Fuel shortages and fears rock Crimea as Kyiv attacks the annexed peninsula.


Mansur Mirovalev is a Kyiv-based writer and video journalist who covers wars and peace in the former Soviet Union.
Fuel shortages and fears rock Crimea as Kyiv attacks the annexed peninsula.

Russia’s Federal Security Service chief said Western powers could weaponise ex-fighters, but analysts doubt the claim.

Russia and Iran have been locked in a centuries-long rivalry and pragmatism.

Russia’s ally participated in joint drills for the first time. Analysts say it was a risky move for Minsk.

More than a dozen Chinese companies operate in Donetsk and Luhansk, according to a Ukrainian monitor.
![[Handout/Evgeny Solntsev via Telegram]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/photo_2026-05-21-12.07.05-1779354522.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Photos of emaciated Ukrainians reveal conditions suffered by Ukraine, as meagre rations also afflict Russian soldiers.

Russia’s army faces a desertion crisis as it continues to use waves of soldiers to attack Ukraine’s defensive positions.

Life expectancy on the front line for Central Asian migrants forced to fight for Russia in Ukraine is just four months.

The colossal steel plants along Ukraine’s side of the sea are unrestorable ruins since Russia’s invasion.

Wounded soldiers, wives and widows workshop ideas and stage plays in Kyiv, bringing the audience to tears.
![Actress Kateryna Svyrydenko plays Maryna, a soldier's wife in Twenty One, a play staged in Kyiv's Veterans' Theater [Mansur Mirovalev/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Actress-Kateryna-Svyrydenko-plays-Maryna-a-soldiers-wife-in-Twenty-One-a-play-staged-in-Kyivs-Veterans-Theater-1775144056.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)