Russia-Ukraine war – live: Russian retaliation threat sees up to 70 air assault weapons used overnight

Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region which targeted a blood transfusion centre, leaving several dead and injured.

“Russia’s guided air bomb against a blood transfusion centre in Ukraine. This evening, the Kupiansk community in Kharkiv region. Dead and wounded are reported. My condolences! Our rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Mr Zelensky said without mentioning the exact death toll.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression. Beasts that destroy everything that simply allows to live. Defeating terrorists is a matter of honour for everyone who values life,” he said.

It comes as senior officials from some 40 countries including the United States, China and India have begun talks in Saudi Arabia that Kyiv and its allies hope will lead to agreement on key principles for a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia is not attending, though the Kremlin has said it will keep an eye on the talks.

Key Points

• Russian retaliation threat sees up to 70 air assault weapons used overnight

• Zelensky condemns Russian attack on blood transfusion centre

• Russia planning ‘false flag’ attack in Belarus, Ukraine warns

• Blasts and gunfire reported near Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

• Exclusive: Olena Zelenska’s urgent plea to help her nation as war rages around her

• Explosions and drone debris hit Kyiv in overnight attacks

Russian retaliation threat sees up to 70 air assault weapons used overnight

10:29 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia launched a multi-wave overnight attack on Ukraine with 70 air-assault weapons including cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones, Kyiv’s Air Force said on Sunday, and at least 10 missiles appear to got through air defences.

Local media said a worker at a grain silo had been wounded in the overnight attack, which appeared to be focused on an area of western Ukraine, far from the front line.

“In total, in several waves of attacks, from the evening of Aug. 5 to the morning of Aug. 6, 2023, the enemy used 70 means of air assault weapons,” the Air Force said. “Information about Kinzhals is classified,” the Ukrainian military noted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said people had been killed and wounded in an earlier hit to a blood transfusion centre in the town of Kupiansk, a railway hub fewer than 10 miles from the front in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene, he said on Saturday evening, describing the strike as a “war crime.” He did not say how many casualties there were.

Around 20,000 without gas in Kherson region following attacks, Russian official claims

16:30 , Matt Drake

Ukraine has been accused of launching a missile strike on several bridges linking mainland Ukraine to Crimea, the RIA news agency reported.

Kherson regional governor Vladimir Saldo said in his Telegram channel that another of the road links, a small bridge across the Tonky Strait linking the town of Henichesk with the narrow Arabat Spit on Crimea's northeast coast, had been shelled and that a civilian driver had been wounded. It was not clear whether traffic on the bridge had been suspended.

He said a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge serving Henichesk, the temporary administrative centre of the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region, had also been damaged, leaving more than 20,000 people without gas.

The attacks are making it increasingly hard to get on and off the peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and is of military importance to Moscow as well as a popular tourist destination for Russians.

Multiple explosions hit road bridges between Crimea and occupied Ukraine - according to reports

15:33 , Matt Drake

The Chonhar bridge that links Ukraine to Crimea was damaged by a Ukrainian missile strike on Sunday, the RIA news agency reported.

Ukraine previously struck the same bridge, one of a handful of links between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, in June.

According to the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, multiple explosions have been reported on critical road bridges.

Also hit was the Arabat Spit which is on Crimea's east coast and also the city of Henichesk, CNN reported.

Pictures of damage to unversity hit in Donetsk strike

14:45 , Sam Rkaina

Flames engulfed a university building’s wooden roof in Donetsk following Ukrainian shelling on Saturday, said an emergency official in the Russia-controlled city in eastern Ukraine.

“As a result of the latest attack on Donetsk, the first building of the University of Economics and Trade is on fire,” Alexei Kulemzin, the Russia-installed mayor, said on Telegram.

“We are using 12 water tanks, three ladders and 100 firefighters,” said Alexei Kostrubitsky, the Russia-installed emergency minister for the region that Moscow calls the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Moscow airport halts flights after foiled drone attack

14:15 , Sam Rkaina

Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.

Two people were killed and four more were injured following a Russian air strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion center in the area’s Kupyan district late on August 5.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”

A woman in her eighties was also killed by Ukrainian shelling in Russian-held Donetsk, the city’s Moscow-appointed mayor Alexei Kulemzin said Sunday. Moscow’s Vnukovo airport located 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of the Russian capital briefly suspended flights Sunday morning after a drone was shot down in the airspace around the city.

The drone was destroyed by air defense systems in the Podolsk region of the Moscow suburbs, the Russian defense ministry said.

Authorities in Ukraine, which generally avoids commenting on attacks on Russian soil, didn’t say whether it launched the raid.

Flights were last halted at the airport on July 30, when two drones crashed into the Moscow City business district after being jammed by Russian air defenses.

Russia can ensure security in Black Sea, says deputy foreign ministry

13:50 , Sam Rkaina

Russia has military and technical capabilities to eliminate threats to security in the Black Sea, the TASS news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday.

Ryabkov, who blamed the United States and Britain for the escalation of tensions, spoke days after Ukrainian sea drones attacked a Russian warship near the Russian port of Novorossiysk and a Russian tanker near Crimea.

Ukraine two months into gruelling counteroffensive

13:47 , Bel Trew in Ukraine

Ukraine is two months into a gruelling counteroffensive to try to push out Russian forces occupying almost a fifth of its territory in the south and east.

Progress has been slower than previous assaults as Russian forces have spent the last year building up entrenched defence lines.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that while Ukraine had recaptured half the territory that Russia had initially seized, this counteroffensive was in its early days and would take shape over “several months”.

Ukraine said on Friday Kyiv was working to take land near the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut.

This weekend’s intense bombardment came after Moscow vowed to “retaliate ” after a Ukrainian sea drone hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea and a major Russian sea port on Friday.

Both attacks reportedly halted marine traffic and vehicles using Russia’s Kerch Bridge which connects the Russian mainland to occupied Crimea.

Msoow’s Vnukovo airport, located around 15km southwest of Moscow, suspended flights briefly on Sunday morning after Russia claimed it shot down a drone in the airspace around the city.

Ukraine has not commented on the alleged targeting of Vnukovo airport. An official with Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that it was behind the earlier attack on the sea tanker, which was transporting fuel for Russian forces.

Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram its air defence had destroyed 30 out of 40 cruise missiles and all 27 of the Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight Saturday. It also said Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles but did not disclose any further information on them.

Russian occupied territory in Ukraine, Moscow-appointed authorities said a woman in her 80s was killed by Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk where a university building was also set alight.

Three killed in Russian revenge attacks

13:45 , Bel Trew in Ukraine

At least three people have been killed and a blood transfusion centre bombed in Ukraine, as Russia unleashed a wave of intense drone and missile strikes after vowing to retaliate for a Ukrainian hit on Russian tankers in the Black Sea.

Moscow’s second-largest airport also briefly suspended flights Sunday morning following what the Kremlin said was a foiled Ukrainian drone attack. The Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed publicly whether they were behind either raid.

For most of the weekend, air sirens blared across Kyiv, and regions, from the south to the west, as Russia launched one of its heaviest and most widespread aerial bombardments in weeks.

The Ukrainian air force said Sunday that in total Russian forces had launched 70 Iranian-made Shahed drones, as well as cruise and hypersonic missiles from aircraft over the Caspian Sea.

Russian shelling in the northern region of Kharkiv also killed three people.

Russia says Western bid to get Global South to back Ukraine is doomed

13:19 , Sam Rkaina

Moscow has said that weekend talks in Saudi Arabia including the U.S., China and India aiming to establish principles for a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine were a doomed Western attempt to align the Global South behind Kyiv.

Senior officials from some 40 countries were attending the two-day meeting, part of a push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers among countries that have been reluctant to take sides in the conflict. Russia was not invited.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the state news agency TASS calling the meeting “a reflection of the West’s attempt to continue futile, doomed efforts to mobilise the international community, and more precisely, the Global South, even if not entirely, in support of the so-called Zelenskyi formula, which is doomed and untenable from the outset”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he hoped the initiative would lead to a peace summit of leaders from around the world this autumn to endorse principles for a settlement based on his own 10-point formula.

At its heart is a withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Russia can ensure security in Black Sea, says deputy foreign ministry

12:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has military and technical capabilities to eliminate threats to security in the Black Sea, the TASS news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday.

Ryabkov, who blamed the United States and Britain for the escalation of tensions, spoke days after Ukrainian sea drones attacked a Russian warship near the Russian port of Novorossiysk and a Russian tanker near Crimea.

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

11:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In a rare interview the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has spoken to Independent TV about her work rebuilding Ukraine in the middle of war, the pressures on her family and concerns for the future of her country.

From the presidential palace, she told The Independent’s Bel Trew about the need to reconstruct cities despite the fighting raging on, about building cutting-edge facilities to treat the country’s’ war-wounded and fighting stigma on trauma around the country.

Watch the full interview on Independent TV, across mobile and connected TV from Monday 7 August.

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Three killed in a night of attacks across Ukraine

11:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said on Sunday, as Kyiv’s military exchanged fire with Russian occupation forces.

Two people were killed and four more were injured following a Russian air strike in Ukraine‘s Kharkiv region, said the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion centre in the area’s Kupyan district late on Saturday.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Mr Zelensky wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honour for everyone who values life.”

A woman in her 80s was also killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-held Donetsk, the city’s Moscow-appointed mayor Alexei Kulemzin said on Sunday.

The attack also set alight the main building of the M Tugan-Baranovsky University of Economics and Trade, said the Moscow-installed head of the illegally annexed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin.

Ukraine emblem raised to replace Soviet symbol on Kyiv's Motherland Monument

10:45 , Sam Rkaina

Moscow mayor says hostile drone destroyed by air defences

10:14 , Sam Rkaina

A hostile drone was destroyed by air defences as it approached Moscow on Sunday, city mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Sobyanin wrote on messaging app Telegram that the drone approached Moscow around 11am (8am GMT).

Russia accused Ukraine of two drone attacks on its capital last week.

Moscow’s Vnukovo airport suspends flights

10:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Moscow’s Vnukovo airport suspended flights on Sunday, citing unspecified reasons outside of its control, the TASS news agency reported.

Vnukovo previously carried out similar suspensions when the Russian capital was attacked by drones last week.

Moment camera operator runs for safety during shelling in Donetsk

09:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russia used 70 air-assault weapons in overnight attack

09:20 , Sam Rkaina

Russia launched a multi-wave overnight attack on Ukraine, using 70 air-assault weapons, including cruise and hypersonic missiles and Iranian-made drones, Kyiv’s Air Force said on Sunday.

The Air Force - which is celebrated in a holiday on Sunday - said on the Telegram messaging channel that Ukraine’s air defence destroyed 30 out of 40 cruise missiles and all 27 of the Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight.

“In total, in several waves of attacks, from the evening of Aug. 5 to the morning of Aug. 6, 2023, the enemy used 70 means of air assault weapons,” the Air Force said.

It also said Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, but would not disclose further information on them.

It was not immediately clear whether there was any damage from the overnight attack or what happened to the 10 cruise missiles that were not shot down.

Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told the national Ukrainian broadcaster that one of the key targets for Russia’s overnight attack was the Khmelnytskiy region.

“Now, it is the Starokostiantyniv airfield that haunts the enemy,” Ihnat said.

Russia had earlier targeted the Starokostiantyniv military airfield in the Khmelnytskiy region at the end of July.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

08:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war.

Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed — and stay quiet about defeats.

None of this is unique to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Any nation at war bends the truth — to boost morale on the home front, to rally support from its allies, to try to persuade its detractors to change their stance.

But Europe’s largest land war in decades — and the biggest one since the dawn of the digital age — is taking place in a superheated information space. And modern communications technology, theoretically a force for improving public knowledge, tends to multiply the confusion because deceptions and falsehoods reach audiences instantly.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson cells ‘tip of iceberg’

08:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Harrowing new accounts of Ukrainians being tortured during Russia’s eight-month occupation of Kherson are “just the tip of the iceberg”, an international team investigating the alleged war crimes has warned.

The acts described by those detained in dozens of makeshift detention centres – including the use of sexual violence as a common tactic among Russian guards, and genital electrocution – are “evocative of genocide”, the team of lawyers and prosecutors said this week.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Dr Alice Jill Edwards, told The Independent that similarities in the accounts of victims across several different regions of Ukraine “expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian state”.

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson ‘tip of iceberg’

How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?

08:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons. The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.

The Kremlin, in particular, is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan and, in fact, represents a monumental miscalculation on the part of its leader, who is already under pressure at home over the attempted uprising by Wagner Group mercenaries.

Moscow is more likely to downplay its own (rarely offered) numbers – putting the official number at around 6,000 – and accuse its enemies of dishonestly briefing against it whenever outside estimates are offered that imply significant Russian losses.

How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?

Russia destroys two drones over Bryansk region -local governor

07:39 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s air defence system destroyed two aircraft-type drones over the Karachevskyi district in the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian region that borders Ukraine, said on Sunday.

“There were no damages or casualties,” Bogomaz said on the Telegram channel.

It was not clear who launched the drones, and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russia-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Russian authorities say the Bryansk region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 17 months since Russia launched its invasion on Ukraine.

Half of 30,000 Russian paratroopers fighting in Ukraine likely killed or wounded, says UK MoD

07:01 , Arpan Rai

At least 50 per cent of the 30,000 Russian paratroopers deployed in Ukraine last year have been killed or wounded, according to the figures shared by top Russian General, the British Ministry of Defence said today.

It pointed to the annual celebrations of Russia’s Airborne Forces (VDV) Day earlier this week on Wednesday which the ministry says were overshadowed by an “apparently unsanctioned disclosure of the scope of the casualties the elite force has suffered in Ukraine”.

“In a recorded address for VDV Day, the VDV’s Commander-in-Chief General Colonel Mikhail Teplinsky said that 8500 paratroopers had been wounded and later returned to duty or had refused to leave the front line at all,” the British MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that the video was quickly deleted from the Russian MoD’s official channels and that General Teplinsky did not comment on how many troops had been killed or were too seriously wounded to return to duty.

“However, extrapolating Teplinksy’s figures endorses the assessment that at least 50 per cent of the 30,000 paratroopers who deployed to Ukraine in 2022 have been killed or wounded,” the ministry claimed.

How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?

06:47 , Arpan Rai

Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons. The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.

The Kremlin, in particular, is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan and, in fact, represents a monumental miscalculation on the part of its leader, who is already under pressure at home over the attempted uprising by Wagner Group mercenaries.

Moscow is more likely to downplay its own (rarely offered) numbers – putting the official number at around 6,000 – and accuse its enemies of dishonestly briefing against it whenever outside estimates are offered that imply significant Russian losses.

How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?

Zelensky condemns Russian attack on blood transfusion centre

05:45 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region which targeted a blood transfusion centre, leaving several dead and injured.

“Russia’s guided air bomb against a blood transfusion centre in Ukraine. This evening, the Kupiansk community in Kharkiv region. Dead and wounded are reported. My condolences! Our rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Mr Zelensky said without mentioning the exact death toll.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression. Beasts that destroy everything that simply allows to live. Defeating terrorists is a matter of honour for everyone who values life,” he said.

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson cells ‘tip of iceberg’

05:05 , Arpan Rai

An international team investigating the alleged war crimes has warned that the harrowing new accounts of Ukrainians being tortured during Russia’s eight-month occupation of Kherson are “just the tip of the iceberg”.

The acts described by those detained in dozens of makeshift detention centres – including the use of sexual violence as a common tactic among Russian guards, and genital electrocution – are “evocative of genocide”, the team of lawyers and prosecutors said this week.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Dr Alice Jill Edwards, told The Independent that similarities in the accounts of victims across several different regions of Ukraine “expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian state”.

Andy Gregory reports:

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson ‘tip of iceberg’

Russia vows to punish Ukraine for attack near Crimean Bridge

04:37 , Arpan Rai

Russia has vowed to punish Ukraine for using a sea drone to attack a civilian tanker near the Kerch Strait in what it said was a “terrorist act” that threatened the lives of the crew and risked “a large-scale environmental disaster”.

“The Kyiv regime, meeting no condemnation from Western countries and international organisations, is actively applying new terrorist methods, this time in the waters of the Black Sea,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions, they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished.”

Earlier yesterday, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggested Moscow would launch more strikes against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, and threatened to hand Ukraine “an ecological catastrophe”.

Officials on both sides confirmed a Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives had struck a Russian fuel tanker overnight on Friday near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours.

Blinken discusses Black Sea grain initiative with Turkish foreign minister, says State Department

04:04 , Arpan Rai

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a call yesterday with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, discussed the Black Sea grain initiative, peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Sweden’s entry into Nato, the State Department said.

In a statement, Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the State Department, conveyed that Secretary Blinken expressed gratitude to Turkey for its prominent role in the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He also highlighted the pressing necessity to confront the Kremlin’s inhuman use of food as a weapon of war.

The “Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports” endorsed by the United Nations, was signed in July 2022 in Istanbul. This initiative aims to reestablish Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, even amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“The secretary also thanked Turkiye for its commitment to send Sweden’s Nato accession protocol to the Turkish parliament for ratification,” Mr Miller added.

Russia official blames Ukraine cluster shells for Donetsk fire

03:42 , Arpan Rai

A university building in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine was up in flames late last night following Ukrainian shelling, the Russian-installed mayor of the city said.

“As a result of the latest attack on Donetsk, the first building of the university of economics and trade is on fire,” Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-installed mayor said on Telegram.

He said preliminary information indicated the cause of the fire was an attack by Ukrainian forces using cluster munitions. Reuters could not verify the details of his account.

Ukraine, which received supplies of cluster munitions from the United States last month, has vowed to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

03:00 , Joe Middleton

On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war.

Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed — and stay quiet about defeats.

None of this is unique to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Any nation at war bends the truth — to boost morale on the home front, to rally support from its allies, to try to persuade its detractors to change their stance.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

Star soprano Anna Netrebko sues Met Opera over its decision to cut ties over Russia-Ukraine war

02:00 , Joe Middleton

Soprano Anna Netrebko, once among the Metropolitan Opera’s biggest box office draws, sued the company and general manager Peter Gelb on Friday, alleging defamation, breach of contract and other violations related to the institution’s decision to drop her following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, asks for at least $360,000 in damages for lost performance and rehearsal fees. Netrebko claims the Met caused ”severe mental anguish and emotional distress” that included “depression, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, and emotional pain and suffering.”

The Met dropped the Russian soprano from future engagements shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Gelb had demanded she repudiate Russia President President Vladimir Putin.

Star soprano Anna Netrebko sues Met Opera over its decision to cut ties over Russia-Ukraine war

Pope visits Portuguese shrine known for apocalyptic prophesy linked to Russia as war rages on

01:00 , Joe Middleton

Pope Francis visited the Portuguese town of Fatima on Saturday to pray for peace at a shrine that has captivated Catholics for a century.

The shrine is known for apocalyptic prophesies of hell, peace and Soviet communism that have found new relevance with Russia‘s war in Ukraine.

Francis was spending the morning at the Fatima shrine, praying with sick people and prisoners, alongside pilgrims who began filling Fatima’s central esplanade long before sunrise. As Francis’ military helicopter landed at the Fatima helipad, nearby wildfires turned the sky smoky black and sent ash flittering down on the crowd.

Pope visits Portuguese shrine known for apocalyptic prophesy linked to Russia as war rages on

Moment drone boat 'hits Russian tanker' near Crimea captured in dramatic footage

Sunday 6 August 2023 00:10 , Joe Middleton

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Saturday 5 August 2023 22:54 , Joe Middleton

In a rare interview the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has spoken to Independent TV about her work rebuilding Ukraine in the middle of war, the pressures on her family and concerns for the future of her country.

From the presidential palace, she told The Independent’s Bel Trew about the need to reconstruct cities despite the fighting raging on, about building cutting-edge facilities to treat the country’s’ war-wounded and fighting stigma on trauma around the country.

Watch the full interview on Independent TV, across mobile and connected TV from Monday 7 August.

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Zelensky claims Russian missile hits blood transfusion centre

Saturday 5 August 2023 21:26 , Joe Middleton

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian guided aerial bomb hit a blood transfusion centre in the town of Kupiansk in eastern Kharkiv region late on Saturday.

“There are dead and wounded,” he said on his Telegram channel. Kupiansk is a railway hub fewer than 10 miles from the front.

Zelenskiy said rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene and described the strike as a “war crime.” He did not say how many people were killed or wounded. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in a full-scale invasion that has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed cities.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

Saturday 5 August 2023 20:19 , Joe Middleton

On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war.

Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that can’t be confirmed — and stay quiet about defeats.

None of this is unique to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Any nation at war bends the truth — to boost morale on the home front, to rally support from its allies, to try to persuade its detractors to change their stance.

Russia's war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson cells ‘tip of iceberg’

Saturday 5 August 2023 19:25 , Joe Middleton

Harrowing new accounts of Ukrainians being tortured during Russia’s eight-month occupation of Kherson are “just the tip of the iceberg”, an international team investigating the alleged war crimes has warned.

The acts described by those detained in dozens of makeshift detention centres – including the use of sexual violence as a common tactic among Russian guards, and genital electrocution – are “evocative of genocide”, the team of lawyers and prosecutors said this week.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Dr Alice Jill Edwards, told The Independent that similarities in the accounts of victims across several different regions of Ukraine “expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian state”.

Andy Gregory reports.

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Kherson ‘tip of iceberg’

Zelensky addresses Game4Ukraine charity match

Saturday 5 August 2023 18:36 , Joe Middleton

Football legends and celebrities have gathered at Chelsea’s football ground, Stamford Bridge, and taken to the pitch to raise money for war-torn Ukraine.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the crowd shortly before kick-off, before a minutes silence for all those killed in the conflict.

The Game 4 Ukraine is raising money to help rebuild the infrastructure and facilities damaged by the Russian invasion of the country.

The Blue Team, or Team Shevchenko is managed by Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes and includes a number of players from Chelsea including Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, and Claude Makelele, along with current Ukranian player Mykhailo Mudryk.

The Yellow Team, or Team Zinchenko is managed by Arsene Wenger contains a number of former Arsenal legends among other including Robert Pires, Jens Lehmann and Gilberto Silva. They will play alongside Cluj Ukranian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka and former player Yevhen Levchenko.

Moment drone boat 'hits Russian tanker' near Crimea captured in dramatic footage

Saturday 5 August 2023 18:05 , Joe Middleton

Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in ‘attempted assassination’ is Playboy cover star

Saturday 5 August 2023 17:15 , Sam Rkaina

A Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in a suspected assassination attempt has appeared as the cover star on the first Playboy printed since the Russian invasion.

Iryna Bilotserkovets, whose husband is an aide to Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, posed with an eye mask and metal bikini after being caught in a gun attack just three days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

The mother of three was driving home with her children through a neighbourhood in Ukraine when her car was hit by several bullets.

Click here for the full story.

Game 4 Ukraine: When is kick off, how to watch and who is playing

Saturday 5 August 2023 16:45 , Sam Rkaina

At Stamford Bridge on Saturday a number of football legends and celebrities will take to the pitch to raise money for war-torn Ukraine.

The first Game 4 Ukraine will be played in front of fans, with the money designated to help rebuild the infrastructure and facilities damaged by the Russian invasion of the country.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky will address the crowd, before a minutes silence for all those killed in the conflict, and the mascots will be displaced children.

The Game 4 Ukraine is due to kick off at 6 pm BST on Saturday 5 August at Stamford Bridge in London, will music and lights continuing until after 9pm.

Click here for all you need to know.

Saudi diplomacy helped bring China to the table

Saturday 5 August 2023 16:15 , Sam Rkaina

Western officials and analysts said Saudi diplomacy had been important in securing China’s presence at the talks.

Under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, the kingdom has sought a bigger role on the world stage and has pushed to expand ties with major powers outside the old framework of its relationship with the United States.

Riyadh has worked with Moscow in recent years on oil market policy and, along with Turkey, it helped mediate a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia last year. Zelenskiy attended an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia last year where MbS voiced readiness to help mediate in the war.

Saudi Arabia has also built a closer relationship with China over the past year, giving an effusive welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Riyadh in December, and seeking to join the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

In March, Beijing brokered a resumption of ties between Saudi Arabia and its arch regional foe Iran.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Middle East fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute, said China’s attendance sent a signal of support for Saudi Arabian diplomacy that built on other areas of recent Chinese-Saudi cooperation.

“Chinese participation in the talks is a boost to the Saudi narrative that their convening power and ability to leverage relationships is qualitatively different to Western parties,” he said.

However, China’s presence does not indicate it will ultimately agree to the results sought by Ukraine and its allies, said Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Center in Washington.

“Participating in a meeting only suggests the willingness to listen and discuss. It by no means suggests that China has to agree to anything in the end,” Sun said.

China sending special envoy to talks

Saturday 5 August 2023 15:46 , Sam Rkaina

The world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which has maintained contacts with both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, has played a role in convening countries that did not join earlier meetings, Western diplomats have said.

China, which did not attend a previous round of talks in Copenhagen, is sending Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui, Beijing said on Saturday. China has kept close economic and diplomatic ties with Russia since the conflict began and has rejected calls to condemn Moscow.

“We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared,” he said.

Indian National Security Adviser Shri Ajit Doval has also arrived in Jeddah for the talks, the Indian embassy in Riyadh said on social media on Saturday. Like China, India has kept close ties with Russia and refused to condemn it for the war. It has ramped up imports of Russian oil.

Ukraine seeks progress towards peace at Saudi Arabia talks

Saturday 5 August 2023 15:08 , Sam Rkaina

Senior officials from some 40 countries including the United States, China and India have begun talks in Saudi Arabia that Kyiv and its allies hope will lead to agreement on key principles for a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The two-day meeting is part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers by reaching out to Global South countries that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hit the global economy.

It is not clear whether the talks are aimed at producing a joint statement however, and the Ukrainian envoy to the meeting said the conversation “will be difficult”.

“But behind us is truth, behind us - goodness,” said envoy Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, in a television interview published late on Friday.

Saudi state television reported on Saturday afternoon that the talks had begun.

Russia is not attending, though the Kremlin has said it will keep an eye on the talks. Ukrainian, Russian and international officials say there is no prospect of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at present, with the war raging.

Zelensky has said he hopes the talks will lead to a peace summit of global leaders to endorse principles in his plan for a settlement, which demands Russia’s return of all Ukrainian territory and withdrawal of all its troops.

Medvedev warns of retaliatory strikes after Ukraine drone attacks

Saturday 5 August 2023 14:18 , Sam Rkaina

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested Moscow would launch more strikes against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, and threatened to hand Ukraine “an ecological catastrophe”.

Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, a body chaired by President Vladimir Putin, spoke after Ukrainian sea drone attacks on a Russian warship in the port of Novorossiysk, and against a tanker near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Putin chaired a meeting of the Security Council on Friday which Medvedev attended following the attack on Novorossiysk, in which the Olenegorsky Gornyak, a Russian Navy landing ship, was reported to have been badly damaged.

“Scumbags and freaks understand only cruelty and force. Apparently, the strikes on Odesa, Izmail, and other places were not enough for them,” Medvedev said in a post on his official social media accounts.

Ukraine says tanker strike ‘completely legal’

Saturday 5 August 2023 13:30 , Sam Rkaina

Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s SBU security service, did not directly confirm the latest attack but said any incident with Russian ships or the Crimean bridge was “an absolutely logical and efficient step towards the enemy”.

“Moreover, such special operations are conducted in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal,” Malyuk said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia’s Novorossiysk Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying there was no fuel spill from the SIG, as the ship had been carrying only technical ballast. Recovery work was underway with two tugboats nearby.

Rogov posted an audio clip on Telegram in which the SIG requested a tow. He also posted pictures of what he described as shattered fixtures and equipment inside the vessel.

“The SIG tanker ... received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on Telegram.

The Moscow-installed authorities in Crimea said the bridge, which was completed by Russia in 2018 and has come under serious attack twice in the war, was not targeted.

Latest on oil tanker attack

Saturday 5 August 2023 12:57 , Sam Rkaina

A Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker overnight near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours, both sides said on Saturday.

No one was hurt, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, according to Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters that the drone with 450 kg of explosives hit the SIG vessel as it transported fuel for the Russian military in Ukrainian territorial waters.

“The tanker was well loaded with fuel, so the ‘fireworks’ were seen from afar,” the source said, of the joint operation by Ukraine’s navy and security service.

Kyiv says destroying Russia’s military infrastructure inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine is crucial to its counteroffensive after the February 2022 invasion.

Another sea drone attack on Russia’s navy base at Novorossiysk damaged a warship on Friday, the first time the Ukrainian navy had projected its power so far from its shores.

The SIG tanker had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria, according to Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.

The United States imposed sanctions on the tanker and its owner, St. Petersburg-based Transpetrochart, in 2019 for helping provide jet fuel in Syria.

Moment drone boat 'hits Russian tanker' near Crimea captured in dramatic footage

Saturday 5 August 2023 12:13 , Sam Rkaina

Russian oil tanker ‘hit by Ukraine drone'

Saturday 5 August 2023 12:01 , Sam Rkaina

The Russian oil tanker attacked in the Black Sea on Saturday was hit by a Ukrainian maritime drone carrying 450 kg of explosives and was struck as it transported fuel for the Russian military, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters on Saturday.

The source said the attack on the SIG vessel was a joint operation by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy, and had been conducted in Ukrainian territorial waters.

Inside Russia’s torture chambers as investigators warn Khershon cells ‘tip of iceberg’

Saturday 5 August 2023 11:30 , Sam Rkaina

Harrowing new accounts of Ukrainians being tortured during Russia’s eight-month occupation of Kherson are “just the tip of the iceberg”, an international team investigating the alleged war crimes has warned.

The acts described by those detained in dozens of makeshift detention centres – including the use of sexual violence as a common tactic among Russian guards, and genital electrocution – are “evocative of genocide”, the team of lawyers and prosecutors said this week.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, told The Independent that similarities in the accounts of victims across several different regions of Ukraine “expose a deeper concern that torture and intimidation are a policy and strategy of the Russian state”.

Click here for the full story.

Now Wagner wanted in Niger

Saturday 5 August 2023 10:44 , Sam Rkaina

Niger’s new military junta has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner as the deadline nears for it to release the country’s ousted president or face possible military intervention by the West African regional bloc, according to an analyst.

The request came during a visit by one of the coup leaders, Gen. Salifou Mody, to neighboring Mali, where he made contact with someone from Wagner, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, told The Associated Press.

He said three Malian sources and a French diplomat confirmed the meeting first reported by France 24.

“They need (Wagner) because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power,” he said, adding that the group is considering the request.

Russian tanker damaged by sea drone attack near Crimea bridge

Saturday 5 August 2023 08:21 , Sam Rkaina

A U.S.-sanctioned Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to Crimea was damaged by a sea drone attack, Russian maritime officials said early on Saturday.

No one was hurt in the attack on the SIG tanker, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, said Russia-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The United States sanctioned the chemical tanker and its owner, St. Petersburg-based Transpetrochart, in 2019 for helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria.

“The SIG tanker... received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian media said the tanker, approaching the Kerch Strait that links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones.

Ukraine’s Interfax agency, citing an unnamed Ukrainian security service source, said the attack was conducted by Ukraine’s security and naval forces in its territorial waters, using sea drones.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Putin’s largest warship suffers damage to several watertight compartments in a blow to Black Sea Fleet, says UK MoD

Saturday 5 August 2023 07:12 , Arpan Rai

The Russian Navy landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak almost certainly suffered serious damage after being struck while near the Black Sea Fleet’s (BSF) Novorossiysk base, the British Ministry of Defence said today.

“Images of the vessel listing at 30-40 degrees suggest that several watertight compartments were breached, or that the crew’s damage control efforts were ineffectual,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

“This is a significant blow to the BSF, which previously relocated most of its units to Novorossiysk due to the high threat to Sevastopol,” the ministry said.

It added that the vessel, routinely assigned to Russia’s Northern Fleet, has “augmented the BSF since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has often ferried military and civilian traffic between Russia and occupied Crimea when the Kerch Bridge has been disrupted due to attacks”.

“The 3600 tonne, 113 metre long Olenegorsky Gornyak represents the largest Russian naval vessel seriously damaged or destroyed since the sinking of the cruiser Moskva on 13 April 2022,” the MoD said.

Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Saturday 5 August 2023 06:30 , Eleanor Noyce

In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.

Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he stands a new trial that could keep him behind bars for two more decades.

The verdict in the trial is due to be announced Friday in a makeshift courtroom in the Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny is being held and where the trial took place behind closed doors, in the town of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometres (over 140 miles) east of Moscow.

Read more:

Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Ukraine accuses Russia of planning ‘false flag’ attack in Belarus to draw Minsk into war

Saturday 5 August 2023 06:26 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine has accused Russia of planning a “false flag” attack on an oil refinery in Belarus in an attempt to draw Minsk into the war, as tensions rise on Nato’s eastern border.

While Alexander Lukashenko has so far avoided being dragged into the full-scale conflict by his close ally Vladimir Putin, the Belarusian president allowed Moscow’s troops to use Belarus as a staging ground for their invasion last February, and has agreed to host Russian nuclear weapons.

Concerns have been brewing in the West since Mr Lukashenko agreed to take in Wagner mercenaries exiled from Russia after their shortlived mutiny, with Nato member Poland warning this week of the threat posed by the “extremely dangerous” fighters, as it scrambled troops to their shared border.

Andy Gregory reports here:

Ukraine accuses Russia of planning ‘false flag’ attack in Belarus

Russia’s SIG tanker in Black Sea damaged as result of drone attack, says Moscow

Saturday 5 August 2023 06:09 , Arpan Rai

The engine room of SIG tanker deployed by Russia near Crimea was damaged as a result of a sea drone attack, Russia’s Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport confirmed today.

“The SIG tanker... received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” the agency said in a statement.

No immediate casualties have been reported.

‘With you until the end’: Defence secretary Ben Wallace’s dramatic pledge to Ukraine after first lady’s plea

Saturday 5 August 2023 05:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The UK’s support for Ukraine is tireless, the defence secretary has pledged, after Ukraine’s first lady issued an emotional plea for the world not to lose interest in the fight against Russia.

Britain will back Ukraine “every way we can” until the war is over, Ben Wallace said.

His comments follow a heartfelt call from Olena Zelenska, in an exclusive interview with Independent TV, to other nations, in which she said: “Please don’t get fatigued, because we as Ukrainians have no right to get tired.”

Kate Devlin reports:

‘Until the end’: Ben Wallace’s dramatic pledge to Ukraine after first lady’s plea

ICYMI: ‘We stand united’: RAF interception of Russian jets ‘sends strong message’ to Putin

Saturday 5 August 2023 04:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The Royal Air Force has delivered a powerful message of unity to Russian president Vladimir Putin with the interception of dozens of Russian aircraft during its leadership of a Nato air policing mission in Estonia, Ben Wallace has said.

The defence secretary praised the RAF’s success, emphasising the unwavering commitment of the UK and its allies in safeguarding European airspace and standing against any potential threat to their borders.

His comments come as RAF personnel have returned to the UK after leading the air policing mission in Eastern Europe for four months, during which pilots intercepted 50 Russian aircraft and flew for a combined total of more than 500 hours.

Martina Bet reports:

‘We stand united’: RAF interception of Russian jets ‘sends strong message’ to Putin

Ukraine aims to retake ground near Bakhmut as Russia pushes back

Saturday 5 August 2023 04:25 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian forces are persistently working to retake land near the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut and fighting off Russian forces who are pouring in additional troops in a bid to stop Kyiv’s advances, the war-hit nation’s military officials said.

“The Russians are throwing huge numbers of forces into the Bakhmut area,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar told national television. “It has been important for us to establish ourselves on dominant heights in these areas.”

She added that Ukrainian forces were advancing “slowly but confidently” south of Bakhmut while securing control of positions north of the city.

“An extremely fierce battle is going on there.”

In Moscow, several accounts said Russian troops have repelled several Ukrainian attempts to advance in the east and inflicted defeat on Ukrainian troops near Bakhmut, consistent with Kyiv’s statements about heavy fighting.

“The enemy is desperately trying to stop our offensive,” Ms Maliar said.

Ukrainian forces, she said, were also working to contain intensified Russian attacks on areas farther north in Donestsk region, around Kupiansk and Lyman.

Russian warship damaged in overnight attacks

Saturday 5 August 2023 04:13 , Arpan Rai

A Russian warship was seriously damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia’s navy base at Novorossiysk overnight, the first time the Ukrainian navy has projected its military might so far from the country’s shores.

Russia-installed officials in the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, said the latest explosions had nothing to do with the bridge, which has come under serious attacks twice in the 17-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine, which rarely comments on attacks on Russian targets, made no official statement on the incident.

Traffic halted on Kerch bridge but resumed after overnight explosions

Saturday 5 August 2023 04:03 , Arpan Rai

Traffic was halted for a time on the bridge, the third such stop in the past 24 hours, but later resumed, officials said.

“Once again, there was no direct attack on the Crimea bridge and there was no explosion in the immediate vicinity,” Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

At least three explosions had been reported in the area, said Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency.

Ukrainian news reports and pro-Russian officials in occupied parts of Ukraine said Ukrainian drones had attacked a tanker vessel in the Kerch Strait operating under a Russian flag and identified as the SIG.

One Russian-appointed official in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, posted an audio clip in which the vessel had requested a tow from tugboats.

Mr Rogov posted pictures of what he described as shattered fixtures and equipment inside the vessels.

The ship, he said, had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria.

The bridge, completed by Russia in 2018, four years after Moscow annexed the peninsula from Ukraine, has been subjected to two major attacks in the 17-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the most recent one occurring last month.

Ukraine has never claimed responsibility for the attacks on Russia or Russia-held territories but alluded to being accountable for them in indirect references.*

Blasts in Crimea damage tanker as officials blame Ukraine drone attack

Saturday 5 August 2023 03:45 , Arpan Rai

Explosions rocked the area near Kerch bridge, linking Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland, in the early hours today, Russian-appointed officials said.

The Moscow-backed officials claimed that the blasts were linked to a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker.

Russia’s sea rescue service in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk said tugboats were dispatched to help the tanker, which was damaged and unable to operate on its own.

“We can say that the tanker is damaged in the (Kerch) strait, only on the south side,” the rescue centre said, reported Russia’s TASS news agency.

“They will deal with it now on whether to take it under tow or not. It is standing at anchor for the moment. The machine room suffered some damage, not too badly.”

Ukraine, which rarely comments on attacks on Russian targets, made no official statement on the incident.

GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie says 'inhumanity' of war is palpable during visit to Ukraine

Saturday 5 August 2023 03:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has become the second 2024 Republican presidential hopeful to visit Ukraine, meeting Friday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, touring ravaged villages and saying what he saw further impressed to him that the U.S. should continue to help the country fend off Russia’s attack.

“I feel the cruelty, and you feel the inhumanity,” Christie said during his trip, which included stops in the villages of Bucha and Moshchun, both on the outskirts of Kyiv. “And you look at this, and I don’t think there’s anyone in our country who would come here and see this and not feel as if these are the things that America needs to stand up to prevent.”

Vasilisa Stepanenko and Meg Kinnard have the full story:

GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie says 'inhumanity' of war is palpable during visit to Ukraine

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Black Sea navy base and Crimea with drones

Saturday 5 August 2023 02:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia accused Ukraine early Friday of attacking its Black Sea navy base in the port of Novorossiysk with sea drones.

The attack on Novorossiysk is the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the 18-month war. The city is a major port on the Black Sea and hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal. It is a key port for Russian exports.

Novorossiysk is just across the water from Crimea, where Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it thwarted another attack by Ukraine overnight, taking down 13 drones.

Read more:

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Black Sea navy base and Crimea with drones

Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in ‘attempted assassination’ is Playboy cover star

Saturday 5 August 2023 01:30 , Eleanor Noyce

A Ukranian mother who lost an eye in a suspected assassination attempt has appeared as the cover star on the first Playboy printed since the Russian invasion.

Iryna Bilotserkovets, whose husband is an aide to Kyiv‘s mayor Vitali Klitschko, posed with an eye mask and metal bikini after being caught in a gun attack just three days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

Rachel Flynn reports:

Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in ‘attempted assassination’ is Playboy cover star

Global food prices rise after Russia ends grain deal and India restricts rice exports

Saturday 5 August 2023 00:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Commodity prices have been falling since hitting record highs last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Disrupted supplies from the two countries exacerbated a global food crisis because they’re leading suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products, especially to nations in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where millions are struggling with hunger.

The world is still rebounding from those price shocks, which have increased inflation, poverty and food insecurity in developing nations that rely on imports.

Read the full story here:

Global food prices rise after Russia ends grain deal and India restricts rice exports

Ruble hits lowest value against USD since early in Ukraine war

Friday 4 August 2023 23:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The ruble dropped against the United States dollar in trading Friday in Moscow to its lowest level since the first month of the war in Ukraine.

The decline to 95 rubles against the dollar continued the Russian currency’s consistent fall since the beginning of the year, when it traded at around 65 — a drop of about 30%.

Friday’s value was the lowest point since March 28, 2022, state news agency Tass reported.

Read more:

Ruble hits lowest value against USD since early in Ukraine war

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Black Sea navy base and Crimea with drones

Friday 4 August 2023 22:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia accused Ukraine early Friday of attacking its Black Sea navy base in the port of Novorossiysk with sea drones.

The attack on Novorossiysk is the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the 18-month war. The city is a major port on the Black Sea and hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal. It is a key port for Russian exports.

Novorossiysk is just across the water from Crimea, where Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it thwarted another attack by Ukraine overnight, taking down 13 drones.

Read more:

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Black Sea navy base and Crimea with drones

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Friday 4 August 2023 21:30 , Eleanor Noyce

In a rare interview the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has spoken to Independent TV about her work rebuilding Ukraine in the middle of war, the pressures on her family and concerns for the future of her country.

From the presidential palace, she told The Independent’s Bel Trew about the need to reconstruct cities despite the fighting raging on, about building cutting-edge facilities to treat the country’s’ war-wounded and fighting stigma on trauma around the country.

Watch the full interview on Independent TV, across mobile and connected TV from Monday 7 August.

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Trump presidential rival Christie visits Ukraine, meets Zelensky

Friday 4 August 2023 20:33 , Eleanor Noyce

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday and underscored strong U.S. support for its fight against Russia.

Christie, once an ally of former President Donald Trump, is challenging him for their party’s nomination in the 2024 election - and drawing a stark contrast on Ukraine with front-runner Trump.

Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence in June became the first Republican candidate to meet Zelensky during the campaign.

Christie visited Ukraine a day after Trump returned to Washington to plead not guilty to federal charges he orchestrated a plot to try to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Former New Jersey governor Christie met with Zelensky at the presidential palace after visiting a mass grave in Bucha, a town where Ukraine accuses Russian troops of having committed atrocities soon after their February 2022 invasion. He also saw damage in Irpin near Kyiv. Both places were retaken by Ukrainian forces.

Christie said he came to Ukraine to give Americans a view of the war and its toll and he emphasized that he wanted U.S. support to continue. The United States has provided billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine to defend itself.

“I am an advocate for there being more aid to Ukraine, more significant aid to Ukraine, broader aid for Ukraine,” Christie told Zelensky.

“It’s really important to hear all these words from you,” Zelensky replied.

Christie’s stance sets him apart from some of the other Republican candidates including Trump.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a distant second in public opinion polls, this year suggested that the war was simply a “territorial dispute” before backtracking.

Trump, who left office in 2021 after one four-year term, was impeached in 2019 on allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden. Senate Republicans acquitted him of those charges.

Zelensky meets with GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie in Kyiv

Friday 4 August 2023 19:30 , Katy Clifton

Russia ‘planning false flag attack'

Friday 4 August 2023 18:48 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine has accused Russia of planning a "false flag" attack on an oil refinery in Belarus in an attempt to draw Minsk into the war, as tensions rise on Nato's eastern border.

While Alexander Lukashenko has so far avoided being dragged into the full-scale conflict by his close ally Vladimir Putin, the Belarusian president allowed Moscow’s troops to use Belarus as a staging ground for their invasion last February, and has agreed to host Russian nuclear weapons.

Concerns have been brewing in the West since Mr Lukashenko agreed to take in Wagner mercenaries exiled from Russia after their shortlived mutiny, with Nato member Poland warning this week of the threat posed by the “extremely dangerous” fighters, as it scrambled troops to their shared border.

Read more about the allegations below:

Ukraine accuses Russia of planning ‘false flag’ attack in Belarus

Navalny has 19 years added to jail sentence

Friday 4 August 2023 16:57 , Andy Gregory

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has had an extra 19 years added to his jail term, on charges widely viewed as bogus.

He was tried at a court at his IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, situated some 145 miles east of Moscow, on six separate charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation.

Journalists were not let into the courtroom but able to watch proceedings on CCTV from a special media room nearby, although the feed was cut almost as soon as the sentence was pronounced.

Mr Navalny’s team said the judge had added 19 years to his existing terms. State prosecutors had asked for 20.

Watch: Seaborne drone footage shows moment Russian warship attacked

Friday 4 August 2023 16:23 , Andy Gregory

China to attend Jeddah peace talks

Friday 4 August 2023 15:42 , Andy Gregory

China has announced that it would send a senior official to Jeddah for weekend talks on finding a peace deal for Ukraine, in a diplomatic coup for Kyiv, the West and Saudi Arabia.

Ukrainian and Western diplomats hope the meeting in Jeddah of national security advisers and other senior officials from some 40 countries – which excludes Russia – will agree on key principles for a future peace settlement to end Moscow’s war.

China’s special envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will visit Jeddah for the talks, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday. “China is willing to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine,” a spokesperson said.

China was invited to a previous round of talks in Copenhagen in late June but did not attend.

Bank link used for Black Sea grain deal closes

Friday 4 August 2023 15:14 , Andy Gregory

The direct channel between the Russian Agricultural Bank and JPMorgan, organised by the United Nations as a way to keep Russia in the Black Sea grain deal, was shut on Wednesday, Russia's foreign ministry has said.

Russia refused to extend the deal last month, accusing the West of failing to implement parts of the accord that affect Moscow's own food and fertiliser exports, and has since attacked a number of Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos.

Russian businessman backs Lithuania’s expulsion of Russian citizens

Friday 4 August 2023 14:30 , Andy Gregory

Viktor Voroncov, a businessman who moved to Lithuania from Russia several years ago, learned Lithuanian and obtained citizenship there, said he agreed with the move by authorities to expel hundreds of Russian and Belarusian citizens.

“I know many Russians who served in the Soviet and later in Putin’s army. They are married to Lithuanian wives, they live here, maintain close contacts with comrades in arms back in Russia and are spreading Kremlin propaganda constantly,” Mr Voroncov said.

“Lithuania is a democratic country and tolerates different views. Even their propaganda was OK until the war started, but things have changed and they must go,” he said.

Belarus opposition in contact with Lithuania over expulsion of citizens

Friday 4 August 2023 14:01 , Andy Gregory

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said her party was in touch with Lithuanian authorities after the EU nation revoked the residency permits of more than 1,000 Russian and Belarusian citizens.

The Belarusian opposition was seeking to “prevent a strike on innocent people who are not associated with the regime”, Ms Tsikhanouskaya said.

“I understand that Lithuania’s actions are dictated by national interests and security, because the Lukashenko regime poses a direct threat to our neighbors,” Ms Tsikhanouskaya told the Associated Press, referring to Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko.

“The vast majority of Belarusians do not support Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine and continue to help Ukraine, many are fighting the dictatorship in the underground. It is very important that they can find a safe haven in Europe if they are in danger.”

Lithuania strips more than 1,000 Russians and Belarusians of residency

Friday 4 August 2023 13:33 , Andy Gregory

Lithuania has stripped more than a thousand Russian and Belarusian citizens of their residency permits, accusing them of being a threat to national security.

The government had asked these residents to answer a questionnaire which asked about their views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the status of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Lithuania, which declared its independence from the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago, belongs to Nato and the European Union, and has been a place of refuge for many who have fled repression in Belarus and Russia.

The Migration Department said it had established that 910 Belarusian and 254 Russian citizens residing in Lithuania posed a threat to national security, a decision that was based on an evaluation of public and non-public information.

According to the Migration Department, more than 58,000 Belarusian citizens and 16,000 Russian citizens are currently residing in Lithuania.

Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in ‘attempted assassination’ is Playboy cover star

Friday 4 August 2023 13:11 , Andy Gregory

A Ukranian mother who lost an eye in a suspected assassination attempt has appeared as the cover star on the first Playboy printed since the Russian invasion.

Iryna Bilotserkovets, whose husband is an aide to Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, posed with an eye mask and metal bikini after being caught in a gun attack just three days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

The mother-of-three was driving home with her children through a neighbourhood in Ukraine when her car was hit by multiple bullets. Speaking to Playboy about life after the attack, she said: “Doctors in Ukraine said I was probably going to die. I didn’t agree.”

My colleague Rachel Flynn has the full story here:

Ukrainian mother who lost an eye in ‘attempted assassination’ is Playboy cover star

Pictured: The sea drone allegedly behind attack on Russian port

Friday 4 August 2023 12:09 , Andy Gregory

Telegram channel Rybar has shared an image of the sea drone allegedly responsible for the attack claimed to have taken a Russian warship out of action at a major commerical port near Crimea.

Russia planning ‘false flag’ Belarus attack in bid to draw Minsk into Ukraine war, Kyiv warns

Friday 4 August 2023 11:51 , Andy Gregory

Kyiv has accused Russia of preparing to stage a “false flag” attack at the Mozyr oil refinery in Belarusas part of an effort to draw Belarus into the war in Ukraine.

The Security Service of Ukraine said its assertions were based on information obtained from several sources, including a captured Russian serviceman.

Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Friday 4 August 2023 11:13 , AP

In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.

Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he stands a new trial that could keep him behind bars for two more decades.

The verdict in the trial is due to be announced Friday in a makeshift courtroom in the Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny is being held and where the trial took place behind closed doors, in the town of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometers (over 140 miles) east of Moscow.

Joanna Kozlowska and Dasha Litvinova have more in this report:

Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Positive signs of Chinese participation in Jeddah talks, German official says

Friday 4 August 2023 10:21 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine and its allies are aiming to rally global support for a peace blueprint in talks hosted by Saudi Arabia this weekend – but a question mark hangs over whether China will take part.

Reuters now cites a German government official as saying Berlin has received positive signals about some form of Chinese participation in the Jeddah meeting.

Ukrainian and Western diplomats hope the meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from some 40 countries will agree on key principles that would underpin any peace settlement to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

EU imposes sanctions on dozens in Belarus over protest crackdown and support for Russia

Friday 4 August 2023 09:55 , AP

The European Union has imposed sanctions on several Belarus police, justice and prison officials over a crackdown on anti-government activists, and on media personnel and a company accused of supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Travel bans in Europe and asset freezes were slapped on 38 officials, including several judges and prosecutors. The EU also froze the assets of state oil and chemicals giant Belneftekhim.

It said the company “represents a fundamental asset for the Belarusian economy and foreign policy, in particular in relation to the cooperation between Russia and Belarus in developing a common oil market.”

EU imposes sanctions on dozens in Belarus over protest crackdown and support for Russia

Novorossiysk drone strike marks first attack of commercial Russian port

Friday 4 August 2023 09:27 , Andy Gregory

Russia accused Ukraine early Friday of attacking its Black Sea navy base in the port of Novorossiysk with sea drones.

The attack on Novorossiysk is the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the 18-month war. The city is a major port on the Black Sea and hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal. It is a key port for Russian exports.

Novorossiysk is just across the water from Crimea, where Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it thwarted another attack by Ukraine overnight, taking down 13 drones.

It comes just days after authorities held a Navy Day parade at the port.

‘We stand united’: RAF interception of Russian jets ‘sends strong message’ to Putin

Friday 4 August 2023 08:58 , Martina Bet

The Royal Air Force has delivered a powerful message of unity to Russian president Vladimir Putin with the interception of dozens of Russian aircraft during its leadership of a Nato air policing mission in Estonia, Ben Wallace has claimed.

The defence secretary praised the RAF’s success, emphasising the unwavering commitment of the UK and its allies in safeguarding European airspace and standing against any potential threat to their borders.

His comments come as RAF personnel have returned to the UK after leading the air policing mission in Eastern Europe for four months, during which pilots intercepted 50 Russian aircraft and flew for a combined total of more than 500 hours.

The members of the 140 Expeditionary Air Wing (140 EAW) had been deployed to Amari Air Base since the start of March, along with a squadron of RAF Typhoon fighter jets, to conduct Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) intercepts of Russian aircraft transiting close to Nato airspace.

‘We stand united’: RAF interception of Russian jets ‘sends strong message’ to Putin

Russian naval vessel damaged in drone attack, Ukrainian defence source claims

Friday 4 August 2023 08:34 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine damaged a Russian naval vessel during a sea drone attack at the Russian port of Novorossiysk that was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy on Friday, a Ukrainian intelligence source said.

“As a result of the attack, the Olenegorsky Gornyak received a serious breach and currently cannot conduct its combat missions,” the source told Reuters.

It comes despite Russia’s regional governor insisting that there was no damage caused by the attacks.

Watch: What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

Friday 4 August 2023 08:08 , Andy Gregory

‘No casualties or damage’ from Ukrainian drone attack, Russian governor says

Friday 4 August 2023 07:48 , Andy Gregory

No casualties or damage have been reported from the Ukrainian sea drone attack on Novorossiysk, Russia’s regional governor has been quoted as saying by state news agency RIA .

Russia says it does not believe Washington on grain deal

Friday 4 August 2023 07:26 , Andy Gregory

Russia does not believe Washington’s promise that it will help to ensure Moscow can freely export food if it returns to the Black Sea grain deal, the Kremlin has said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Thursday: “In the event of return to the agreement, of course, we’ll continue to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone can export their food and food products freely and safely to include Russia.”

Russia last month quit the agreement that had allowed Ukraine to ship food from its Black Sea ports, complaining about obstacles to its own exports of food and fertiliser.

'Russian official pitched North Korea on increasing sale of munitions to Moscow'

Friday 4 August 2023 07:00 , Namita Singh

The White House said US intelligence officials have determined that Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu spoke last week to North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang about increasing the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

Mr Shoigu made the pitch during his visit to North Korea for events marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. Russian president Vladimir Putin dispatched Mr Shoigu to lead the Russian delegation for the commemoration.

The Biden administration says Mr Shoigu’s pitch to tighten cooperation with North Korea underscored that the Kremlin has become reliant on the country, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programs and human rights records.

John Kirby

Ukraine, US start talks on security guarantees, official says

Friday 4 August 2023 06:30 , Namita Singh

Ukraine and the United States started talks yesterday aimed at providing security guarantees for Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said, a follow-up to pledges by G7 countries at last month’s Nato summit.

Ukraine was told that the Group of Seven (G7) would draw up and honour security guarantees and help bolster its military in light of Russia’s 17-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

The Kyiv government sees the talks as an interim stage pending its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance. At the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Nato leaders offered support to Ukraine but ruled out any notion of membership until the war with Russia is resolved.

Presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the agreement reached in Vilnius was “the basis for working out corresponding bilateral agreements”.

“It is symbolic that the United States - our biggest strategic partner - became the first country with which Ukraine has started this process,” Mr Yermak wrote. “Through this process we will create a successful model for other partners.”

Russian defence minister visits troops involved in Ukraine operation – TASS

Friday 4 August 2023 06:05 , Namita Singh

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the frontline headquarters of the “Centre” army group involved in the Ukrainian conflict, TASS cited the defence ministry as saying on Friday.

Mr Shoigu was briefed by group commander Andrei Mordvichev, it said, without disclosing the location of the meeting.

Putin foe Navalny expects to be jailed for many more years

Friday 4 August 2023 05:30 , Namita Singh

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny expects a court to extend his prison sentence by nearly two decades today, in a criminal case which he and his supporters say was trumped up to keep him behind bars and out of politics for even longer.

Navalny, 47, president Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic critic, is already serving sentences totalling 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges that he says are also bogus. His political movement has been outlawed and declared “extremist”.

State prosecutors have asked the court to hand him another 20 years in a penal colony on six separate criminal charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation.

If Russia wins now it’s the worst-case scenario for humanity, warns Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska

Friday 4 August 2023 05:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine’s first lady has warned that Russia winning the war it started is “the worst-case scenario for all humanity”, in a heartfelt plea for the world not to lose interest in her country as its soldiers are fighting for “the democratic balance of the world”.

Speaking exclusively to Independent TV, Olena Zelenska said Ukraine is deeply concerned that the world is underestimating the wider threat from Moscow as the conflict grinds into its 18th month.

Bel Trew reports:

If Russia wins it’s humanity’s worst-case scenario, says Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska

Blasts and gunfire reported near Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

Friday 4 August 2023 04:30 , Namita Singh

Russian social media users reported hearing explosions and gunfire near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk this morning.

Videos posted on a local online community and circulated by Russian online news outlet Astra showed the movement of ships just off the coast with the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of the sea.

The emergencies department of the city of Novorossiysk, whose port is one of the biggest in the Black Sea, could not be reached for comment.

Clashes in the Black Sea and adjacent ports have escalated since Russia refused last month to extend a deal allowing for the safe exports of grain from Ukrainian ports; Russian drones and missiles have struck several Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos on or near the Black Sea.

Russia has also reported an attack by Ukrainian sea drones on its warships which were escorting a civilian vessel.

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Friday 4 August 2023 04:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cheered the recent flurry of drone strikes on Moscow as evidence that Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country is backfiring and that its consequences are becoming ever clearer to the Russian people.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said in a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia’s defence ministry conceded on Sunday (30 July) that a 50-storey building containing the offices of a number of government agencies and a shopping precinct in the capital’s western Moskva-Citi business district were both hit by drone strikes it blamed on Ukraine, claiming to have brought down three more devices.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Face to face with a mercenary: Inside Wagner and its blood-soaked role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Friday 4 August 2023 03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Amid the ravages of war, Sergey, a seasoned Wagner mercenary, found himself grappling with the relentless violence that has become a way of life and death on the front line. The savage conflict, the sense of betrayal from the Kremlin, and rumours of plots, all combined to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and dread.

At the end he decided to abandon the Wagner group and the savage, meat-grinding combat of Donbas where corpses piled up, and towns and cities were razed.

With the future of the mercenary group in the balance after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed march on Moscow and fear of future retribution, Sergey cannot forget the terrible things he witnessed in the months of bloody conflict.

Kim Sengupta meets a fighter – a father of two – who has recently left the mercenary group and hears about the daily routine of ‘fight, eat, pray’ on some of the fiercest frontlines in the war:

Face to face with a mercenary: Inside Wagner and its bloody role in the Ukraine war

Drones, military confusion and cracks in Putin’s authority: Ukraine’s push to sow discord in Russia’s ranks

Friday 4 August 2023 02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Moscow facing a flurry of drone attacks in recent weeks – the latest over the weekend – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said the war in his country is “returning to Russia”.

While Kyiv is always very cagey about claiming direct responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, the number of incidents has coincided with the Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Moscow’s forces. All while the Kremlin is still dealing with the fallout from a mutiny last month by the battle-hardened mercenaries of the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The attempted uprising, which was halted after 24 hours with Prigozhin’s fighters about 125 miles from Moscow, opened the way for a barrage of criticism of Moscow’s top military leadership by some of its own most senior generals commanding Russia’s invasion forces in Ukraine. Kyiv’s aim? To take advantage of this discord, and to increase it. Anything that will help them on the front line.

Askold Krushelnycky speaks to Ukrainian officials about the ongoing counteroffensive and how Kyiv is seeking to exploit the extended fallout from Wagner’s short-lived mutiny:

Drones and discord: Ukraine’s push to spread anxiety in Russia’s ranks

EU imposes sanctions on dozens in Belarus over protest crackdown and support for Russia

Friday 4 August 2023 01:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The European Union on Thursday imposed sanctions on several Belarus police, justice and prison officials over a crackdown on anti-government activists, and on media personnel and a company accused of supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Travel bans in Europe and asset freezes were slapped on 38 officials, including several judges and prosecutors. The EU also froze the assets of state oil and chemicals giant Belneftekhim.

It said the company “represents a fundamental asset for the Belarusian economy and foreign policy, in particular in relation to the cooperation between Russia and Belarus in developing a common oil market.”

Read more:

EU imposes sanctions on dozens in Belarus over protest crackdown and support for Russia

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