Category Archives: Ukraine

Putin talks to mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine in staged meeting

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Russian president sits down with handpicked group of women to calm public anger over mobilisation

Vladimir Putin has met with a handpicked cadre of mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine for a carefully staged meeting meant to calm public anger over mobilisation.

While dozens of ordinary mothers have gone public saying they were snubbed by the Kremlin, Putin sat down with a former government official, the mother of a senior military and police official from Chechnya, and other women active in pro-war NGOs financed by the state.

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Much of Ukraine still without power, heat and water after missile attacks

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Rolling blackouts continue and 60% of Kyiv without electricity two days after Russian strikes on infrastructure

Much of Ukraine remained without electricity, heat and water two days after a devastating series of Russian missile attacks against the country’s civilian infrastructure.

The Kyiv mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, said 60% of households in the city of 3 million had no power, and there were rolling blackouts around the country, as engineers struggled to repair transformers and transmission lines damaged or destroyed by cruise missiles on Wednesday.

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Putin’s grip on regional allies loosens again after Armenia snub

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Damaging optics of ‘family’ photo at CSTO summit highlights fragility of Russia’s influence in wake of war in Ukraine

Armenia has asked the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to chair peace talks with Azerbaijan in a fresh challenge to Vladimir Putin’s increasingly loose grip on Russia’s regional allies in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The snub from a traditional ally to Putin, who had hosted an inconsequential meeting of the warring countries’ leaders last month, comes immediately on the back of his disastrous summit with six former Soviet states.

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Germany set to declare starvation of Ukrainians under Stalin a genocide

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Bundestag hopes move will serve as ‘warning’ to Moscow as Ukraine faces potential hunger crisis

Germany’s Bundestag is planning to pass a resolution declaring the starvation of millions of Ukrainians under Joseph Stalin a genocide, a move that parliamentarians hope will serve as a “warning” to Moscow as Ukraine faces a potential hunger crisis this winter.

The resolution, which will be jointly brought to the vote next week by the three governing parties and conservative opposition leaders, will describe the 1932-33 Holodomor as part of “a list of inhuman crimes by totalitarian systems that extinguished millions of human lives in Europe in the first half of the 20th century”.

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UK foreign secretary visits Kyiv to reaffirm support for Ukraine

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James Cleverly, who says Russia will fail in its attempt to ‘break Ukrainian resolve’, announces fresh support package

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, travelled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet the Ukrainian leadership and promise the UK’s support for as long as it takes to defeat Russia’s brutal efforts to break the country’s resolve.

In his first visit to Ukraine since his appointment as foreign secretary, Cleverly presented a package of support including money for the reconstruction of schools, ambulances, the victims of sexual violence, and grain sales to the world’s poorest markets, such as Sudan and Yemen.

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‘We are Ukrainians. We’re strong’: morale the key in Kyiv as winter sets in

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Residents shelter in ‘invincibility stations’ offering power, water and food as Russian missiles knock out supplies

The residents of Kyiv taking shelter in their local “invincibility station” were well aware that their own morale has become the central battlefield of the war, and it is not territory they are prepared to concede to Vladimir Putin.

The insulated grey tent set up on a street corner in the Pecherskyi district of Kyiv, one of thousands established around the country this week, was offering electricity, warmth, tea and sandwiches after the latest Russian onslaught.

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Russian strikes risked ‘nuclear catastrophe’, says Ukraine energy chief; Moscow says 50 PoWs freed – as it happened

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Head of Ukrainian nuclear power company says Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on diesel generators on Wednesday; Kyiv releases Russian PoWs. This live blog is closed.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said contacts with the UN nuclear watchdog over safety at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine were “constructive” and showed some promise.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russia seized shortly after its invasion, was again rocked by shelling last weekend, prompting renewed calls from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create a protection zone around it to prevent a nuclear disaster.

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Russia strikes are crime against humanity, Zelenskiy tells UN, as power cut in Ukraine and Moldova

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Ukraine’s president labels Russia’s strikes on energy sites as crimes against humanity, as G7 discussions to cap Russian oil prices reportedly hit a set-back

Fresh Russian strikes battered Ukraine’s already failing electricity grid, causing blackouts across the country and in neighbouring Moldova, in attacks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the UN were “an obvious crime against humanity”.

Addressing an urgent meeting of the UN security council late on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would put forward a resolution condemning “any forms of energy terror”. Referring to Russia’s likely veto, he said, “it’s nonsense that the veto right is secured for the party that wages this war.”

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 274 of the invasion

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls for UN security council to take action after latest strikes; EU leaders fail to agree on price cap for Russian oil

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the United Nations security council to act against Russia over air strikes on civilian infrastructure that have again plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold as winter sets in. Russia unleashed a missile barrage across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing 10 people, forcing shutdowns of nuclear power plants and cutting water and electricity supply in many places.

Neighbouring Moldova said it was suffering massive blackouts caused by the missile barrage and its EU-friendly president, Maia Sandu, accused Russia of leaving her country “in the dark”.

European Union governments failed to reach a deal on Wednesday on the level at which to cap prices for Russian sea-borne oil under the G7 scheme and will resume talks, EU diplomats said. Earlier on Thursday, EU representatives met in Brussels. The move is part of sanctions intended to slash Moscow’s revenue from its oil exports so it has less money to finance the invasion of Ukraine.

UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN security council on Wednesday that an exchange of 35 Russian and 36 Ukrainian prisoners was a positive development amid the “dark news” of Russian strikes on Ukraine. DiCarlo encouraged the parties to continue prisoner releases and follow international humanitarian law in relation to prisoners of war, Reuters reports.

A Russian court on Wednesday extended by six months the detention of opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who risks being jailed for 10 years for denouncing president Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine. The 39-year-old Moscow city councillor is in the dock as part of an unprecedented crackdown on dissent in Russia, with most opposition activists either in jail or in exile. He faces up to 10 years behind bars, if convicted.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had faith in the “success” of its offensive in Ukraine. “The future and the success of the special operation are beyond doubt,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on a visit to Armenia, using the official Moscow term to describe Russia’s assault, Agence France-Presse reports.

European cities were urged to send spare generators to Ukraine to help the country through the winter in the face of Russia’s attacks on electricity infrastructure. Ukraine’s power grid came under bombardment again as the European parliament president, Roberta Metsola, launched an appeal to get generators to Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: death toll rises after Russian strikes across Ukraine; European parliament ‘under cyber-attack’

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Russia launches 70 missiles in ‘large-scale attack on critical facilities’; cyber-attack hits European parliament after MEPs declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism

The Russian foreign ministry criticised Ukraine as “godless”, “wild” and “immoral” on Wednesday for raiding an old Orthodox Christian Monastery in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s SBU security service and police raided the 1,000-year-old Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex – or Kyiv Monastery of the Caves – early on Tuesday as part of operations to counter suspected “subversive activities by Russian special services,” the SBU said.

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Russian-backed Kyiv monastery raided over suspected subversion

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Ukrainian official says suspected Russian citizens and pro-Russia literature found in raids on Orthodox sites

A Ukrainian security official has said suspected Russian citizens, cash and documents were seized in a raid on a 1,000-year-old Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv and other Orthodox sites early on Tuesday as part of operations to counter suspected “subversive activities by Russian special services”.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, said there was an investigation into what had been going on in the network of catacombs. The SBU website said the agency had found pro-Russia literature and more than $100,000 in cash.

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Kyiv demands apology after PM Orbán wears scarf showing parts of Ukraine as Hungarian

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Ukraine and Romania voice displeasure with Hungarian prime minister for wearing scarf showing Hungary’s pre-world war one territory

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán came under pressure to apologise after posting a video of himself at a football match wearing a scarf that depicted historical Hungary, including parts of Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Tuesday Kyiv would summon Hungary’s ambassador “who will be informed of the unacceptability of Viktor Orbán’s act”.

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Dutch court sides with squatters of sanctions-hit Russian’s mansion

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Ruling against Arkady Volozh in Amsterdam could set awkward precedent in Europe for rich Russians

Perched as it is in an upmarket neighbourhood overlooking the scenic Vondelpark, it is not hard to imagine why a Russian billionaire would have been interested in the 1879 five-storey Amsterdam property with a lush private garden.

That billionaire was Arkady Volozh, a co-founder of Russia’s biggest search engine, Yandex. He bought the £3m house in 2019, becoming one of the dozens of wealthy Russians who have invested in property in the Dutch capital.

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Ukraine’s power grid destroyed on a ‘colossal’ scale after Russian strikes, says energy chief – as it happened

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Head of Ukraine’s power grid operator says almost no thermal or hydroelectric stations left unscathed by Russian attacks. This live blog is now closed

Russia has reiterated that it is not seeking a change of government in Ukraine.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said his country “does not intend the ‘special operation’ to change the government in Ukraine”, Sky News reports.

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Ukraine’s security service raids Russian-backed monastery in Kyiv

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SBU and police swoop on suspected ‘subversive activities by Russian special services’

Ukraine’s SBU security service and police have raided a 1,000-year-old Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv as part of operations to counter suspected “subversive activities by Russian special services”.

Located south of the city centre, the sprawling Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex – or Kyiv Monastery of the Caves – is the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox church that falls under the Moscow patriarchate, as well as being a Ukrainian cultural treasure and a Unesco World Heritage site.

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Ukraine to begin evacuations in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions as winter sets in

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Move comes amid fears war damage to infrastructure too severe for civilians in newly liberated areas to survive

Ukraine is to evacuate civilians from recently liberated areas of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, amid fears that the damage to infrastructure caused by the war is too severe for people to endure the winter.

Residents of the two southern regions, which were shelled regularly by Russian forces in the past months, have been advised to move to safer areas in the central and western parts of the country, said Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.

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Zelenskiy urges Nato to protect nuclear sites from ‘sabotage’ as Russia warns of risk of accident – as it happened

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Ukrainian president makes appeal to Nato members; Russia’s state-run atomic energy agency warns of risk of nuclear accident. This live blog is now closed

Ukrainian soldiers fire an artillery at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine.

Italy’s government will ask parliament to pass a new law on military and civilian supplies to Ukraine throughout 2023, defence minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview.

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Shelling of Zaporizhzhia is playing with fire, says UN nuclear chief, as blasts reported

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Explosions cause damage at Ukrainian power plant, as Kyiv says it will investigate videos allegedly of surrendering Russians being shot

The UN nuclear energy watchdog has said the forces behind the shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant are “playing with fire”, after a series of explosions shook the facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts based at Zaporizhzhia, reported on Sunday that powerful explosions had shaken the area on Saturday night and Sunday. It said its on-site experts saw some of the explosions from their windows.

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