Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin ally warns of nuclear world war as Kyiv raids Dnipro River

An ally of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has warned that the world is probably on the verge of a new world war as the risks of a nuclear battle escalate.

“The world is sick and quite probably is on the verge of a new world war,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev told a conference in Moscow.

He said such a new world war was not inevitable but that the risks of a nuclear confrontation were growing – and more serious than concerns about climate change.

It comes as Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the River Dnipro begin frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine accused Moscow of deploying the kind of war tactics used in Syria to level Bakhmut, as heavy fighting for control of the salt mining city continues.

Key points

• ‘We are on the verge of a new world war,’ Russia’s Medvedev says

• Putin’s troops using ‘Syrian tactics’ in destruction of Bakhmut

• Russian troops trying to steal 'as much as they can' in Kherson

• Iran shipped one million rounds to Russia via Caspian Sea – report

• Casualties among Putin’s troops drop, says UK Ministry of Defence

‘We are on the verge of a new world war,’ Russia’s Medvedev says

Tuesday 25 April 2023 08:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that the world was probably on the verge of a new world war, cautioning that the risks of a nuclear confrontation were also rising, though neither scenario was inevitable.

“The world is sick and quite probably is on the verge of a new world war,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, told a conference in Moscow.

He said such a new world war was not inevitable but said the risks of a nuclear confrontation were growing - and more serious than concerns about climate change.

FBI working with US companies to collect war crime evidence in Ukraine

08:31 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and American companies to collect evidence of war crimes by Russians, such as geolocation and cellphone information, senior officials said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian authorities are collecting digital information from battlefields and Ukrainian towns ravaged by the war since Russia invaded the country last February, said Alex Kobzanets, a FBI special agent who previously worked as a legal attache for the agency in Ukraine.

“Collection of that data, analysis of that data, working through that data is something the FBI has experience working through,” Mr Kobzanets said at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco.

Three Russian aircraft intercepted over Baltic Sea - German air force

07:30 , Matt Mathers

Three Russian military aircraft flying without transponder signals have been intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Germany’s Luftwaffe said on Wednesday.

German and British forces were deployed to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft, the German air force said on Twitter.

It posted several images of the Russian aircraft mid-flight.

Three Russian aircraft intercepted over Baltic Sea - German air force

07:10 , Arpan Rai

Three Russian military aircraft flying without transponder signals have been intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Germany’s Luftwaffe said today.

German and British forces were deployed to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft, the German air force said on Twitter.

It posted several images of the Russian aircraft mid-flight.

Heavy, short-range combat grips Bakhmut, fighting seen on outskirts – UK MoD

07:08 , Arpan Rai

Heavy, short-range combat continues in the western districts of the contested Donetsk oblast town of Bakhmut, the The British Ministry of Defence said.

“A key development over the last week has been fighting on the outskirts of the town, especially near the village of Khromove, as Ukraine seeks to maintain control of its 0506 supply route,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that Ukraine’s other resupply options into Bakhmut are likely complicated by muddy conditions on unsurfaced tracks.

“With the town having now been under attack for over 11 months, the Ukrainian defences of Bakhmut have now been integrated as one element of a much deeper defensive zone, which includes the town of Chasiv Yar to the west,” it said.

Wimbledon set to make £500,000 Ukraine donation after Russian ban U-turn

06:59 , Andy Gregory

Wimbledon will offer substantial financial support to Ukrainian players and causes this summer after reversing the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, reports Eleanor Crooks.

At the spring press conference to announce plans for this summer’s tournament, organisers revealed that £1 for every ticket holder – expected to be more than £500,000 in total – will be donated to Ukrainian relief.

Meanwhile, the All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association will provide two hotel rooms per Ukrainian player free of charge and training facilities for the duration of the summer grass-court season as well as funding a day at the tournament for 1,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Wimbledon set to make £500,000 Ukraine donation after Russian ban U-turn

Wagner chief says relations with Russian military have not improved

06:38 , Arpan Rai

Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has denied that relations with Russian military have improved after intelligence assessments indicated that Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s miltiary have worked on their internal conflict.

Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin called the Institute for the Study of War’s assessment a “fake,” the think tank reported on 25 April.

The Wagner chief added that he “wouldn’t exchange ammunition for (his) guys even for friendship with God.”

Russia’s Lavrov warns EU becoming militarised now like Nato

06:28 , Arpan Rai

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has warned European Union “is becoming militarised at a record rate” and aggressive in its goal of containing Russia.

Mr Lavrov said he has no doubts that there is now “very little difference” between the EU and Nato.

Vladimir Putin has long complained about Nato’s expansion, especially toward his country, and partly used that as a justification for invading Ukraine.

Russia’s Lavrov was asked whether the war in Ukraine was a miscalculation since Moscow strongly opposed Nato’s expansion and the invasion sparked Finland’s membership, with Sweden next and Ukraine hoping for a road map to join.

“Nato never had any intention of stopping,” the Russian minister replied, pointing to the recent EU-Nato declaration and actions in recent years that saw non-Nato members Sweden and Finland “increasingly taking part in Nato military exercises and other actions that were meant to synchronise the military programs of Nato members and neutral states.”

Mr Lavrov said Russia was promised on several occasions that Nato would not expand, but said “those were lies.”

“Unbiased assessments that our political scientists as well as those abroad made is that Nato sought to break Russia apart,” he said, “but in the end it only made it stronger, brought it closer together. So, let’s not make any hasty conclusions now as to what this will all end in.”

FBI, US companies collecting war crime evidence in Ukraine

06:17 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and American companies to collect evidence of war crimes by Russians, such as geolocation and cellphone information, senior officials said.

Ukrainian authorities are collecting digital information from battlefields and Ukrainian towns ravaged by the war since Russia invaded the country last February, said Alex Kobzanets, a FBI special agent who previously worked as a legal attache for the agency in Ukraine.

“Collection of that data, analysis of that data, working through that data is something the FBI has experience working through,” Kobzanets said at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco.

That work includes looking into cellphone information, forensic analyses of DNA samples, as well as analysis of body parts collected off battlefields, he said.

“The next step is working with national US service providers, and transferring that information...obtaining subscriber information, obtaining geolocation information, where possible,” Mr Kobzanets added.

The work reflects deepening collaboration between the US and Ukraine on the cyber front, where Russia has been a common adversary for both nations.

The Russian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lavrov quizzed over detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

05:59 , Andy Gregory

Russia’s foreign minister was asked about detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich during a UN press conference on Tuesday.

Sergei Lavrov told reporters that he was not involved in talks on any potential prisoner swap.

Tucker Carlson receives a job offer from Russia after Fox News exit

05:34 , Arpan Rai

It didn’t take long for Tucker Carlson to land a “job offer” after losing his primetime slot on the most-watched cable news network in the country.

Within hours after Fox News announced that it had agreed to “part ways” with the right-wing nationalist anchor on Monday morning, Russian state media personalities and propaganda outlets sought to mock American media by offering him a job.

RT, the Russian state broadcaster formerly known as Russia Today, which is banned in dozens of countries, seemingly offered him a platform.

“Hey @TuckerCarlson, you can always question more with @RT_com,” the outlet tweeted. Analysts, however, said the apparent offer has not been made seriously.

Russian state-owned media figures offer Tucker Carlson a job

Ukraine boosting ‘Army of Drones’ on frontline – report

05:28 , Arpan Rai

Officials in Ukraine have confirmed a rapid spike in production of drones amid growing demand from troops on the frontline.

The Volodymyr Zelensky administration has relaxed import laws and scrapped taxes for drone parts and equipment, reported BBC.

It added that the expansion of drone production is being funded by the Army of Drones campaign.

Under the initiative which has seen support from celebrities like Mark Hamill, Ukraine has raised more than $108m (£87m).

The money is also being spent on training new pilots for the front line.

Chances of Putin ‘backing down’ in response to Kyiv’s counterattack ‘less than zero’ – US think tank

05:10 , Arpan Rai

Vladimir Putin will remain defiant on negotiations to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive expected to start soon, senior US and EU officials assessed, a US-based think tank has said.

Citing a report by The New York Times, the Institute for the Study of War has said that a senior European official stated that the chances of Putin “backing down” in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive are “less than zero.”

“The official stated that Putin would likely mobilize more soldiers to fight in Ukraine. US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Celeste Wallander said that there is ‘very little evidence’ to suggest that Putin would alter his strategic goal of subjugating Ukraine ‘politically, if not fully militarily’,” the ISW said in its latest assessment on the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It also pointed to the comments by the US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stating that the US is increasing security assistance to Ukraine because the US expects that Russia will attempt to go on the offensive as the weather improves.

War criminals could visit UK without prosecution fear unless law changed, MP warns

04:50 , Andy Gregory

Russian generals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine could visit the UK without fear of prosecution unless a legal loophole is closed, MPs have been told.

Brendan O’Hara of the SNP raised concerns with existing legislation as he introduced his Universal Jurisdiction (Extension) Bill, which seeks to implement the calls to “tighten up” existing legislation and bring to justice those responsible for the “world’s most heinous crimes”.

War criminals could visit UK without prosecution fear unless law changed – MP

UK sent thousands of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, says minister

04:45 , Arpan Rai

The United Kingdom has sent “thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds,” UK armed forces minister James Heappy said.

He added: “For operational security reasons, we will not comment on Ukrainian usage rates for the rounds provided.”

Mr Heappey was responding to written inquiries from Kenny MacAskill, House of Commons member from Scottish Alba Party.

The minister said that while the UK carried “no obligation” to clear up depleted uranium rounds fired from Challenger 2 tanks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the UK remains “committed to helping Ukraine emerge from this war secure, prosperous and free and we are supporting a range of activities to meet Ukraine’s immediate needs, restore essential infrastructure and services, and lay the groundwork for its longer-term recovery and post-war reconstruction.”

Top Ukraine minister argues for place in Nato: ‘New raison d’être’

04:29 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has penned a sharp op-ed and argued for a place in Nato for the war-hit nation despite multiple apprehensions, stating that entry of Finland confirms that fears around Russian retaliation are “unwarranted”.

“Russia’s war on Ukraine is about more than killing Ukrainians and stealing our land. President Vladimir Putin is trying to destroy the very foundations of the European security order formed after 1945. This is why the stakes are so high, not only for Ukraine but for the entire Euro-Atlantic community,” Mr Kuleba wrote.

He added: “Ukraine did not choose this battle. Nor did the United States and its Nato allies. Russia started this war. But it falls to Ukraine and its Western partners to bring the conflict to an end, winning a just victory that guarantees peace and stability in Europe for generations to come.”

Zelensky condemns Kharkiv attack: ‘Russia killed two women’

03:55 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Russia for carrying out a missile strike on civilian neighbourhood in Ukraine’s Kharkiv which killed two people.

“Throughout the day today, the rubble in the city of Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, was being cleared after a Russian attack with S-300 missiles. Attack on an ordinary civilian neighborhood. The terrorists targeted the local history museum and nearby houses. Russia killed two women with this strike,” Mr Zelensky said.

He extended condolences to the families and friends of the victims, and added that 10 people have also been wounded in the attack.

“In total, more than 60 museums and galleries in different regions of our country have been destroyed or damaged by the occupier,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Watch: The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

03:42 , Andy Gregory

It was a month into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces had withdrawn from around Kyiv and in their wake Bel Trew and her team stumbled on a body by an abandoned Russian camp.

His hands were tied. He had been burned and shot in the back. Soldiers said he was a teenager.

As Bel tried to find out who he was and what had happened, she uncovered a nightmare world: a nation struggling to find thousands of its missing and to identify its dead.

The Body in the Woods by Bel Trew is streaming now on Independent TV and on your smart TV.

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

New York lawyer pleads guilty to dealing with sanctioned Russian oligarch

02:33 , Andy Gregory

A lawyer in New York has admitted to making $3.8m in payments to maintain properties that were beneficially owned by a Russian oligarch under US sanctions.

Washington imposed sanctions in 2018 on billionaire Viktor Vekselberg – who owns the Renova group of energy companies – over allegations of Russian interference in the US election won by Donald Trump, and again in 2022 over his ties to Vladimir Putin.

Robert Wise admitted to receiving wire payments from a shell company controlled by an associate of Vekselberg, and then using the funds to pay taxes, insurance and other fees on various properties, including two apartments on Park Avenue and an estate in the Hamptons.

“Admission to the bar carries with it a public trust that attorneys will act with honesty and integrity – a trust that Robert Wise chose to betray in exchange for an easy, illicit paycheck,” Andrew Adams, who leads a US Department of Justice unit targeting Russia-related sanctions violations, told Reuters.

Nasa chief ‘expects' US-Russian collaboration at ISS to continue until 2030

01:21 , Andy Gregory

Nasa administrator Bill Nelson has said that he expects Russians and Americans to work together on the International Space Station (ISS) until it is decommissioned.

American-Russian space cooperation was put in doubt after the invasion of Ukraine, with the chief of Russia’s space agency Yuri Borisov surprising Nasa by announcing in July that Moscow intended to leave the partnership “after 2024 – only to backtrack a day later.

During a visit to Ottawa, Mr Nelson underscored the history of US and Soviet collaboration in space during the Cold War, and said he expects it to continue despite the war in Ukraine.

“We are completely at odds with President Putin’s aggression” that is “slaughtering people and invading an autonomous sovereign country,” Nelson told Reuters in an interview in Ottawa.

But the collaboration aboard the ISS “continues in a very professional manner between astronauts and cosmonauts without a hitch”, he said, adding: “I expect that to continue all the way through the end of the decade, when they we will then de-orbit the space station.”

Video report: Sweden expels five Russian Embassy employees on suspicion of spying

Wednesday 26 April 2023 00:09 , Andy Gregory

Russia hands ex-police officer seven years in prison for criticising war in tapped phone call to friends

Tuesday 25 April 2023 23:03 , Andy Gregory

A court in Russia has convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information by criticising the war in Ukraine in a phone call with his friends, which officials tapped.

Semiel Vedel was sentenced to seven years in prison under a censorship law the Kremlin brought in days after invading Ukraine.

During three phone conversations with friends last year, Mr Vedel referred to Russia as a “murderer country”, used “Glory to Ukraine” as a greeting, and claimed that Russia was suffering “huge losses” in Ukraine, according to the case prosecutor.

Officials deemed the conversations public because Mr Vedel’s phone was tapped and an investigator listened in on the calls. That reasoning – which Mr Vedel’s lawyer rejected as absurd – hadn’t been previously used in cases involving spreading misinformation charges.

Dasha Litvinova has the full report:

Russia convicts ex-police officer over Ukraine war criticism

European politicians urge Olympics ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:59 , AP

European politicians have urged the International Olympic Committee to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 event instead of seeking ways to let them compete as neutrals, reports Graham Dunbar.

The 46-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)’s panel for sports issues held a two-hour session in Strasbourg to help draft a future report on the question of barring the two countries’ athletes and officials from the Olympic movement because of Russia’s war.

With 15 months until the opening ceremony in Paris, Olympic sports bodies are weighing the IOC’s formal request — a reversal of its advice last year for exclusion — to look at reintegrating some Russians and Belarusians into games qualifying as individuals, but not in team events.

“Imposing a war has to have a clear consequence. Sport also has to take its responsibility,” Danish politician Mogens Jensen said, adding the “only one clear message to send” was excluding athletes.

The Council of Europe was created after the Second World War to advocate for freedom and protection of minorities. It expelled Russia as a member last year.

European lawmakers urge for Olympics ban on Russia, Belarus

‘I do not see anyone talking about peace’: Lula criticises ‘insane war'

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:55 , Andy Gregory

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but insisted that no one is talking about peace in what he called an “insane war”.

The left-wing leader angered many in the West this month when he called for the US and European allies to stop supplying arms to Ukraine and prolonging the war – prompting the White House to accuse him of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda”.

After the backlash, Lula toned down his comments and while visiting Portugal and Spain in recent days he has condemned Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

In Spain, Lula again called for more peace efforts “so that Ukraine can keep its territory”, backtracking on a recent suggestion that Kyiv should make concessions to end the war and that Russia should return recently invaded territory but could keep Crimea.

Speaking at a business conference in Spain on Tuesday, he said: “I understand the European view of this war. It is unacceptable that one country invades another, but it is a war in which I do not see anyone talking about peace.”

Black Sea grain deal situation has reached ‘deadlock’, says Lavrov

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:01 , Andy Gregory

The situation surrounding the Black Sea grain export deal has reached a deadlock, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

The pact was renewed for 60 days last month, but Russia has signalled it may well not agree to extend it further unless the West removes obstacles to the exports of Russian grain and fertiliser.

During a news conference at the United Nations, Mr Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday that there are still obstacles blocking Russian exports – after Latvia moved to release a batch of grain seized from Russia last year, soothing one of the key points of contention souring Russia’s view of the deal.

Ukraine ‘conducting raids’ across Dnipro river to dislodge Russian troops ahead of expected offensive

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:11 , Andy Gregory

Officials have said that Ukrainian forces are frequently carrying out raids across the River Dnipro near the southern city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, reports Olena Harmash.

Russian forces have held the eastern side of the Dnipro near Kherson since retreating from the city in November after months of occupation, but Ukraine is expected to launch a spring counteroffensive to try to recapture more territory.

Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. “Our military visit the left [eastern] bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” Mr Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.

“The results will come as they did on the right bank of the Kherson region when, thanks to a complex and long operation, they were able to liberate our territories with minimal losses for our military. The same thing happens now on the left bank.”

Russia seized the Kherson region soon after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago, and has continued since then to hold all of the region’s territory east of the Dnipro.

Ukrainian forces ‘conducting raids’ across Dnipro river to dislodge Russian troops

South Africa’s ANC seeks to repeal ICC membership ahead of possible Putin visit

Tuesday 25 April 2023 18:20 , Andy Gregory

South Africa’s governing African National Congress will aim to repeal the country’s membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC), president Cyril Ramaphosa has announced for the second time.

The party’s decision at a weekend meeting of its national executive committee came after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, who is mulling whether to attend a summit of BRICS nations in South Africa in August.

“The governing party, the African National Congress, has taken that decision that it is prudent that South Africa should pull out of the ICC, largely because of the manner in which the ICC has been seen to be dealing with [these] type of problems,” Mr Ramaphosa said, during a state visit by Finland’s president.

The arrest warrant against Mr Putin – for alleged war crimes – was issued after he had already received his invite from South Africa to the BRICS summit in August, and it would oblige South Africa to hand him over to The Hague court if he set foot in the country.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Mr Putin will decide whether to attend the summit in person nearer the time, while the South African official in charge of the relationship with BRICS countries told Reuters that the Russian president “has indicated attendance”.

Rescuers comb wreckage after Russian airstrike destroys Ukrainian history museum

Tuesday 25 April 2023 17:28 , Andy Gregory

A Russian missile has killed two women and injured 10 others as it struck a museum in the centre of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s state emergency service has said.

Footage showed rescue workers at the wrecked remains of the building in the aftermath of the attack.

Bid launched to repeal Russian censorship law banning criticism of Ukraine war

Tuesday 25 April 2023 16:59 , Andy Gregory

Russian human rights groups are seeking to repeal the law banning citizens from speaking out against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

OVD-Info, one of the groups involved in the appeal to Russia’s Constitutional Court, said the aim was to abolish the legal article banning “public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to defend the interests of the Russian Federation”.

“This article should not exist at all since it prohibits criticising the state, which is unacceptable in a democratic society,” Violetta Fitsner, a lawyer for OVD-Info, told Reuters.

While the chances of repealing the censorship law – part of a package ushered in eight days after last year’s invasion – are remote, a rejection of the appeal would signal that human rights and the constitution no longer matter in Russia, Ms Fitsner said.

“In any case, we want to draw attention to the problem of persecution in Russia for anti-war positions and pacifist beliefs and state that such persecution is absolutely illegal.”

Sweden expels 5 Russian Embassy staff on suspicion of spying

Tuesday 25 April 2023 16:33 , AP

Sweden has informed Russia that five employees of the Russian Embassy in Stockholm were asked to leave the country because they were suspected of spying

Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström said the alleged activities of the five were “incompatible” with their diplomatic status. Billström said Russia’s ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, was informed of the expulsions.

The Swedish Security Service, which is known by the acronym Sapo, recently received a list of names of a number of suspected Russian intelligence officers, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported.

The domestic security agency has said that “every third Russian diplomat in Sweden is an intelligence officer.”

Sweden also expelled three Russian Embassy staff members a year ago. Neighboring Norway said two weeks ago that it was expelling 15 Russian diplomats accused of spying.

Sweden expels 5 Russian Embassy staff on suspicion of spying

Denmark signs 5-year energy deal with Ukraine

Tuesday 25 April 2023 15:59 , Andy Gregory

Denmark has signed a 5-year agreement with Ukraine which aims to help Kyiv rebuild destroyed wind capacity and strengthen its independence from Russian energy.

“The new 5-year collaboration will contribute to Ukraine being able to further expand its electricity supply with wind energy,” Denmark’s climate ministry said, adding that its cooperation with Ukraine on energy dates back to 2014.

“Danish authorities will, among other things, help Ukrainian authorities develop a regulatory framework that can promote onshore and offshore wind,” it said.

In the short term, the deal aims to help get existing capacity destroyed in Russia’s war back up and running, and to expand onshore wind further. Long-term, the collaboration will investigate the potential for offshore wind power, the ministry said.

“We are now even more committed to ensuring Ukraine can access electricity and get the opportunity for a green rethink of its energy infrastructure,” said climate minister Lars Aagaard.

Ukraine plans for 'complete transformation' of six war-hit towns

Tuesday 25 April 2023 15:32 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine will seek the “complete transformation” of six towns which have suffered “terrible destruction” in Russia’s war, in a reconstruction programme announced today by prime minister Denys Shmyhal.

The project is part of a broader plan to fast-track reconstruction even though the war is not over, with Kyiv’s allies preparing to give billions of pounds to support such efforts.

Mr Shmyhal said the towns of Borodianka and Moshchun near the capital Kyiv, Yahidine in the north, Trostianets and Tsyrkuny in the east, and Posad-Pokrovske in the south would be rebuilt “comprehensively and according to new principles” under an experimental programme

“This means that particular houses and buildings will not be rebuilt, but everything - with a system approach, new planning and a complete transformation of these settlements,” he told a government meeting.

Two killed after Russian missile strikes Kupiansk museum, Ukraine says

Tuesday 25 April 2023 14:11 , Andy Gregory

A Russian missile has killed two women and injured 10 others as it struck a museum in the centre of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s state emergency service has said.

Rescue workers dug through mounds of rubble to retrieve the bodies after the local history museum was hit by what president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff and Kharkiv’s regional governor said was a Russian S-300 missile.

Mr Zelensky posted a video of a devastated building that had spewed out rubble and debris into the street. Its windows were smashed and a section of the wall and roof was destroyed.

“The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely,” he said. “Our history, our culture, our people.”

Russia did not immediately comment on the attack, but frequently denies deliberately targeting civilians – despite gruesome and repeated evidence to the contrary.

Kupiansk, an important rail hub with a pre-war population of 26,000, was occupied by Russian forces for months after they invaded Ukraine, but were chased out in Kyiv’s rapid September counteroffensive.

Russia expels Moldovan diplomat in retaliatory move

Tuesday 25 April 2023 13:40 , Andy Gregory

Moscow has said it will expel a Moldovan diplomat, in what its foreign ministry cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova over fears of possible interference in a regional election.

The ministry said it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements” from Chisinau.

Moldovan foreign minister Nicu Popescu called the move “hostile” and said it was the latest episode in decades of Russian efforts to hold back Moldova’s development as an independent state.

Announcing the initial expulsion last week, Moldova cited the actions of Russian embassy staff towards Moldovan border guards who had denied entry to a regional Russian politician at Chisinau airport.

Moldovan police said that Tatarstan governor Rustam Minnikhanov had wanted to visit Moldova to boost support for a pro-Russian candidate in a regional election.

Hungary wants Ukrainian grain ban until end-2023, minister says

Tuesday 25 April 2023 13:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Hungary and other east European countries want to maintain an import ban on Ukrainian grain put in place last week until the end of 2023, Farm Minister Istvan Nagy said on Facebook on Tuesday.

“We would like the (European) Commission to accept our measures as we aim to uphold them until the end of the year, to allow our farmers to harvest and store their crop,” said Nagy, who is attending a meeting with European Union counterparts in Luxembourg.

Hungary last week banned imports of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products after Poland took the same measure to counter an influx of cheaper products that has put domestic pressure on the government to shield local farmers.

Slovakia and Bulgaria also followed suit.

The countries, with others in central and eastern Europe, have said EU measures are needed to tackle the problem. Hungary has called for “progressive” aid from the EU to help move Ukraine‘s grain through central European countries.

The countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that could not be exported through the country’s Black Sea ports after Russia‘s invasion. But bottlenecks trapped millions of tonnes of grains in countries like Hungary and Poland that border Ukraine.

Watch: The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Tuesday 25 April 2023 12:41 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

It was a month into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces had withdrawn from around Kyiv and in their wake Bel Trew and her team stumbled on a body by an abandoned Russian camp.

His hands were tied. He had been burned and shot in the back. Soldiers said he was a teenager.

As Bel tried to find out who he was and what had happened, she uncovered a nightmare world: a nation struggling to find thousands of its missing and to identify its dead.

The Body in the Woods by Bel Trew is streaming now on Independent TV and on your smart TV.

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Kremlin dismisses 'lies' that Putin has doubles and sits in a bunker

Tuesday 25 April 2023 12:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Kremlin rejected what it said were lies that President Vladimir Putin had lookalike body doubles who stood in for the 70-year-old leader and that he spent much of his time shielding in a nuclear bunker.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov listed what he said were fabrications about Russia in a speech that touched on the country’s history since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, the causes of the Ukraine war and the alleged perfidy of Western society.

“You have probably heard that he (Putin) has very many doubles who work instead of him while he sits in a bunker,” Peskov said at a Moscow conference, before chuckling: “Yet another lie.”

“You see yourselves what our president is like: he always was, and is now, mega-active - those who work next to him can hardly keep up with him,” he said.

“His energy can only be envied. His health can, God willing, only be wished for. Of course, he doesn’t sit in any bunkers. This is also a lie,” Peskov added.

The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed speculation that Putin, Russia‘s paramount leader since 1999, is ill.

During a state visit to Moscow last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin he was convinced voters would support the Russian leader again in a presidential election due in 2024. Putin has not yet said whether he will seek another term.

When he first came to power, Putin vowed to end the chaos that gripped post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s, but the invasion of Ukraine is the most serious military crisis any Kremlin chief has faced since the Soviet-Afghan war of 1979-89.

The conflict in Ukraine has ushered in the gravest confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, while Putin has vowed to pivot away from the West towards China.

Ukraine stages raids across Dnipro River as counteroffensive looms

Tuesday 25 April 2023 11:41 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the River Dnipro are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday.

Russian forces have held the eastern side of the Dnipro near Kherson since retreating from the southern city in November after months of occupation, but Ukraine is expected to launch a spring counteroffensive to try to recapture more territory.

Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. “Our military visit the left (eastern) bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.

“The results will come as they did on the right bank of the Kherson region when, thanks to a complex and long operation, they were able to liberate our territories with minimal losses for our military. The same thing happens now on the left bank.”

Kremlin remains downbeat on state of Black Sea grain deal

Tuesday 25 April 2023 11:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Kremlin reaffirmed its position on Tuesday that the Black Sea grain deal is not working for Moscow, a day after the head of the United Nations handed Russia a letter with proposals to improve and expand it.

“Despite the fact that so much time has passed, (the deal) has not yet been implemented, it has not come together as a package, the conditions that concerned us have still not been realised,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“Therefore, while the circumstances don’t add up in favour of this deal, we continue to observe,” he said.

The deal was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last July to allow Kyiv to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports that had been severed after Russia invaded Ukraine five months earlier.

Russia has signalled that it will not allow the deal to be extended beyond May 18 unless obstacles to its own food and fertiliser exports are removed.

On Monday, a U.N. spokesperson said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of the agreement.

The proposal was outlined in a letter that Guterres asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to deliver to Putin.

The grain deal was aimed at alleviating a global food crisis, as both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain.

Peskov, however, played down the extent to which shortfalls of grain from both countries had contributed to the crisis.

“We all know that the genesis of the global food crisis has other roots. And it is not a direct consequence of the loss of Ukrainian grain from the market,” he said.

“Of course, the loss of Ukrainian grain and Russian grain from the market may be one of the factors, but not decisive.”

UN chief and West berate Russia's top diplomat over Ukraine

Tuesday 25 April 2023 10:55 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The United Nations chief and representatives from Western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a U.N. meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the U.N. Charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.

Russia’s foreign minister responded by defending his country’s military action and accusing the U.S. and its allies of undercutting global diplomacy, the foundation of the United Nations, which was created to prevent a third world war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called cooperation among the U.N.’s 193 member nations the organization’s “beating heart” and “guiding vision,” and he warned the Security Council that global collaboration is under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of World War II.

UN chief and West berate Russia's top diplomat over Ukraine

Long days of gravediggers tell story of Ukraine's war dead

Tuesday 25 April 2023 10:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The graves are dug in the morning. Four plots, each two meters deep in the section of a cemetery in a central Ukrainian city devoted to the nation’s fallen soldiers.

The day begins for Oleh Itsenko, 29, and Andrii Kuznetsov, 23, shortly after dawn, when the two diggers report for the grueling work. A day in their lives tells the story of Ukraine’s mounting war dead. They won’t be finished until sunset.

With a tractor equipped with an earth auger they bore into the ground. Armed with shovels, they go about carving out perfect rectangles with precision, the final resting place for the country’s soldiers killed in fierce battles on Ukraine’s eastern front.

Long days of gravediggers tell story of Ukraine's war dead

Ukrainian museum worker killed and 10 injured in Russian attack

Tuesday 25 April 2023 10:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Russian missile has hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city, killing a worker and injuring 10 other people.

The Russian military used S-300 air defence missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the centre of the city.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video from the site that shows the ruined building and emergency personnel examining the damage.

“The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely,” Mr Zelensky said. “Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said that three people were admitted to hospital, seven received minor injuries and two others were believed to remain under the debris. Emergency responders were working to rescue them.

Kupiansk was captured by Russian forces in the earlier stages of the Russian invasion and reclaimed by Ukrainian forces in a surprise counter-offensive in September that saw the Russians driven out of broad swathes of the Kharkiv region.

A woman also died in Russian shelling of the town of Dvorichna, near Kupiansk, and two civilians were killed in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.

The Ukrainian military is now preparing for a massive counter-offensive, relying on the latest supplies of Western battle tanks and other weapons, and fresh troops who were trained in the West.

Ukraine‘s military intelligence chief, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine released on Monday, described the planned counter-offensive as a “landmark battle in Ukraine‘s modern history” that will see the country “reclaim significant areas”.