Ukraine is holding strong – but as war deaths mount its fortitude is to be severely tested
In the vast windswept cemetery on the outskirts of Dnipro, low clouds drift and mist drizzles over the graves of the fallen in this war.
There is no noise apart from the flapping of hundreds of Ukraine flags – blue for the sky, yellow for the wheatfields of this farming country.
Mounds of freshly dug earth indicate new graves in preparation for more bodies brought from the frontlines.
Their arrival is inevitable now, and most are coming from the eastern city of Bakhmut.
In the bleak light, we watch from a distance as a family huddles together, laying flowers, paying their respects, and quietly grieving.
They are the family of Alik Lychko, a soldier recently killed in the battle for Bakhmut; he was buried here just two days earlier.
We approached, they wanted to talk. Perhaps they felt that talking about their brother and son would help preserve his memory.
“We don’t know how to cope with our grief,” his mother Anna tells me between quiet sobs.
“He was only 24 years old; we can’t just pull ourselves together.”
Alik Lychko, 24, died in the battle for Bakhmut
Freshly dug graves in Dnipro are ready for more victims of the war
The Lychko family is from Soledar in the east, but they fled as Russian forces moved in.
The Russians have taken their land, so their brother and son is buried here – miles away from home.
“All of us are from occupied territories, all of us are refugees from the Donetsk region, but we have to bury him here,” says his sister Khrystyna.
Their mother, Anna, interrupts: “We have nothing; no home, no property, everything is gone, everything, and it’s really terrible that we are losing our children at this age, so young.
“He had a daughter, four years old, she now doesn’t have a father, it’s very hard.”
In that moment, I wondered if there would come a time this all gets too much for families like this one – whether their grief is just too overwhelming to carry on.
A Ukrainian soldier in a trench near Bakhmut
‘We will not break’
It’s clear they hate this war, but there is a steely resolve.
“We will carry on fighting, what else can we do?” one brother, Ruslan, tells me.
“We are in our home, we never invaded anyone, they invaded us.
“The worst of them came to us, and we are losing our best, the best of us.
“But it doesn’t mean that we will surrender or that we will break at some point – we will not break. As we have seen in the past year, they will fail in their attempt to break us.”
A memorial wall for soldiers in Kyiv
The Ukrainian government does not release figures for the number of soldiers killed in action, but we know it’s in the thousands and is mostly men.
It’s easy to forget many of those who joined up following Russia’s invasion last year are young professionals such as graphic designers, artists, teachers, athletes.
It’s easy to lose count of the sheer number of funerals taking place every day across Ukraine.
Mourners kneel in the capital’s Maidan Square
In the capital Kyiv, St Michael’s monastery is in many ways a symbol of the country’s defiance. It was built in the 12th century and torn down by the Soviets in the 1930s and now rebuilt.
This holy place gives succour to the families and comrades of those killed in this war that grinds on.
And it is here, and on Maidan Square, that we witness funeral after funeral after funeral. Yet another soldier killed hundreds of miles away in eastern Ukraine in the fierce defence of Bakhmut.
These days, Ukraine’s desire to expunge Russian and Soviet traditions stretches to its funeral protocols.
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The trembita horns are a regular occurrence at services – the instrument comes from the western mountains of Ukraine.
Kneeling as the fallen pass by is a tradition also from the west, a tradition now practised across the country.
At the funeral procession for Dmytro Kotsiubailo, a national hero lauded by President Zelenskyy, thousands took to the street to remember him and all who have died.
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‘We’re losing the best of us,’ says Tetyana Marinchenko
As they wound their way towards Maidan Square, where pretty much all this started in 2014, the shouts of glory to Ukraine rang loud.
Among those gathered was Tetyana Marinchenko, who was carrying a framed photo of her husband who died in this war.
“We’re losing the best of us,” she tells me, a phrase I’ve heard repeated here many times.
Another mourner, Maria, told me the nation has not yet gone through the emotions of losing so many of its young men.
“After victory we will need a long time for crying and grieving for everyone, everyone we lost in this war.”
For now, Ukraine is holding strong, but there is no doubting this nation’s loss is huge and growing by the day.
Its fortitude, and that of the families who have lost loved ones, will be severely tested as the war drags on.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Russia – as the US president called on Moscow to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, visited Mr Putin in St Petersburg after earlier meeting the Russian leader’s international co-operation envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Mr Witkoff at the city’s presidential library at the start of the latest discussions about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine.
Before Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down expectations of a breakthrough and told state media the visit would not be “momentous”.
Follow the latest updates on the war in Ukraine
However, Sky News Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said he believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Mr Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress on peace talks”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump issued his latest social media statement on trying to end the war, writing on Truth Social: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Dialogue between the US and Russia, aimed at agreeing a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war, has recently appeared to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause.
Mr Trump, pictured at a cabinet meeting at the White House earlier this week, has called for Russia to ‘get moving’. Pic: AP
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Secondary sanctions could be imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, Mr Trump has said, if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a deal.
Mr Putin has said he is ready in principle to agree a full ceasefire, but argues crucial conditions have yet to be agreed – and that what he calls the root causes of the war have yet to be addressed.
The Russian president wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas, and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and for the size of its army to be limited.
Zelenskyy renews support calls after attack on home city
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Children killed in strike on Zelenskyy’s home town
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot air defence systems after the deaths of 20 people, including nine children, who were killed when a Russian missile hit apartment buildings and a playground in his home city of Kryvyi Rih last week.
Speaking online at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of about 50 nations that provide military support to Ukraine, named after a previous meeting at America’s Ramstein air base in Germany in 2022, Mr Zelenskyy said recent Russian attacks showed Moscow was not ready to accept and implement any realistic and effective peace proposals.
Mr Zelenskyy also made his evening address to the nation, saying: “Ukraine is not just asking – we are ready to buy appropriate additional systems.”
The UK’s defence secretary, John Healy, has said this is “the critical year” for Ukraine – and has confirmed £450m in funding for a military support package.
A family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, have been killed in a helicopter crash in New York City.
A New York City Hall spokesman identified two of those killed as Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and Merce Camprubi Montal – believed to be his wife, NBC News reported.
The pilot was also killed as the aircraft crashed into the Hudson River at around 3.17pm on Thursday.
New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said divers had recovered all those on board from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she said.
The helicopter was submerged upside down in the Hudson. Pic: Reuters
A crane lifted out the wreckage on Thursday evening. Pic: AP
The Spanish president Pedro Sanchez called the news “devastating”.
“An unimaginable tragedy. I share the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he wrote on X.
Rotor blade ‘flew off’
The aircraft was on a tourist flight of Manhattan, run by the New York Helicopters company.
Witnesses described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out the sky.
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal.
Pic: Facebook
Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Another witness said “the chopper blade flew off”.
“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told Sky’s US partner, NBC News.
Video on social media showed parts of the Bell 206 helicopter tumbling through the air and landing in the river.
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New York mayor confirms six dead
The crash happened near Pier 40. Pic: AP
New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the six deaths and said authorities believed the tourists were from Spain.
He said the flight had taken off from a downtown heliport at around 3pm.
Pic: Cover Images/AP
The crash happened close to Pier 40 and the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.
Tracking service Flight Radar 24 published what it said was the helicopter’s route, with the aircraft appearing to be in the sky for 15 minutes before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have started an investigation.
Agustin Escobar.
Pic: Europa Press/AP
Thursday’s incident comes less than three month after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange.
Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday.
A smiling Ms Karelina was greeted on the runway by her fiance, the professional boxer Chris van Heerden, and given flowers by Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s deputy special envoy to the Middle East.
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Ksenia Karelina arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Pic: AP
Van Heerden said in a statement he was “overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina, is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia.
“She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
He thanked Mr Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a friend of Mr Trump and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Ms Karelina, 34, a US-Russian citizen also identified as Ksenia Khavana, was accused of treason when she was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, while visiting family in February last year.
Investigators searched her mobile phone and found she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years, to be served in a penal colony.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Trump, who wants to normalise relations with Moscow, said the Kremlin “released the young ballerina and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that”.
Ksenia Karelina is hugged by her boyfriend, Chris van Heerden. Pic: Reuters
He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian security services accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organisation that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces.
The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine.
Washington, which had called her case “absolutely ludicrous”, released Arthur Petrov, who it was holding on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, in the prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.
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Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine.
Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the US carried out in the last three years – and the second since Mr Trump took office.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said members of the Trump administration “continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families”.
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