war tourism ukraine reddit

War tourists fighting on a virtual front, since Ukraine-Russia war

Researchers analysed data from the Subreddit forum

2 February 2023

What is sharing?

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a new group of ‘war tourists’ has emerged - those who are fighting on a virtual front. 

A new study from the University of Portsmouth has found that war tourism, which typically used to be people travelling to past or present war zones, is now also an online phenomenon.  

Researchers analysed data from the Subreddit forum ‘volunteers for Ukraine’, which was started on 25 February, 2022, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Two weeks later, the forum had some 44,500 members. 

Lead author, Dr Nigel Williams , from the University’s Faculty of Business and Law , said: “War tourism has a long history, with travellers visiting battlefields, memorials, museums, prison camps or current war zones.

“In the past we’ve seen war tourists who want to go and fight in wars, those who want to volunteer as humanitarians and then those who are voyeuristic thrillseekers.

“But what we’re seeing now is an emerging trend for war tourists to be involved virtually, by countering misinformation, providing funding and raising awareness from the comfort of their own homes. 

“The presence of hybrid war activities, such as campaigning for sanctions’ enforcement on social media, has lowered the barrier to observation and participation.”

Social media, media activity, sanctions and fundraising are all part of modern warfare, which means wars are no longer about face-to-face contact or bound by geography.  

Dr Nigel Williams , Reader in Project Management

Dr Williams obtained over 20,000 posts from the dedicated Volunteers for Ukraine Reddit forum  from the first month of the conflict and found that participants in the forum were engaging in activities that can be seen as combating non-military hybrid warfare tactics, such as countering propaganda “fake news” and “Russian trolls and shills” to donating money and providing helpful information for Ukrainian refugees.

He said: “Social media, media activity, sanctions and fundraising are all part of modern warfare, which means wars are no longer about face-to-face contact or bound by geography.

“Our findings show that combating hybrid warfare has expanded to an online domain, where people can shape perceptions and mobilise resources.”

The paper, published in The Journal of Travel Research , highlights the complicated relationship between war tourism, volunteering and voyeurism in a new form of ‘hybrid war tourism’. 

Dr Williams added: “Public forums like Reddit can put people at risk of becoming radicalised. You don’t know who you’re really talking to online - could it be a Russian agent or a Ukrainian soldier? Future research should aim at a deeper understanding of these concepts and the complex links between them.”

War tourists fighting on a virtual front, since Ukraine-Russia war

Newswise — Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a new group of ‘war tourists’ has emerged - those who are fighting on a virtual front. 

A new study from the University of Portsmouth has found that war tourism, which typically used to be people travelling to past or present war zones, is now also an online phenomenon.  

Researchers analysed data from the Subreddit forum ‘volunteers for Ukraine’, which was started on 25 February, 2022, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Two weeks later, the forum had some 44,500 members. 

Lead author, Dr Nigel Williams , from the University’s Faculty of Business and Law , said: “War tourism has a long history, with travellers visiting battlefields, memorials, museums, prison camps or current war zones.

“In the past we’ve seen war tourists who want to go and fight in wars, those who want to volunteer as humanitarians and then those who are voyeuristic thrillseekers.

“But what we’re seeing now is an emerging trend for war tourists to be involved virtually, by countering misinformation, providing funding and raising awareness from the comfort of their own homes. 

“The presence of hybrid war activities, such as campaigning for sanctions’ enforcement on social media, has lowered the barrier to observation and participation.”

Dr Williams obtained over 20,000 posts from the dedicated Volunteers for Ukraine Reddit forum  from the first month of the conflict and found that participants in the forum were engaging in activities that can be seen as combating non-military hybrid warfare tactics, such as countering propaganda “fake news” and “Russian trolls and shills” to donating money and providing helpful information for Ukrainian refugees.

He said: “Social media, media activity, sanctions and fundraising are all part of modern warfare, which means wars are no longer about face-to-face contact or bound by geography.

“Our findings show that combating hybrid warfare has expanded to an online domain, where people can shape perceptions and mobilise resources.”

The paper, published in The Journal of Travel Research , highlights the complicated relationship between war tourism, volunteering and voyeurism in a new form of ‘hybrid war tourism’. 

Dr Williams added: “Public forums like Reddit can put people at risk of becoming radicalised. You don’t know who you’re really talking to online - could it be a Russian agent or a Ukrainian soldier? Future research should aim at a deeper understanding of these concepts and the complex links between them.”

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How Russia’s war on Ukraine impacts travel and tourism

Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine, while and first and foremost a humanitarian tragedy, has caused widespread economic damage across the globe, not least in travel and tourism. Between them, Russian and Ukrainian tourists usually spend around 45 billion US dollars per year on outbound travel, much of it in the countries of emerging Europe.

Hardly had the Covid-19 pandemic abated than Russia invaded Ukraine, providing the travel and tourism sector throughout emerging Europe with yet another challenge.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the war will affect Europe’s tourism industry in four ways: a loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists; restrictions on airlines and use of airspace; higher food and fuel costs; and a big hit to traveler confidence and disposable incomes.

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The loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists, who spent a combined 45 billion US dollars per year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (around eight per cent of the global total), will impact many countries in emerging Europe.

However, some regional experts also see the positive side of decreasing reliance on tourism from Russia in particular.

Loss of tourists in the Baltics?

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania could potentially also lose 10 per cent or more of their annual visitors owing to the effective ban on Russian travellers, as more and more countries in the Schengen space are choosing to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian passport-holders.

“The war in Ukraine came as we were all still recovering from the impact of the past two years and tourism numbers were not yet at pre-Covid levels,” Kadri Gröön of Visit Estonia tells Emerging Europe.

She points to a 50 per cent decrease in the number of cruise ships docking in Tallinn as a direct effect of the war. She further argues that this is not a result of fear, but because they could no longer visit St Petersburg, a key attraction for Baltic Sea cruises.

Nonetheless, she is optimistic about the future of the Estonian tourism industry.

“We have heard about the impact of the war as a reason for cancelling group trips, but we have not seen the direct impact of the war in tourism statistics. Passenger numbers have been gradually improving every month,” she says.

Regarding the cruise ships, she states that those ships that do come to Tallinn will stay longer than before. Also, more cruise ships have visited other ports than in previous years, for example Estonia’s largest island, Saaremaa.

It is a similar situation in Latvia.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine have had an impact on tourism sector, reducing the number of travellers from North America, Asia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine,” Janis Kovalevskis of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia tells Emerging Europe .

“The war in Ukraine had an immediate impact on booking figures for the spring and summer season, especially for group segment. A large number of booked group reservations were cancelled during March and did not re-book for the summer season. According to estimates provided by the tourism sector, bookings have been cancelled at around 60 to 70 per cent. Currently, incoming tourism is mainly based on individual travellers and small tourist groups, also domestic travel, and domestic and regional corporate travel.”

She explains that in order to ameliorate the effects of the war, in close cooperation with industry stakeholders, the Latvian tourism marketing strategy has been revisited in order to redefine priority markets and products.

“Due to the geopolitical situation, a large part of our tourism marketing budget now is invested in campaigns in our target markets in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Most of the tourists come from Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and other European countries,” says Kovalevskis.

Loss of tourists in the Balkans?

Montenegro, which attracted wealthy Russians to its exclusive beach resorts and marinas, has also been predicted to see large drop in tourism-related income, although some Russians have still been making their way to the country through Serbia. Belgrade is one of just a handful of European airports still open to flights from Russia.

In May, the World Bank downgraded Montenegro’s 2022 economic growth forecast to 3.6 per cent from a previous 5.9 per cent, partly due to the expected drop in the number of high-spending tourists.

“Russia and Ukraine represented one of the most important markets for Montenegro as a tourist destination in the last few years, as both were among the top five countries from which the largest number of tourists came. Prior to the war tourists from Russia and Ukraine made up 15.8 per cent of foreign visitors and 21 per cent of those that stay in the country overnight,” Milena Vujović of the National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro tells Emerging Europe .

She says that the country’s tourism industry has encountered a significant change as a result of this crisis, bust still managed to have a successful tourist season by attracting tourists from the region, Western Europe, but also from Israel, Kazakhstan, as well as some new markets for Montenegro, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

“According to our data on the number of tourists since the beginning of this year, on average, we are recording a growth of 9.91 per cent compared to the same period of the pre-pandemic year 2019,” Vujović says.

The Bulgarian Black Sea was another major tourist destination for Russian and Ukrainian tourists, and Deutsche Welle Bulgaria estimates that over 350,000 Russians own property on the country’s seaside.

“In our country, the war had a detrimental effect on tourism. In January we recorded a very high number of bookings for the starting spring and summer season. During this time, we were also experiencing a rather satisfactory winter tourism season. In February, the hostilities in Ukraine started and this stopped virtually all sales,” Pavlina Ilieva, chairwoman of the Future of Tourism Organisaiton which offers independent representation of the Bulgarian tourism industry, tells Emerging Europe .

A government scheme to boost tourism and assist some of the 297,000 Ukrainian refugees that had by the end of May settled or passed through Bulgaria included payments of 20 euros per day for food and accommodation given to hoteliers which hosted over 40,000 refugees in seaside resorts.

However, according to Ilieva the lack of clarity on when the scheme will end made it difficult for those participating to take bookings.

Tourists need not be afraid

lieva further argues that some tourists remain confused over where Bulgaria is located, something that has also contributed to the low number of seaside visitors.

“Some tourists are under the wrong impression that Bulgaria shares a border with Ukraine, and this led to the cancellation of reservations from the Western market.”

Some Bulgarian tour agencies have reported receiving calls from long-term clients from western countries asking if Russian shelling of Ukraine can be heard from Bulgaria.

Kadri Gröön of Travel Estonia is also at pains to point out that currently, there is no military threat to Estonia.

“It is the same distance from Tallinn to Kyiv as it is from Berlin or Vienna. Whilst we do share a border with Russia, we are a proud northern European country, a member of the EU and NATO and just 80 kilometres across the gulf from Helsinki,” she says.

Bulgaria, Estonia, and all other eastern EU member states in-between currently have the lowest (Level 1) travel warning status issued by the US Department of State.

Unlike many news and information platforms,  Emerging Europe  is free to read, and always will be. There is no paywall here. We are independent, not affiliated with nor representing any political party or business organisation. We want the very best for emerging Europe, nothing more, nothing less. Your support will help us continue to spread the word about this amazing region.

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Strikes, Inflation, Now War: Uncertainty Escalates for Europe’s Travel Season

As pandemic restrictions lifted, the travel industry was looking forward to a strong summer season. But they may be disappointed.

By Ceylan Yeginsu

Diego Sanz, a tour guide on Spain’s southeastern Mediterranean coast, received his first international group booking in more than a year in mid February. It was, he thought, an augury of better things to come.

“Here we live in paradise, and we were sure that when Covid restrictions were lifted, we would not have any more problems and tourists would come back to us like the honeybees come to the nectar,” said Mr. Sanz, sitting in a quiet cafe in late March in the port city of Alicante.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine and brought new international bookings to a grinding halt. In the first week of the war alone, airline bookings within Europe fell by 23 percent and trans-Atlantic bookings to European countries fell by 13 percent, according to the travel data company ForwardKeys.

“We are in the middle of a big storm,” said Mr. Sanz, speaking both literally and figuratively. Outside the window of the cafe, the Costa Blanca region was enduring one of the heaviest rainstorms in its history, with 18 consecutive days of heavy downpour that caused flash flooding and washed-out roads.

“The sun will come back, but what will happen with the war and the economic problems?” he continued. “I don’t know if we will be able to make any profit this summer.”

Many of the European countries including Spain, Greece, Italy and Croatia that are heavily dependent on tourism had hoped to start the travel season early to make up for lost revenue from the pandemic. That’s now looking unlikely. So far, the worst-hit destinations are those in proximity to Ukraine, including Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia and Hungary, which saw a decrease in bookings between 30 to 50 percent, according to ForwardKeys. Many travel operators in those countries are swept up in efforts to help refugees fleeing Russian forces, unable to contemplate what impact the war might have on their livelihoods.

Across the continent, damage is already being felt with rising fuel costs, supply chain issues, inflation and labor strikes. Energy prices in Italy have surged in recent months, worrying hotel operators. Truck drivers in Spain have been on strike for more than 10 days, causing sporadic food and goods shortages. Hotels and restaurants are scrambling to find affordable replacements for key supplies like wheat and sunflower seed oil, of which 75 to 80 percent of the world’s supply comes from Russian and Ukraine, according to the United Nations World Food Program.

“We are trying to be flexible and find replacements for products in short supply, like we use olive oil instead of sunflower oil, so it does not impact the customer experience,” said Javier Garcia Cuenca, the vice president of Magic Costa Blanca Hotels and Resorts. “But the problem is managing cost, it becomes more expensive.”

Croatia often ranks among Europe’s most tourism-dependent economies, with tourism accounting for about one-fifth of the small nation’s gross domestic product, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics . The country’s main attraction, its slice of the Adriatic coast, drew most of the 13.8 million visitors and 84.1 million overnight stays to Croatia in 2021. It drove a 10.4 percent growth in G.D.P. year-over-year according to the Bureau of Statistics .

Although cancellations have been minimal in Croatia so far this year, the country is also experiencing a slowdown in bookings.

Dubrovnik Boats, a private excursion and charter company with a vast majority of clients from the United States, was expecting a record year before the war. But then the rate of bookings suddenly fell by 70 percent.

“To a foreigner, we’re one centimeter away from Ukraine on a map,” said Niksa Smojver, the owner.

A significant concern this year for marine charter companies is rising gas prices and the potential for fuel shortages. For Dubrovnik Boats, operating a round trip between the hot spots of Dubrovnik and Hvar now costs around $750 more than it did last year. So far, the company has not passed the increase to passenger fares, but may have to.

Still, Mr. Smojver remains hopeful. “After corona, people are fed up and everyone wants to travel. This season could be one of the better ones we’ve had. Not a record, but strong,” he said.

In other parts of Europe, particularly in countries dependent on tourism, the outlook was bleaker. Cancellations in Italy dampened an increasingly optimistic attitude among tour guides and operators, even as some expressed hope that the war would end and salvage the season.

“The mood in general is depressive, because everything seemed to be over and instead there’s been a new downturn,” said Margherita Capponi, a tour guide based in Rome.

Bernabò Bocca, the president of the Italian hotel association Federalberghi , said he was most concerned over energy costs, which have surged in Italy in recent months. “Hotels are energy-intensive companies, they’re open seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” he said. “The cost of energy has become a very important component, a price the entire world is paying.”

Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for about 14 percent of Italy’s G.D.P., according to the country’s tourism ministry, and Italy’s national tourism agency, ENIT , said that in 2019 more than 63 million foreigners traveled to Italy.

At a recent trade show, Italy’s tourism minister, Massimo Garavaglia, cited a February poll of American travel sentiment by the market research firm MMGY Global , which reported that 47 percent of the 4,500 surveyed were waiting to see how the situation in Ukraine evolves before they make plans to visit Europe. “It’s clear that if half of Americans don’t come to Europe, it’s going to be a drama,” he said.

However, other travel operators both large and small still express optimism for the upcoming season, despite concerns over the war and the coronavirus. Last week, the online travel agency Expedia announced a forecast for a strong summer in Europe, saying search interest among U.S. travelers looking to travel to Britain, Germany and France this summer increased fivefold compared to the same period in 2020.

On Costa Blanca, members of the local hotel industry have signed fixed-price contracts with tour operators, which are likely to result in fewer cancellations. The main challenge for hotels will be managing rising costs and adapting to supply chain problems.

Mr. Cuenca, of Magic Costa Blanca, said he had not yet increased rates and fees at his hotels and expressed cautious optimism about the summer, after already booking about half of his hotel rooms for the season. “We will have to watch inflation and may have to adjust our rates to keep our profit margins,” he said.

Last year the hotel chain had a successful summer season by attracting the domestic Spanish market, but Mr. Cuenca was unable to open one of his hotels because of little demand from the international market, particularly from British tourists who faced stringent, unpredictable travel rules at home.

“We will not have as strong a year as we expected,” he said. “But there is still strong demand as people realized during Covid that they could die and they will not live forever so they prioritize holidays and leisure.”

Sitting in the lobby of the Port Benidorm Hotel last week, Toni Mayor, president of the HOSBEC , the Costa Blanca hotel association, said the 89 percent hotel occupancy, mainly of British tourists, was very encouraging. “They are coming back,” he said.

Wendy Hartfield, a history tutor from Yorkshire, England, arrived in Benidorm last week hoping to get some sunshine and play golf, but instead spent most of her vacation reading indoors because of the rainstorms.

“I want to come back in the summer, but with the way everything is going it might be too expensive,” Ms. Hartfield said. “First we have to pay the bills at home.”

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Rome, and Joe Orovic from Zadar, Croatia.

52 Places for a Changed World

The 2022 list highlights places around the globe where travelers can be part of the solution.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places list for 2022 .

Ceylan Yeginsu is a travel reporter. She was previously a correspondent for the International desk in Britain and Turkey, covering politics; social justice; the migrant crisis; the Kurdish conflict, and the rise of Islamic State extremism in Syria and the region. More about Ceylan Yeginsu

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai:  Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city  by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto:  The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation  in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland:  The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas:  Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .

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War has decimated tourism in Ukraine, but people are still determined to travel

Ashley Westerman

The Carpathian Mountains are a wildly popular domestic getaway spot for Ukrainians in the summer. But Russia's invasion has deeply affected the tourism industry there this year.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Ukraine’s Tourism Chief Reflects on Resilience After a Year of War

Dawit Habtemariam , Skift

March 9th, 2023 at 3:35 PM EST

Russia's invasion continues to be a destructive force on Ukraine's tourism sector. The country, however, is steadfastly finding ways around it to grow and support areas that are far away from the conflict. It will be on these parts to support the the sector until Ukraine gets its territories back.

Dawit Habtemariam

It’s been over a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war has had ripple effects on the global tourism economy . Ukraine and its tourism sector have suffered immensely in lives, infrastructure and more, but after a year into the conflict, they are seeing some bright spots.

While international travel remains closed, Ukraine is seeing a gradual recovery in domestic travel, especially in its Western region. Domestic travel sits at 50 percent of its pre-pandemic level. The tourism agency is promoting travel internally and working with international tourism businesses to support its recovery.

In this conversation with Skift at ITB Berlin, Mariana Oleskiv, chairperson of State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, talks about what’s changed and hasn’t changed for Ukraine’s tourism sector since the war started last year. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Skift: The war actually started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the help of Belarus. Can you go into the disruption the 2022 invasion caused?

Mariana Oleskiv: Yeah. So first, of course, there was to stop all air connection with Ukraine on February 24th night of 2022. International travel stopped. But we still had journalists, international organizations, some missions. So last year, we had two million international visits to Ukraine. So, comparing to 2021, we had four million, but it was a Covid year. In 2019, we had, if I’m not mistaken, nine million.

In 2014, we had 14 million, so this was the numbers of visitors crossing borders. Of course, a lot of these people who crossed our borders in 2014 were Russians, and then we lost that market, obviously. We stopped any cooperation and tourism with Russia. Until this full-scale invasion, a lot of their citizens were crossing borders with neighboring areas to visit relatives. And Belarus was a big market before this full-scale invasion. And then, others, we’ve had Poland, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Israel, Germany, United States, France, Italy, and then we worked with Saudi Arabia in 2021. They were a big market for us in terms of tourism because we made visa free for them, and that was our big plan for 2022.

So our main focus started being domestic travel. Starting the summer of 2022, we launched this little campaign that was, “Get Inspired by Ukraine” for local market. That we are fighting, we are working for the victory, but we still need some place where we can breathe and relax and for a little while, maybe don’t watch news too much and enjoy the nature, something spend time with the family. And this is what Ukrainian resorts can give you, and that nature, our nature, our lakes, our mountains, our forests inspire you to work hard and to fight.

It was a little bit difficult to launch it because it brings up a little bit of controversial feelings because there are some other people at the front line fighting. So there was also some complaints that some of our guys who are fighting, the military, that were saying, “Yeah, you still have rights to go to the bars and restaurants because we are fighting so that you have normal life, but don’t forget about us, donate. And we also need rotations because we are tired. So, also go and check in and go to the army because we need to keep fighting.”

We also have, of course, people from tourism industry also fighting at the front line. I have two of my employees now in the army that don’t have any military experience before.

Skift: Please talk about the tourism sector’s rebuilding efforts.

Oleskiv: Rebuilding is a really very complex word for us now. It’s not only infrastructure, and we understand that it’s the easiest thing to rebuild. But a lot of people lost their home or something they did, or even a hotel they had, or something that was they built from the scratch, they give their soul into it, and now it doesn’t exist anymore. And some cities or towns, they don’t exist in anymore, and this is very sad. And we have, of course, we have pretty big country. Comparing to the U.S., of course, it’s small, but in the terms of Europe, it’s the biggest country of Europe. Most of our regions were not damaged, but some were completely destroyed. When we think about rebuilding tourism, of course we will invite tourists first to go to those areas.

A lot of, unfortunately, destruction was in the eastern part of Ukraine and southern part of Ukraine. For example, there was a very nice town in the Donetsk region with a nice infrastructure of hotels. And now, everything is destroyed. There is none hotel that is not destroyed. But it’s still in this gray zone, so we cannot even calculate the losses, because nobody has access there except military so we will need a lot of effort to rebuild. But at the same time, we have Carpathian Mountains where new hotels are and are really nice ones. In one, they did, it’s called, “Hay,” and they did it very like it’s dry grass. They did it in this very sustainable nature way using a lot of wood, and it’s really new, this type of luxury hotels where you are close to the nature. It just opened last fall. So one hotel opened in Lviv, Western Ukraine, but it’s Best Western hotel, a new one in the city center. So tourism’s still in the western and central part of Ukraine. But in general, our industry lost, I think, around 50 percent, actually, of its capacity. And comparing to 2021, that was after Covid years, still the industry didn’t operate 100 percent.

Skift: I understand you’ve been stepping up your promotion efforts for the domestic market.

Oleskiv: Yes. Now, we don’t have a budget for promoting, because all the budget for governmental goes to other things, of course. But yes, last year, we used different channels. We were promoting on YouTube, Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, social media. So the thing is, for us in domestic market, we have wider possibilities. So we know all the opinion leaders, we can ask them to do some of the coverage like campaigns for us, and then we have TV also. We can do it like social advertising on TV. There are many possibilities in Ukraine for do the campaign for domestic markets for us, without using budget, actually, for that.

So this year, we understand it’s been a full year that we lived during the war. And of course, still controversial. Especially what matters for us is the people that are at the frontline fighting. So their opinion is extremely important for us, because they are our main heroes. Thanks to them, I’m here and I can speak about the future about tourism. So that’s why we discuss with them, and they have different opinions. But basically, we also want to have some offers for them, maybe some discounts or something, because they have also vacation. They have leave for 10 days during the year. So they can go with their family to some of Ukrainian nice resorts.

It’s difficult to explain. I have a lot of friends, they’re fighting, and what they see is something just you don’t want to see that, yes? And it will be important to bring them back to life, and I think the tourism can also help when they come back from the front line before they go to this civil life, for them to go to some resorts or some kind of area where they can be away from everything and not to rush into this big city life where everybody’s running somewhere after they’ve seen so much deaths and destructions there. So we are looking also for the way for tourism to be useful in this.

In terms of international travel, what is very important for us now is to build partnership when we will restart tourism. Which platforms we can promote, whether free of charge for this first period of time because we will not make on time the budgeting process, et cetera. And we will need to send this message right away in the time when we have, “Okay, Ukraine is safe to travel.” And we need to send this message. So we are looking for partnerships. I’m really grateful for many, many already companies that said, “Yeah, we’ll support you guys. We will provide you free advertisement on our platforms after you’ll be safe to travel again, after you open your doors.”

Skift: I remember at Skift Global Forum last year you called on the industry to step up and help Ukraine’s tourism sector during this difficult time. Has the industry been coming out and supporting Ukraine? 

Oleskiv : Yes, we made a lot of partnerships with people I met there, and we signed an MOU with Expedia, for example, yesterday that they will support us in promoting and data. 

Also, we talked with Airbnb, and they also will, with many of the cooperations we can do together, especially with data, because data is also very important for us because we need to see whom we could target, what we can sell, if it’s efficient. So the data part is as important as the marketing part.

And also, we’re looking for everybody who is open for helping Ukraine supporting us because we know that we cannot invite anyone. And how we can support the tourist industry, you can’t also give money to the industry yet. Obviously nobody’s doing it. But these things we can do later to restart tourism and rebuild tourism in Ukraine that would need a lot of effort, and probably not too much money from the partners, but still, if everyone does a little bit of that then together, we can, I think, do a big nice campaign. 

We want to communicate through people, because we think that the bravery of Ukrainian people, that’s something that inspires and something that you would come and meet Ukrainian people and help them to revolt the way you can, yes, this solidarity. So by the messages, proper scenarios for videos, this all we need to have ready, and we need to think now in order to start doing it when it’ll be time.

Skift: Since it’s been a year, anything else you’d like to mention about what’s changed, what’s hasn’t, or possibilities for the future?

Oleskiv: I hope that … Yes, I really hope that this war will be over this year, I really do hope. We still plan the summer season for domestic tourism. We don’t think that we are going to welcome international visitors this summer.

But I really do hope for 2024 that, here in ITB Berlin, we can say the message, “Visit Ukraine. Discover Ukraine. Come to Ukraine.” And yes, that’s what we hope for and that’s what we fight for.

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Tags: international travel , russia , ukraine

Photo credit: Ukraine's domestic tourism sector is slowly recovering. Neil van Niekerk / Skift

A Ukrainian soldier died on the battlefield in Bakhmut. His death has sparked a fierce dispute between some American veterans and a volunteer trainer.

• Volunteer trainers in Ukraine have accused a US volunteer of being an underqualified "war tourist."
• They allege he improperly trained soldiers and may have endangered lives. He denies the claims.
• The story paints a messy picture of the role of foreign volunteers in Ukraine.

On a sweltering day in June, soldiers from Ukraine's 47th Assault Brigade went into battle against advancing Russian forces in Bakhmut.

The city in eastern Ukraine has been the center of intense fighting since summer, with mercenaries from the Russian private military contractor the Wagner Group at the forefront of attempts to capture it.

Thousands on both sides have been killed on a front line that has barely moved. The relentless fighting has been compared to World War I , with trench warfare and house-to-house fighting.

On that day in June, Brian Wang, a 35-year-old US citizen, found himself amid the carnage. Wang, a firearms instructor originally from Pittsburg who now runs a firearms school in California, was one of the thousands of foreigners who volunteered to go and help Ukraine after Russia invaded in February. 

Some joined to fight with the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine. Others with relevant skills, like Wang, volunteered to train Ukraine's soldiers.

While entering a house in Bakhmut, two Ukrainian soldiers were ambushed by Russian troops. The first Ukrainian died on the spot. The second was shot several times, including in the abdomen. Wang stepped forward to try and save him. 

The second soldier did not survive. And what happened next has become the subject of a fierce debate between a group of US military veterans in Ukraine and Wang and raises questions about the role of foreigners in Ukraine, war tourism, and what rules of conduct apply in warfare.

Ambush in Bakhmut

Sons of Liberty International is a nonprofit security-contracting firm composed of veterans primarily from the US and Canada who went to Ukraine as volunteers to train the country's soldiers.

Two SOLI instructors alleged to Insider that Wang, who was not affiliated with SOLI but worked to train the same unit as them, took on more responsibility than he was qualified for and may have endangered the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

"I definitely feel like he would be a war tourist," Erik Inbody, a 29-year-old SOLI instructor and retired Marine, said about Wang, using a term to describe thrill seekers in a war zone.

The deaths in Bakhmut are the source of most of the contention. According to a newsletter written by Wang at the time, which Insider has viewed an archived version of , he was not supposed to be involved in the action that day. 

Wang traveled to Bakhmut with the battalion but was left behind the line at the camp because the battalion commander deemed him not experienced enough to be in the heat of battle.

"I was a liability, and he didn't want me getting hurt," Wang wrote.

While he was doing laundry, Wang said a dark-green SUV suddenly pulled up and he heard a Ukrainian soldier shout, "De medyky?" meaning, "Where are the medics?"

Wang wrote that at that point, "My war had become real." He said he responded: "Ya tut! Ya tut!" — "I'm here! I'm here!"

More muscle than the pork ribs

Wang, by his own admission, decided to take charge of rescuing the wounded Ukrainian soldier. Wang is not a trained medic and not in charge of leading the unit. It is not clear whether any of its senior commanders were present.

He went on to detail his efforts to save the soldier along with a squad medic nicknamed Wolf.

Wang described a scene from the fog of war: In a chaotic blur, the two performed a needle decompression on the soldier, a procedure to treat tension pneumothorax, in which air becomes trapped between the chest wall and the lung after chest trauma. A needle catheter is used to release the trapped air, and an audible hiss is heard.

The soldier was eventually loaded into a van to be rushed to a hospital, accompanied by Wang and Wolf. The situation was desperate, Wang wrote: The soldier "was dying, and there was nothing we could do about it."

Wang described how they decided to perform another needle decompression and said he was unsure and "timid" because the soldier "had so much more muscle than the pork ribs we normally used."

"I doubted myself then as the needle and catheter didn't want to move, and I pressed harder, hearing and feeling it go through the chest wall," he wrote in his blog. "I was afraid my needle would puncture something else inside his lungs, and I was too timid to sink the catheter all the way in."

Wang said he then decided to perform CPR.

"The CPR was no longer about Kot now, " Wang wrote, referring to the dying soldier, "it was for Wolf., it was for me. It was the most I could do and the least I could do."

Insider obtained screenshots of a Signal group chat in which Wang discussed the situation in the immediate aftermath. Wang confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots.

In the Signal conversation, Wang described performing chest compressions on the dying soldier.

Another member of the Signal group, who multiple people, including Wang, have identified as a combat medic named Will, responded: "Brian…chest compressions don't work in tac med. I've taught you this." 

CPR is not recommended to be used on the battlefield under the Tactical Combat Casualty Care training, according to guidelines from the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. 

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"In combat, futile attempts at CPR may interfere with caring for casualties who have a chance to survive and may interfere with the unit's ongoing mission," the guidelines say.

Wang said that performing CPR in that instance was appropriate, as it was a final resort to try and save a dying man. 

"Everybody's improvising in combat. That's just the nature of the beast," he told Insider in a phone call. "Every step of the way, there were delays because people were doing their best and they didn't know what to do. And we didn't have a mature medical evacuation plan." 

In the phone conversation with Insider, Wang defended his involvement in the death of the Ukrainian soldier. He did not respond to follow-up queries from Insider about why he took charge instead of Wolf, whom he described as a medic in his newsletter post. 

A wider tapestry of issues 

The SOLI instructors said the Bakhmut deaths were just one part of a wider tapestry of issues caused by Wang's inexperience and overzealousness.

Inbody, who was working on training members of Ukraine's 47th Assault Brigade along with Wang and other SOLI instructors, said that he soon became concerned with Wang's behavior and training methods.

"He's a shooting instructor in California, so that gives him some marksmanship ability," Inbody said. "So he definitely could help, as long as he would have stayed within his scope of expertise."

Wang does not deny the facts as described by SOLI but told Insider it was misrepresenting him and taking facts out of context.

"I think he has good intentions. It's just that there are some personality flaws," Brandon Boisvert, a 29-year-old SOLI instructor from Canada, told Insider of Wang.

"He tries to be kind of like this jack-of-all-trades-type person, and the problem is that he doesn't understand where his information is either outdated or if it's just incorrect information."

At the time, the 47th was a battalion of about 350 people, a combination of preexisting soldiers and civilians with no experience. It has since become a brigade .

While the US has declined to send any active-duty troops to the frontlines, it's estimated thousands of American veterans and civilian volunteers have gone to Ukraine. The US Defense Department has said it "is not affiliated with any of these groups" and recommends "that US citizens not travel to Ukraine or depart immediately if it is safe to do so," The New York Times reported.

Foreign volunteers who go to Ukraine cite a variety of reasons for joining the fight. Being on the right side of history and fighting for the principles of sovereignty and democracy are among them.

While many of the foreign volunteers in Ukraine appear to have provided invaluable support, either through fighting or training, some reports have painted a picture of inexperience and war tourism — perhaps propelled by good intentions but nonetheless unhelpful.

An American veteran working to train soldiers in Ukraine told The New York Times in July that he and others had encountered some "would-be trainers with overinflated résumés and, in some cases, no military experience at all."

'I'm a tool. I'm a vehicle of transferring knowledge.'

The SOLI instructors Inbody and Boisvert said Wang went beyond his designated firearms-instruction responsibility of teaching soldiers military tactical training straight out of a handbook, which they said he did not have experience in. 

For example, they said Wang taught Ukrainian soldiers to keep the barrels of their firearms pointing up instead of down when not in use, which they say is unsafe. 

They also said that Wang, on one occasion, endangered trainees by leading them into an area marked with a sign warning of land mines.

Wang did not deny any of the allegations but said there was nothing wrong with his methods. He argued that pointing barrels up was safe and said he knew the land-mine-marked area was a training area that did not have land mines in it. 

Inbody told Insider he and other SOLI instructors sat Wang down to raise their concerns with him over his actions and training methods but said he was not receptive to the feedback.

Wang confirmed that conversation happened but said he did not feel that Inbody or other SOLI instructors had a right to criticize him.

"Just because he has an opinion doesn't make that opinion right," Wang said. "And also, just because he has an opinion doesn't make that opinion binding on my behavior as a professional trainer."

Wang countered that SOLI members were attempting to "character-assassinate" him and said that it did not matter whether he had previous military experience. He said he had completed the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program while in college. He also worked with Tactical Combat Casualty Care instructors over the years as part of his work at his firearms-training school.

The SOLI instructors said they raised concerns about Wang with the unit's leadership but that they were ignored. They alleged that Wang was protected from criticism because of his friendship with a Ukrainian woman who's the head master sergeant's girlfriend.

Wang rejected that idea, saying his friendship with the battalion leadership was evidence of his good character. The head master sergeant declined to speak with Insider.

SOLI continues to train soldiers in Ukraine and has raised concerns about Wang returning. 

Wang said he planned to go back soon and that he had spent his time back in California fundraising and planning for his return.

"I'm a very good teacher. I'm a very smart teacher," Wang said. "A good teacher can teach any material. You can hand me a user manual — I will review the user manual, and I will teach. Then I will present it as a presenter. I'm a machine. I'm a tool. I'm a vehicle of transferring knowledge."

February 8, 2023:  This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the 47th Assault Regiment has since become a brigade. Correction: An earlier version of this article also incorrectly referred to the head master sergeant as the unit commander.

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Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by US to hit Russian-held areas, officials say

Calling it “a good day for world peace,” President Joe Biden signed into law the $95 billion war aid measure that includes assistance for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other allies, marking an end to the long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress.

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Sgt. Ian Ketterling, gunner for Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, prepares the crane for loading the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) on to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in Queensland, Australia, July 26, 2023. U.S. officials say Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, called ATACMS, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area overnight. (Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Dickson/U.S. Army via AP)

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FILE - In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers, from the 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade out of Fort Bragg N.C., conduct live fire testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Dec. 14, 2021, of early versions of the Army Tactical Missile System. U.S. officials say Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area overnight. The strikes come about a month after the U.S. secretly provided the weapons so that Ukraine could strike targets up to 190 miles away. (John Hamilton/U.S. Army via AP, file)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jimmy Lerma, crew chief for Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, adjusts the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) for loading on to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at Williamson Airfield in Queensland, Australia, on July 26, 2023. U.S. officials say Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, called ATACMS, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area overnight. (Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Dickson/U.S. Army via AP)

FILE - A Ukrainian national flag waves over the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Feb. 16, 2022. U.S. officials say Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area overnight. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States , bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.

Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance — up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) — that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the U.S. last October.

“We’ve already sent some, we will send more now that we have additional authority and money,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. The additional ATACMS were included in a new military aid package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Biden approved delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in February, and then in March the U.S. included a “significant” number of them in a $300 million aid package announced, officials said.

U.S. officials would not provide the exact number of missiles given last month or in the latest aid package, which totals about $1 billion .

Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons and is facing increasing Russian attacks. Ukraine had been begging for the long-range system because the missiles provide a critical ability to strike Russian targets that are farther away, allowing Ukrainian forces to stay safely out of range.

Information about the delivery was kept so quiet that lawmakers and others in recent days have been demanding that the U.S. send the weapons — not knowing they were already in Ukraine.

For months, the U.S. resisted sending Ukraine the long-range missiles out of concern that Kyiv could use them to hit deep into Russian territory, enraging Moscow and escalating the conflict. That was a key reason the administration sent the mid-range version, with a range of about 160 kilometers (roughly 100 miles), in October instead.

Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that the White House and military planners looked carefully at the risks of providing long-range fires to Ukraine and determined that the time was right to provide them now.

He told The Associated Press in an interview that long-range weapons will help Ukraine take out Russian logistics nodes and troop concentrations that are not on the front lines. Grady declined to identify what specific weapons were being provided but said they will be “very disruptive if used properly, and I’m confident they will be.”

Like many of the other sophisticated weapons systems provided to Ukraine, the administration weighed whether their use would risk further escalating the conflict. The administration is continuing to make clear that the weapons cannot be used to hit targets inside Russia. At the State Department, spokesman Vedant Patel said Wednesday that Biden directed his national security team to send the ATACMS specifying that they be used inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.

“I think the time is right, and the boss (Biden) made the decision the time is right to provide these based on where the fight is right now,” Grady said Wednesday. “I think it was a very well considered decision, and we really wrung it out — but again, any time you introduce a new system, any change — into a battlefield, you have to think through the escalatory nature of it.”

Ukrainian officials haven’t publicly acknowledged the receipt or use of long-range ATACMS. But in thanking Congress for passing the new aid bill Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted on the social platform X that “Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery and air defense are extremely important tools for the quick restoration of a just peace.”

One U.S. official said the Biden administration warned Russia last year that if Moscow acquired and used long-range ballistic missiles in Ukraine, Washington would provide the same capability to Kyiv. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about internal discussions.

Russia got some of those weapons from North Korea and has used them on the battlefield in Ukraine, said the official, prompting the Biden administration to greenlight the new long-range missiles.

The U.S. had refused to confirm that the long-range missiles were given to Ukraine until they were actually used on the battlefield and Kyiv leaders approved the public release. One official said the weapons were used early last week to strike the airfield in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea , a peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. They were used again overnight east of the occupied city of Berdyansk.

Videos on social media last week showed the explosions at the military airfield, but officials at the time would not confirm it was the ATACMS.

“These strikes proved -– once again -– that Ukraine can notch battlefield victories when given the right tools,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who has long pressed the administration to send the long-range weapons.

Ukraine’s first use of the weapon came as political gridlock in Congress had delayed approval of a $95 billion foreign aid package for months, including funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. Facing acute shortages of artillery and air defense systems, Ukraine has been rationing its munitions as U.S. funding was delayed.

With the war now in its third year, Russia used the delay in U.S. weapons deliveries and its own edge in firepower and personnel to step up attacks across eastern Ukraine. It has increasingly used satellite-guided gliding bombs — dropped from planes from a safe distance — to pummel Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.

The mid-range missiles provided last year, and some of the long-range ones sent more recently, carry cluster munitions that open in the air when fired, releasing hundreds of bomblets rather than a single warhead. Others sent recently have a single warhead.

One critical factor in the February decision to send the weapons was the U.S. Army’s ability to begin replacing the older ATACMS. The Army is now buying the Precision Strike Missile, so is more comfortable taking ATACMS off the shelves to provide to Ukraine, the official said.

At the White House, Sullivan said the administration “has worked relentlessly to address those concerns” and stocks are now coming off the production line and the ATACMS can be sent without hurting U.S. military readiness.

Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Odesa’s ‘Harry Potter castle’ hit in Russian missile attack that killed five – as it happened

Four-year-old child and pregnant woman among those in a serious condition after strike on seafront park in Black Sea port city

• 3d ago Russian strike kills at least two people in Kharkiv - officials
• 3d ago Odesa’s ‘Harry Potter castle’ hit in Russian missile attack that killed five

Odesa’s ‘Harry Potter castle’ hit in Russian missile attack that killed five

Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog.

A Russian missile attack on an educational institution in a popular seafront park in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, known locally as ‘Harry Potter castle’, on Monday killed at least five people and injured 32, local officials said. The previous death toll was four.

The building is reportedly the residence of prominent former MP Serhiy Kivalov, who was among those said to have been injured in the strike.

Regional governor Oleh Kiper said that in addition to those killed in the attack, one man died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike.

Kiper said eight of the injured were in serious condition, including a four-year-old child. Among the injured were another child and a pregnant woman.

“Our doctors are trying to do their best,” he added.

Here are some of the other main developments in the war:

Nato countries have not delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, which has benefited Russia on the frontline, Jens Stoltenberg has said . “Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, the Nato secretary general said in Kyiv while meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ukrainian officials say Russia is assembling forces for a major summer offensive , even if its troops are making only incremental gains at the moment. “The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the frontline ,” Stoltenberg added. “Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces.” Zelenskiy said new western supplies have started arriving, but slowly. “This process must be speeded up,” he said.

The head of the southern Kherson region said Russian shelling killed one person in the last 24 hours.

Debris showed that an North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missile hit Kharkiv on 2 January, UN sanctions monitors have told a security council committee in a report seen by Reuters. The missile was most likely illegally supplied to Russia, they conclude. North Korea is accused of developing such weapons and supplying them to Russia despite being under UN sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes since 2006. Ukraine’s allies have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine in violation of an arms embargo. The US has accused Russia of launching North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles against Ukraine on at least nine occasions .

Away from the frontline, Polish farmers have lifted blockades at border crossings with Ukraine , officials said on Monday, ending a two-month protest over farm imports and alleged unfair competition.

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine – the first British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Buckingham Palace said on Monday that Sophie, wife of Prince Edward, met Zelenskiy and first lady Olena Zelenska in Kyiv and delivered a message on behalf of King Charles III. It did not disclose the timing or details of the visit. The palace said Sophie made the trip “to demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war and in a continuation of her work to champion survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.”

This live blog has been paused. For the latest coverage on Russia’s war in Ukraine, please visit our dedicated page .

To keep up to date quickly with the latest in Ukraine, read our Ukraine war briefing here.

Germany has supplied Ukraine with another batch of military aid, which includes ammunition for Leopard 2 tanks, ten infantry fighting vehicles and a Skynex air defence system. You can view the full list of the aid included in Berlin’s military package here .

Military aid worth about €28bn (£23.9bn) has so far been made available by Germany (or has been earmarked) to support Ukraine over the next few years, according to the German government.

In addition, more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers received military training in Germany, it said.

Germany, which earlier this month promised to deliver a third Patriot battery to Kyiv, has been leading efforts to bolster Ukraine’s air defences as Moscow makes gains on the battlefield with Kyiv waiting for crucial US supplies to be delivered.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Friday that Nato allies had Patriot systems available to provide to Ukraine, but he declined to go into details, citing classified information. “We are working with those allies to ensure that they make the right decisions to provide new Patriot batteries,” he said.

Germany, Poland, Sweden, Spain and Greece are among the EU countries that possess the Patriot systems. But some EU nations appear hesitant to give up their supplies.

Russian strike kills at least two people in Kharkiv - officials

A Russian strike killed at least two people and injured six more in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to local officials.

The Russian forces used guided bombs to carry out the attack on the city, according to preliminary information, governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram.

The attack damaged a residential building in one of the city districts, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said. The emergency services are continuing to work at the site.

Security officials believe the Kremlin’s original war aims are unchanged, more than two years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion. They include seizing the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa and occupying Ukraine’s southern Black Sea coast.

They assess that Russia will not be able to storm Kharkiv, a city of more than 1 million people close to the Russian border but will continue to bomb and to threaten it.

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