ALEX BABENKO

Soccer players of AMP FC Kyiv and Pokrova FC-2 play during the first football tournament for war-wounded amputees in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukraine holds first soccer tournament for war-wounded amputees — and plans to go international
The players were chosen from among the thousands of Ukrainians wounded in the war. With limbs lost to Russian attacks, they gathered at a stadium in Kyiv over the weekend.
 
Relatives of Danylo Liashkevych aka "Berserk", Ukrainian serviceman of 3rd assault brigade, cry during the funeral ceremony at crematorium in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A Ukrainian medic fell in love with a soldier on the front. They died together in a Russian attack
She and Daniil Liashkevych, known as Berserk, fell in love just a few months ago, their friends and comrades say, but it helped them endure the war. They both worked in the 3rd Assault Brigade, and were killed Nov. 4.
 
Soccer players of Dynamo Kyiv and Zorya Luhansk great each other before game of Ukrainian Premier League in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
In wartime Ukraine, soccer fans bury rivalries and find a moment of calm at matches
Ukraine’s Premier League is holding its first full season with fans present since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, with crowd sizes limited by the capacity of nearby bomb shelters.
 
Image released by the Police of the Donetsk Region that shows a police officer looking at a burning Red Cross vehicle that was destroyed in a Russian strike in the Donetsk region on Thursday Sept. 12, 2024. (Police of the Donetsk Region via AP)
Red Cross staff members killed in Ukraine as country warned of severe winter health crisis
Three Red Cross staff members have been killed by artillery strikes in eastern Ukraine. The deadly strikes, which left two others wounded, hit a Red Cross truck that was delivering firewood in the war-divided Donetsk region Thursday.
 
A woman sits in a bus during evacuation in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, August 19, 2024. Due to the advance of Russian troops, the war affects more and more new settlements to the west of the Donetsk region. Intensive shelling forced people to leave homes. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Civilians flee Pokrovsk as Russia’s army bears down on the key eastern Ukraine city
Civilians with small children in their arms and lugging heavy suitcases are fleeing Ukraine’s eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army is bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
 
Soldiers carry the coffin of former Ukrainian nationalist lawmaker Iryna Farion during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine, Monday, July 22, 2024. Farion, who often made outspoken statements defending the Ukrainian language was shot by a gunman in her home city of Lviv. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)
Thousands in Ukraine attend funeral of former lawmaker and critic of Russia who was killed in Lviv
Several thousand mourners have attended the funeral for a Ukrainian former lawmaker best known for her campaign to promote the Ukrainian language. Iryna Farion died after being shot in the street by an unknown assailant last week.
 
A woman soldier wrapped in the LGBT flag attends a Pride march in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 16, 2024. Several hundred LGBT Ukrainian servicemen and other protesters joined the pride march in central Kyiv Sunday seeking legal reforms to allow people in same-sex partnerships to take medical decisions for wounded soldiers and bury victims of the war with Russia that extended across Ukraine more than two years ago. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
LGBTQ soldiers in Ukraine hope their service is changing attitudes as they rally for legal rights
Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters have marched in central Kyiv to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia.
 
The serviceman of 47th brigade known by call-sign "Azimuth", 33, pauses, during an interview with The Associated Press, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. The loss of the city of Avdiivka last month marked the end of a long, exhausting defense for the Ukrainian military. One brigade had defended the same block of buildings for months without a break. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Exhaustion, dwindling reserves and a commander who disappeared: How Ukraine lost Avdiivka to Russia
The loss of the city of Avdiivka last month marked the end of a long, exhausting defense for the Ukrainian military. One brigade had defended the same block of buildings for months without a break.
 
CORRECTS SPELLING: FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrski, right, look at a map during their visit to the front line city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Nov. 30, 2023. Oleksandr Syrski was appointed as new Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Ukraine’s new army chief signals new momentum, but huge problems stand in the way
Ukraine’s new army chief says his immediate goals include improving the rotation of troops out of the front lines and harnessing the power of new technology. Col. Gen.
 
The Zelenchuk family prays before a Christmas dinner in Kryvorivnia village, Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukraine says it shot down Russian fighter jets and drones as the country officially marks Christmas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the shooting down of two Russian fighter jets on Christmas Eve, saying “This Christmas sets the right mood for the entire year ahead.”