The move is unjustified because Cuba is an active participant in “international cooperation on counter-terrorism,” Zakharova said

MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday slammed US President Donald Trump for reinstating its ally Cuba on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying the measure was aimed at destabilising the island and prompting regime change.
Trump on Monday reversed his predecessor Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the newly-inaugurated Trump’s order was undoubtedly “aimed at further tightening financial and economic restrictions in the hopes of destabilising the situation and changing power in Cuba.”
The move is unjustified because Cuba is an active participant in “international cooperation on counterterrorism,” Zakharova said.
The US must realize such measures “have an extremely negative influence on the quality of life of the island’s population,” she added, suggesting it was aiming to provoke “social discontent.”
Russia will continue to provide “necessary support to Cuba” to back its demands for an “immediate and complete end” to the “illegal and inhumane” US blockade of the island, Zakharova said.
Russia and Cuba have strengthened ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visiting last year.


Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland
Updated 21 January 2025
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Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland
  • “Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump said
  • Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s foreign minister said Tuesday that no country should be able to simply help themselves to another country, following US President Donald Trump’s renewed remarks about taking control of Greenland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, set off alarm bells in early January by refusing to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland — which is an autonomous Danish territory — under US control.
“Of course we can’t have a world order where countries, if they’re big enough, no matter what they’re called, can just help themselves to what they want,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday.
While he didn’t mention Greenland in his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump was asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office afterwards.
“Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump responded.
“I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” he added.
Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech, but added that the “rhetoric” was the same.
“It doesn’t make me call off any crisis, because he said other things about expanding the American territory,” Lokke told Danish media.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede has insisted “that Greenland is not for sale” but that the territory was open to doing business with the US.
Among Danes, the omission of Greenland in the inauguration speech led to some relief.
“He didn’t mention Greenland or Denmark in his speech last night, so I think there’s room for diplomacy,” 68-year-old actor Donald Andersen told AFP.
On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a post to Instagram that Europe would need to “navigate a new reality.”
While noting the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, the head of government also stressed the need for Denmark to maintain its alliance with the US — which she described as Denmark’s most important since World War II.
A number of Danish party leaders were called to the prime minister’s office on Tuesday to be briefed on the situation.
“We have to recognize that the next four years will be difficult years,” Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the Green Left, told reporters after meeting with Frederiksen.


Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
Updated 21 January 2025
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Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
  • “The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said
  • Trump has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how

DAVOS: Ukraine is working to set up a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said of efforts to arrange a meeting with Trump.
He was speaking in an interview panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how.
Zelensky said Ukraine would not agree to Russian demands that it drastically reduce the size of its military, predicting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would demand Ukraine cut its military to a fifth its size.
“This is what he wants. We will not allow this to happen,” Zelensky said.
In his speech, Zelensky suggested Europe had less influence over Washington because the United States viewed its allies’ contribution to security as lacking.
“Does anyone in the United States worry that Europe might abandon them someday – might stop being their ally? The answer is no,” Zelensky said.


Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
Updated 21 January 2025
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Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
  • Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player
  • “Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself“

DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Europe should develop a joint defense policy and be willing to increase spending to guarantee its own security from emerging threats.
His comments to the World Economic Forum in Davos came a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has demanded NATO members raise their defense spending and boasted he can end the war in Ukraine, without offering a clear roadmap.
Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player and “indispensable” on the global stage.
“We need a united European security and defense policy, and all European countries must be willing to spend as much on security as is truly needed,” Zelensky argued in his address to the WEF.
“Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself,” he added.
He evoked the Kremlin’s deployment of North Korean troops to western Russia to illustrate what he said were growing threats to European security.
“European leaders should remember this — battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than to Pyongyang,” he said.
And he pointed to a recent pact between Russia and Iran boosting their economic and military cooperation, saying the accord was an example of a changing landscape that was a threat to Europe.
“Whom do they make such deals against? Against you, against all of us,” he said. “Such threats can only be countered together,” he added.
Zelensky also questioned whether Trump was committed to NATO and European security, claiming that Washington has openly indicated their security priorities lie in the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see NATO as necessary? And will he respect EU institutions?” Zelensky asked.