内容摘要：Radchenko sees the latter as a major sticking point in peace talks, because a strong, viable army is important for Ukraine to defend itself.

Radchenko sees the latter as a major sticking point in peace talks, because a strong, viable army is important for Ukraine to defend itself.

She knelt before Khudia’s coffin, shaking with grief, until mourners urged her away. Her mother supported her slender frame. Loved ones piled flowers on the closed casket until they overflowed.“He was the most precious thing I have ever had,” Zavadska said.

The couple’s families met for the first time at the funeral. Khudia’s grandmother saw the girl, her fingers pressed against the boy’s portrait, and knew.“You are Alyona? Aren’t you?” she called out.Khudia has appeared in Zavadska’s dreams since the day after he was killed, weeping by her feet. Sleep eludes her, her mother said: “She is terrified of it.”

In a park gazebo where the couple liked to sit together, Zavadska looked at photos. In one, the couple is kissing, Zavadska’s long, glossy hair obscuring Khudia’s face.She now speaks in a whisper barely audible above the rustling of leaves. She says part of her is gone. Her mother, feeling powerless, worries her daughter won’t survive her grief.

“His hugs were so warm,” Zavadska said.

“We were waiting for the summer so much. We had so many plans.”Israel’s military said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.

in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah. Large parts of both areas have been flattened by months of Israeli operations.Under Israel’s blockade, charity kitchens are virtually the only source of food left in Gaza, but

in recent days as food supplies run out. Aid groups say more closures are imminent. Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of siphoning off aid in Gaza, though it hasn’t presented evidence for its claims. The U.N. denies significant diversion takes place, saying it monitors distribution.