Russians

Two cosmonauts and an astronaut who were supposed to leave the International Space Station this month will be brought back to Earth in late September, doubling their time aboard the orbiting laboratory to more than a year.

Some Ukrainians defied the danger, however, to return to the country to reunite with families for the holidays.

Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, health staff at a children’s hospital in the south started secretly planning how to save the babies.

Ukrainian authorities said the Russians also attacked at least a half-dozen railroad stations around the country.

The 18-day training camp takes place at a range in the western town of Peja.

Russia’s troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.

Ukrainian officials warned residents this week to leave as soon as possible for safer parts of the country.

Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday.

Russia is battling a surge of infections even though it was the first in the world to authorize a vaccine and among the first to start administering it in December.