Ukraine has made gains against Vladimir Putin’s forces in a “particularly fruitful” few days in the war with Russia, a top official has said. Oleksiy Danilov, one of Ukraine’s most senior security officials, said Ukraine’s army were achieving their “main tasks” as he spoke about the counteroffensive on Tuesday. “At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are fulfilling the number one task - the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army,” Mr Danilov wrote on Twitter. “The last few days have been particularly fruitful,” he said, without providing any details from the battlefield. His comments come after Ukraine’s president Zelensky said on Monday his troops had made progress after a “difficult” week. Ukraine said on Monday its troops had regained more ground on the eastern and southern fronts although deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said fighting had surged around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May. Maliar said the Ukrainian military had taken back 37.4 square kilometres of territory in the past week. Read More Vladimir Putin claims Russia ‘united as never before’ as prominent journalist is beaten Ukrainians honor award-winning writer killed in Russian missile attack on restaurant Putin claims Russia is united than ever just days after Wagner troops march on Moscow Georgia condemns Ukraine for its protests over health of former president Saakashvili

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German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius vowed Tuesday to keep supporting Ukraine’s efforts to win its war against Russia, pledging further military aid worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion). The new support is to include further Iris-T SLM anti-aircraft missile systems as well as anti-tank mines and 155-millimeter artillery shells, German news agency dpa reported. “We are talking about 20,000 additional shells,” Pistorius said at a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, in Kyiv, according to dpa. Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said it was “a great aid package.” Pistorius's unannounced trip to the Ukrainian capital came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to Ukraine and pledged American support “for the long haul,” including an additional $100 million in weapons from U.S. stockpiles. The visits appeared to be part of an international political effort to keep the war in the public mind as other issues clamor for attention, including the Israel-Hamas conflict. European Council President Charles Michel also arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, which is the 10th anniversary of what Ukraine calls its Revolution of Dignity. That uprising brought momentous change for Ukraine, pushing it closer to the West and bringing confrontation with Moscow. Pistorius paid tribute to the demonstrators who were killed during the pro-European protests 10 years ago, dpa reported. “Courageous people of all ages took to the streets for freedom, for rapprochement with Europe, and paid for it with their lives,” Pistorius said. He put down red roses at a makeshift memorial to those killed. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a video message, saluted the Ukrainian desire for freedom and its application to join the 27-nation European Union. “The future of Ukraine is in the European Union,” she said. “The future that the Maidan fought for has finally just begun,” she said in a reference to central Kyiv's Independence Square. For Moscow, the Ukrainian revolt was fomented by Western interests, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday reaffirmed the Kremlin’s view that it was “a coup, a forceful coup financed from abroad.” Ukraine’s current fight to push out the Kremlin’s forces has lasted almost 21 months. A recent Ukrainian counteroffensive apparently has yielded no major changes on the battlefield, and another tough winter of attritional warfare lies ahead. The U.K. defense ministry said Russia could target Ukraine’s power grid again, just like last winter when Moscow sought to wear down local resistance by denying civilians home heating and running water. “Russia has now refrained from launching its premier air-launched cruise missiles from its heavy bomber fleet for nearly two months, likely allowing it to build up a substantial stock of these weapons,” the ministry in London said Tuesday. Germany is the second biggest single provider of military and financial support to Ukraine after the United States, and German officials said Pistorius aimed to assess the effectiveness of its aid as well as take stock of the fighting during his visit. Pistorius said he wanted to “express our solidarity, our deep solidarity and admiration for the courageous, brave and costly fight that is being waged here.” Meanwhile, two Russian missiles struck a hospital in the eastern Donetsk region, wounding six people and possibly leaving more buried under rubble, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Tuesday. Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 10 Shahed-type drones, four S-300 missiles and one Iskander-K cruise missile, Ukraine’s air force said Tuesday. Nine Shahed drones and the Iskander-K missile were successfully intercepted on Monday night, it said. No casualties were immediately reported. At least five Ukrainian civilians were killed and 10 others were injured in southeastern regions of the country over the previous 24 hours, the presidential office said Tuesday. Civilians have been victims of Russia's barrages on an almost daily basis. At least 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 560 children, have been killed and more than 18,500 have been injured since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said Tuesday. In other developments, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Ukrainian efforts to cross the Dnieper River on the southern front line have failed. He told top Russian military brass that Moscow’s forces “are steadily holding positions along the entire line of contact and are gradually improving their positions.” Ukraine’s military claimed last week its troops had secured multiple bridgeheads on the river’s eastern bank in the Kherson region. That would be a small but potentially significant strategic advance amid fighting that has largely come to a standstill. ___ Associated Press reporters Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read More Poland set to get more than 5 billion euros in EU money after commission approves recovery plan NATO head says violence in Kosovo unacceptable while calling for constructive dialogue with Serbia Slovakia's new government led by populist Robert Fico wins a mandatory confidence vote Ukrainian troops beat back attacks near Bakhmut as Putin’s forces make desperate push Ukrainians who fled their country for Israel find themselves yet again living with war 10 years later, a war-weary Ukraine reflects on events that began its collision course with Russia

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Wild video footage captured an Iowa police officer clinging to the roof of a man’s car as he drove at speeds of up to 50 mph during a traffic stop that escalated into a full-blown car chase. Police in the town of Carroll stopped Dennis Guider, Jr, of Illinois, for a traffic violation, only to discover that he had an active warrant in Illinois for forgery. Body camera footage released last week in court showed Officer Patrick McCarty approaching the window of a red sedan during the 5 March stop. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it sounds like you’ve got a warrant out of Illinois,” he told Guider and a female passenger. The suspect then shoved the woman out of the driver’s seat and drove away slowly. Officer McCarty drew his gun and jumped on the hood of the vehicle while ordering Guider to slow down. He then accelerated with the officer still on the hood, leading officers on a chase in which he hit reported speeds of up to 50mph. During the chase, Officer McCarty fell off the roof of the car and broke a vertebra in his lower back. Guider was sentenced to up to five years in prison on Thursday for the felony of serious injury by vehicle, after pleading guilty and avoiding an eluding arrest charge. The Illinois man, who is Black, told an Iowa court he feared for his life and was afraid when the white police officer jumped on his car with a gun drawn. “I feared for my life after the officer pull(ed) out his gun and jump(ed) on the hood of my car,” he wrote in a February letter. The officer in the case admitted in a hearing last week that he hadn’t been trained to jump onto the hood of a moving vehicle. “Each situation is different,” Officer McCarty said. “It certainly didn’t play out the way I intended.” “Officer McCarty was polite and respectful when he approached the car, was treating everybody with dignity, and then you kick your girlfriend out of the car and you take off,” District Associate Judge Joseph McCarville said during sentencing, the Des Moines Register reported. Read More Harry and Meghan – latest news: Rishi Sunak gives abrasive response to ‘near catastrophic’ car case Chilling video shows New Mexico teen gunman’s shooting rampage: ‘Come kill me’ Grandma who lost finger in dog attack told by police that animal is ‘friendly’

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