Notes and Essays -- John Brown

The impact of the three-year-old conflict is reaching deeper into the most personal parts of Ukrainians’ lives  By Isabel Coles and Ievgeniia Sivorka, The Wall Street Journal | Photographs by Justyna Mielnikiewicz for WSJ  |  May 31, 2025 12:07 am ET Original article contains  informative/touching illustrations which for undetermined technical reasons could not be reproduced here. LVIV, Ukraine—On brief leave from fighting against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, soldier Petro Kotovych’s wife, Maria, rushed him to a fertility clinic here.   The couple had struggled to have a baby and undergone five rounds of IVF before the war. Now, with Petro drafted into the Ukrainian army and Moscow’s forces  posing an existential threat  to the country, their personal battle to conceive seemed more urgent.   “I insisted,” Maria, 35, recalls about the visit.   The clinic put Petro’s sperm on ice in early 2023. In May of that year, he was declared missing in ...

With Russia saying its terms for peace must remain secret until the talks begin, Ukraine won’t confirm whether its delegation will even attend. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan talk in downtown Kyiv on Friday. (Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock) By  Siobhán O'Grady  and  Francesca Ebel l, The Washington Post ,  Updated  May 30, 2025 at 4:12 p.m. EDT yesterday at 4:12 p.m. EDT Ukraine, KYIV — The next round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine have been thrown into doubt after Moscow refused to produce its promised terms for peace before the sides meet Monday in Istanbul. Ukraine,  a result, has declined to commit to the meeting date set by Russia for  the U.S.-backed talks , while the Kremlin has insisted that its terms must remain secret until talks begin.   “In order for the next planned meeting to be substantive and meaningful, it is important to receive a document in advance so ...

A bipartisan duo met with the Ukrainian president and made the case for Congress to impose harsh economic penalties on Moscow for its continuing offensive.  Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, right, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut at a news conference on Friday in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit... Tetiana Dzhafarova/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By  Robert Jimison  and  Constant Méheut The New York Times , May 30, 2025,  3:29 p.m. ET A bipartisan pair of senators traveled to Ukraine on Friday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, using the visit to champion a broadly supported push in Congress to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia. Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, surveyed damaged neighborhoods in Kyiv and buildings leveled amid the escalating violence, including the most  intense bombardment since the war began , then made the case that there was an urgent need for the...