Motorists queue, petrol stations run dry and prices surge in country that is one of the world’s top energy exporters
Russia prides itself on being an energy superpower, but some of its citizens are suddenly struggling to fill their fuel tanks after weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes crippled refining capacity across the country.
Petrol stations in several regions have run dry while prices have surged to record highs and motorists queue for hours.
Continue reading...The director said he did not ‘feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help’ after Ukraine calls the film-maker’s participation a ‘disgrace’
Woody Allen has denied claims that his participation in a Moscow film festival was “whitewashing” Russian atrocities, after condemnation of his appearance by Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Allen said in a statement to the Guardian: “When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong. The war he has caused is appalling. But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.”
Continue reading...Karol Nawrocki says only Ukrainians in work should receive child benefit payments in Poland
Poland’s president has vetoed legislation to prolong benefits received by Ukrainian refugees in Poland, following up on a campaign promise to tighten welfare payments amid a steady growth in anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Poles.
Karol Nawrocki, who took office earlier this month after winning an election in spring, said only Ukrainians in work should receive child benefit payments.
Continue reading...Russian foreign minister praises Trump’s effort and got defensive when asked if Putin was ‘stringing along’ Trump
Russia accused western European leaders on Sunday of not wanting peace in Ukraine, as Moscow’s most senior diplomat praised efforts by Donald Trump to end the war, while Vice-President JD Vance said the US would “keep on trying” to broker talks in the absence of a deal.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, made the comments during a sometimes contentious interview on NBC on Sunday morning, during which he denied his country had bombed civilian targets in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Moscow says operating capacity of reactor at Kursk site reduced by 50% as Kyiv celebrates independence day
Moscow has accused Kyiv of launching dozens of drone attacks, including one that sparked a fire at a nuclear power plant, as Ukrainians marked 34 years since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union.
The drone attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant in western Russia, 37 miles (60km) from the border with Ukraine, caused damage to an auxiliary transformer and forced a 50% reduction in the operating capacity of a reactor, Russian authorities said. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the alleged attack.
Continue reading...Relatives of Annie Lewis Marffy in ‘red-tape limbo’ over recovery of her body and issuing of death certificate
The family of a British aid volunteer reportedly killed in a drone strike in Ukraine said they were very disappointed by the reaction from the Foreign Office.
Annie Lewis Marffy, 69, travelled from her home in Silverton, near Exeter in Devon in late May to deliver supplies packed into a green Toyota Rav4 in a mission arranged by the non-profit organisation Aid Ukraine UK. She was to take the vehicle in convoy with a British volunteer to Kramatorsk in the contested Donbas region.
Continue reading...Violetta Prigozhina, 85, says she warned her son not to defy Putin’s authority before he was killed in a plane crash
The Russian warlord and businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin looked “doomed” after his failed mutiny and told his mother he expected to die in the days before his private plane crash.
Prigozhin, the founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, died when his business jet went down in the summer of 2023, two months after his fighters briefly seized control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and advanced towards Moscow in a short-lived rebellion against Russia’s military leadership.
Continue reading...Hungary’s foreign minister claims missile strike on energy infrastructure is ‘another attempt to drag us into war’
Ukraine has hit a key pumping station on the Druzhba oil pipeline bringing fuel to Europe from Russia, knocking out supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, the only remaining EU member states still receiving Russian oil.
As Ukraine targets infrastructure crucial to Moscow’s war effort in response to the Russian onslaught, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi, announced the attack on the Unecha pumping station in the Bryansk region.
Continue reading...Serhiy K is believed to have been onboard boat from where 2022 attack on gas pipelines was carried out
A Ukrainian man alleged to have been involved in the 2022 detonation of the Nord Stream pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Germanyhas been arrested in Italy, according to German authorities.
The man, identified only as Serhiy K, is believed to have been onboard the sailing boat from where the attack was allegedly carried out.
Continue reading...The shifting loyalties of the White House have inadvertently bound Europe closer together – how long can that unity last?
It was dubbed the “Great European Charm Offensive”.
Hours before Volodymyr Zelenskyy headed to Washington for a Monday meeting with Donald Trump, announcements came pouring in from across Europe, making it clear that the president of Ukraine would not be going alone.
Continue reading...Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses European diplomacy as ‘clumsy effort to sway Trump’
Moscow has said it must be part of any international talks on Ukraine’s security, as Russia continues to stall on Donald Trump’s push for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Wednesday that Moscow must be included in any talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees, dismissing European diplomacy as “aggressive escalation” and a “clumsy effort to sway Trump”.
Continue reading...US president handed Ukrainian leader symbolic keys to the White House in return during meeting in Washington
Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave Donald Trump a golf club during his visit to Washington this week that had belonged to a serviceman fighting Russia’s invasion, Kyiv said on Tuesday.
Trump, an avid golfer who owns several courses, accepted the gift and presented Zelenskyy with symbolic keys to the White House in return, the Ukrainian leader’s office said.
Continue reading...Leaders continue flurry of diplomacy amid uncertainty over whether Putin-Zelenskyy meeting will be agreed
European leaders are holding fresh talks after their White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid uncertainty over Vladimir Putin’s readiness to meet the Ukrainian president.
The so-called “coalition of the willing” will first meet virtually, co-chaired by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, before joining a video conference hosted by the European Council president, António Costa.
Continue reading...Ukrainian designer Viktor Anisimov said outcome of crucial meeting with Trump was more important than fashion
On Monday evening, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, garnered compliments from Donald Trump and the White House press pool for his formal jacket and trousers.
But for the ensemble’s designer, Viktor Anisimov, the outcome of the meeting, not the verdict on the outfit, was of more concern.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The Ukrainian president and fellow continental leaders descended on the White House to squeeze support from the US – did they get it?
Good morning. Last night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House flanked by a dream team of hastily assembled European heavyweights. Their aim: to coax Donald Trump out of pro-Russian positions he adopted after his Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin last Friday.
The meeting was a sign of both panic and resolve from Europe. The fact Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and more cleared their diaries at such short notice to fly to Washington is an indication of how alarmed they are by Trump’s desire to move straight to a peace deal without a ceasefire – and his insistence that Zelenskyy give up Ukrainian territory.
Tax | Rachel Reeves is considering replacing stamp duty with a new property tax that would apply to the sale of homes worth more than £500,000, the Guardian has been told.
UK news | Exposure to pornography has increased since the introduction of UK rules to protect the public online, with children as young as six seeing it by accident, research by the children’s commissioner for England has found.
Conservatives | Leaked WhatsApp messages show Conservative MPs are worried that their party’s “piss-poor” messaging over asylum-seeker hotels is making the party look silly. It follows the release of an advert by Conservative campaign headquarters last week, making claims that have since been challenged as exaggerations, such as that asylum seekers receive free driving lessons and free PlayStation consoles.
Bolivia | Bolivia’s presidential election will go to a runoff, with two rightwing candidates seemingly the top runners. It’s an unprecedented scenario after nearly two decades of leftist rule by the Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).
Environment | Relentless heat and disastrous wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with one-quarter of weather stations in Spain recording 40C temperatures and above, the latest in a series of disasters exacerbated by climate breakdown amid a continental rollback of green policies.
Continue reading...President reverses ceasefire position but says US will give Ukraine security help and expresses hope for trilateral talks
Donald Trump has ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies visited the White House to push for US-backed security guarantees as part of any long-term peace deal.
The US president, who only last week warned Russia of “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin failed to agree to a halt the fighting, made clear on Monday he had reversed his position.
Continue reading...Presidents, PMs and heads of Nato and European Commission accompany Ukraine’s leader at White House
European leaders gathered in Washington on Monday for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in a show of support for the Ukrainian president. Their presence came amid expectations that Trump would try to bully Zelenskyy into accepting a pro-Russia “peace plan” that would include Kyiv handing territory to Moscow. The Europeans have been described as Zelenskyy’s “bodyguards”, with memories fresh of the mauling he received in February during his last Oval Office visit. So, who are they?
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says latest strikes have killed at least 10 people and intended to ‘humiliate diplomatic efforts’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of trying to humiliate Ukraine and Europe by “deliberately killing civilians” before talks with Donald Trump in the White House to be attended by Ukraine’s president and a group of European leaders.
Zelenskyy described the latest strikes by Moscow on four Ukrainian cities as “demonstrative and cynical”. At least seven people were killed in a drone attack on Kharkiv, including a small girl, while three were killed in another bombing in Zaporizhzhia, he said.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says talks between Putin and Trump had ‘made progress’ but ‘big areas of disagreement’ remain
In a combative series of interviews on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that “both sides are going to have to make concessions” for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war that erupted when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides make concessions – that’s a fact,” the Trump administration’s top diplomat said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “That’s true in virtually any negotiation. If not, it’s just called surrender. And neither side is going to surrender. So both sides are going to have to make concessions.”
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and others will aim to push back against ceding of Ukraine territory in ‘peace plan’
European leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer will join Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a White House meeting on Monday with Donald Trump, in an extraordinary joint effort to push back on a US-backed plan that would allow Russia to take further Ukrainian territory.
As well as the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni, and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, will all accompany Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Continue reading...