Event: Ukrainian

As the country's economy recovers from the slowdown triggered by US tariffs, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an influential global policy group, projects a modest improvement in gross domestic product (GDP) - growth of 1.7% - in 2027.Earlier this month, data from the country's statistics agency said Canada had slipped into a technical recession - two consecutive quarters of GDP decline, in late 2025 and early 2026. "The government is responding in real time to shifting global economic volatility and broad-based supply chain disruption with a serious plan to grow exports, create jobs and invest in productivity forward projects," said John Fragos, a spokesman for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Economists cautioned against panic, saying the country is likely to avoid a prolonged downturn especially given the small decline. "Whether one chooses to divine the fact that we're in a recession or not really does miss the point," said Jeremy Kronick, president of the CD Howe Institute, a non-partisan economic think tank."I mean, it, the economy is weak, right?""That process is settling in during that time as the major investments, major changes to how the government operates, how we do major projects, how we have new trade agreements with other countries."His Liberal government has plans to, among other actions, double Canada's non-US exports over the next decade by expanding trade relationships across Europe and Asia, and to fast track major infrastructure projects.Dave McKay, CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank, cautioned during a talk hosted by Bloomberg earlier this month that the clock is ticking."We have to see tangible progress on a couple of these big ideas," he said. "The capital is impatient, and it will move where it thinks they can get the most sure and fastest return."Kronick, of the CD Howe Institute,…

When Leo Hare moved to Russia from Texas in late 2023, after being granted asylum, he was convinced he was building a better future for his family.The father of three threw himself into his new life: sampling dumplings , milking goats on a farm and filming videos about life in Russia for his online followers.Leo is a devout Christian who had become increasingly disillusioned with everything from political division in the US, to genetically modified food and what he sees as the rise of the LGBTQ movement. At the time, he believed Russia offered an attractive alternative: a society built on Christian faith and family values – a view heavily promoted by the Russian state.But over time he has also become increasingly concerned about elements such as restrictions on access to information.He is part of an unlikely migration. As Russia faces international isolation, a few thousand people from countries including Canada, Britain, the United States and parts of Europe are choosing to move there.Their view of Russia differs sharply from the one many in the West might be familiar with: a country that invaded Ukraine and occupies large parts of it, jails political opponents, places heavy restrictions on civil liberties and faces a raft of international sanctions.Many of the would-be migrants are attracted by Russia's Shared Values visa, sometimes called the "anti-woke" visa, which was introduced a month after Leo was granted asylum.Introduced by President Vladimir Putin in 2024, the visa offers temporary residency for up to three years to citizens of 47 countries Russia considers "unfriendly". There is no limit to the number of people who can apply and applicants do not need to pass the usual Russian language, history or law tests. Instead, they must declare that they share Russia's traditional spiritual and moral values and reject what…

A satellite image shows burning oil storage tanks and smoke rising from the Crimea Bridge, amid Russia-Ukraine conflict, Crimea, June 22, 2026. | Photo Credit: Vantor via REUTERS Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea on Friday (June 26, 2026) declared an "emergency situation" in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula.The announcement comes amid fuel shortages and power cuts triggered by the Ukrainian attacks on logistics chains and oil facilities across Crimea, the rest of Russian-occupied Ukraine and southern Russia."A decision has been made... to sign decrees declaring a regional-level emergency situation in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the Moscow-installed governor Sergey Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.The emergency situation would allow for a "rapid resolution of tasks related to ensuring the stable operation of all sectors", Mr. Aksyonov said in the post.Ukrains’ air strikes on RussiaKyiv has stepped up its air attacks that it calls fair retribution for Russia's near-daily barrages on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure since Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022.Russian air defences shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the capital Moscow and the annexed Crimea, its defence ministry said Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.Ukraine mostly targets Russian oil processing and export facilities in a bid to deprive the Kremlin of a source of revenue crucial for financing Moscow's war effort.Last week, Kyiv's attack caused a major fire at a refinery in the southeast of Moscow, shrouding the suburbs in plumes of thick black smoke.Mr. Aksyonov had a day earlier acknowledged that Crimea "is going through a challenging time" and that "the fuel situation is the most difficult.""I cannot say exactly how long it will take, nor can I publicly disclose the specific action plan. However,…

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Weeks of intense strikes by Ukraine have rattled everyday life in Crimea to an extent unseen since Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.A satellite image from Sunday, provided by the company Vantor, shows damage to the Henichesk Bridge, which links Crimea to the rest of Ukraine.Credit...Vantor, via ReutersJune 26, 2026The authorities in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula controlled by Russia, declared a state of emergency on Friday after weeks of intense air attacks by Ukraine, including a wave of drone strikes overnight that appears to have been one of the largest since the war began.The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that its air defenses had intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones overnight. Crimea and about a dozen other regions were targeted, according to the ministry, which said nothing about damage or casualties. Later on Friday, the ministry said 46 additional Ukrainian drones had been destroyed that morning.Advances in Ukrainian drone and missile production have enabled Kyiv to launch bigger attacks, farther away from the front, that can more easily overwhelm Russia’s air defenses. Over the past several months, Ukraine has carried out increasingly heavy air attacks on Crimea and parts of Russia, puncturing the peace that Russian civilians had largely enjoyed during the four-year-old war.The assaults have sharply eroded President Vladimir V. Putin’s ability to isolate Russian society from the impacts of the war. In Kyiv, they have reinforced a growing sense of confidence that it could force Mr. Putin to the negotiating table, even as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with missiles and drones, exploiting its air defense shortage.Last week, Ukraine carried out its largest drone strike on the Moscow region since the war began,…

A former high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence official has been sentenced to life in prison for spying for Russia's FSB security service.Col Dmytro Kozyura was found guilty of high treason under martial law, Ukraine's prosecutor general said. He was previously chief of staff of the Security Service of Ukraine's (SBU) anti-terrorism centre.An operation codenamed "rat" found he had used a safehouse in Kyiv to communicate with Russian handlers seeking classified information about Ukraine's military and leadership, the SBU said.The prosecutor general said Kozyura had agreed to share information "constituting state secrets" for financial reward and deserved the harshest punishment.Kyiv has announced numerous operations to expose Russian agents on its soil since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.After his arrest in February 2025, the SBU released an image of the former official with Ukraine's intelligence chief Vasyl Malyuk, who led the investigation.In a statement after his sentencing, the agency said he had been recruited by Russia's FSB in Vienna in 2018, but several years had passed before his handlers resumed contact with him in December 2024.The SBU said he was subsequently asked to gather and share what Ukraine knew about the deployment and movement of Russia's armed forces, and information about Ukraine's weapons, infrastructure and its political and military leadership.His activities included spying on SBU command posts and "systematically" sharing the consequences of Russian strikes, including the number of wounded soldiers and civilians, a statement from the office of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.He was in "constant communication" with his handlers, including sharing documents marked "secret", he added."The colonel, a career officer in the SBU, had access to state secrets and was responsible for co-ordinating the fight against terrorism," the statement added."Anyone who wears Ukrainian epaulets and begins working for the FSB becomes an enemy of Ukraine," Kravchenko said. "Only the…

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Ukrainian officials say their northern neighbor is allowing its radio relay stations to be used to guide Russian attack drones more precisely.A destroyed bridge over the Dnipro River, which forms the border between Ukraine and Belarus, in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, this month.Credit...Genya Savilov/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCarlotta Gall and Oleksandr ChubkoCarlotta Gall and Oleksandr Chubko have been reporting on events in Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022.June 26, 2026Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, partly from the territory of Belarus, Ukraine has handled relations with its northern neighbor cautiously. It did not sever diplomatic relations and kept open lines of communication with President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belarus’s longtime autocrat.But since the beginning of this year, after a string of devastating Russian drone strikes in northwestern Ukraine near the border with Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelensky has taken a more confrontational approach.He ordered strikes early in the year against four signal relay stations in Belarus that, he says, are being used by Russia to direct drone attacks on Ukraine. In May he invited Belarus’s exiled opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, to open an office in Kyiv. And last week he threatened publicly to attack the relay stations in Belarus again.“Let him take down this equipment,” Mr. Zelensky said of Mr. Lukashenko. “Because right now, every day, our civilians are dying and children are being injured because of this. If he doesn’t do it, we will.”On Thursday, Mr. Zelensky said the relay stations had been turned off, for now.Western diplomats and analysts have interpreted Mr. Zelensky’s threats as part of a more aggressive attitude toward his neighbor, bolstered by the success of Ukraine’s campaign of long-range attacks on…