Category Archives: Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war: Russian conscripts being sent straight to front, Kyiv says; UK sanctions Russians linked to ‘sham referendums’ – as it happened

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Untrained conscripts being sent directly to Ukraine frontline, Kyiv claims; UK announces new package of sanctions. This live blog has now closed

Alex Rossi is the Sky News correspondent in Moscow. He has offered this analysis this morning, saying:

We’re now five days into this [mobilisation]. It doesn’t seem to really have gone down very well. Bear in mind that Russia, of course, is a very heavily securitised police state where dissent isn’t tolerated, but there have been sporadic protests all over the country.

The number of people that they’re trying to draft is 300,000. That’s almost double the initial invasion force. So it is a reflection of how badly things are going on the battlefield for the Kremlin, and just shows that they have a very significant manpower problem.

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Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin admits founding Wagner mercenary group

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Russian businessman confirms deployment to countries in Latin America and Africa in first public confirmation of link

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, has admitted that he founded the Wagner Group private military company in 2014, the first public confirmation of a link he has previously denied.

Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business hosted dinners attended by the Russian president, said he founded Wagner to support Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

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Zelenskiy vows to liberate all of Ukraine as Russian ‘vote’ continues

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Reports suggest local population in occupied areas has overwhelmingly boycotted Kremlin’s referendum

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has vowed to liberate the entire country as Russia pressed on with its supposed referendum in occupied areas of Ukraine and so-called election workers accompanied by masked gunmen knocked on doors to get people to vote.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s armed forces would throw the Russian forces out and retaliate against “every strike of the aggressor”. He pledged that Ukraine’s armed forces would regain control of the southern Kherson region and the eastern Donbas, which includes Luhansk province and Crimea.

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Jake Sullivan: US will act ‘decisively’ if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine

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US national security adviser says: ‘Any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia’

America and its allies will act “decisively” if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, reaffirming the Joe Biden White House’s previous response to mounting concerns that Vladimir Putin’s threats are in increased danger of being realized.

“We have communicated directly, privately and at very high levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the US and our allies will respond decisively, and we have been clear and specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan told CBS’s Face The Nation.

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Richard Marles condemns Russia’s ‘appalling’ nuclear threat and pledges long-term Ukraine support

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Australia’s defence minister says Vladimir Putin’s threat ‘cannot be allowed to stand’

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has condemned the latest nuclear threat from Russia as “appalling”, and says Australia is preparing to support Ukraine for a protracted military conflict.

Speaking on Sunday, the deputy prime minister said the threat from the Russian president Vladimir Putin last week to use the country’s nuclear arsenal as part of its ongoing war with Ukraine could “not be allowed to stand”.

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Russia’s allies China and India call for negotiations to end Ukraine war

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Moscow isolated at United Nations assembly, with no major country siding with it

China and India have called for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, stopping short of robust support for traditional ally Russia.

After a week of pressure at the United Nations general assembly, Russia’s foreign minister took the general assembly rostrum to deliver a fiery rebuke to western nations for what he termed a “grotesque” campaign against Russians.

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Roger Waters cancels gigs in Poland amid row over Ukraine war comments

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Pink Floyd co-founder's stance on Russia's war against Ukraine has sparked ‘indignation’ in Kraków

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has cancelled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported on Saturday.

An official with the Tauron Arena in Kraków, where the musician was scheduled to perform two concerts in April 2023, said they would no longer take place.

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Expect dissent to rise as Putin’s call-up brings Ukraine war home to Russians

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As men of fighting age flee the draft, observers say Kremlin should be more worried about mounting anger away from the cities

In a caricature by the country’s most prominent political cartoonist, Sergey Elkin, Vladimir Putin is standing on top of the Kremlin wall with his arms outstretched.

“So what else do I need to do for you guys to finally start rebelling,” Putin asks, with a look of desperation.

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Russia-Ukraine war: at least 730 protesters detained in Russia; Europe urged to accept Russians fleeing draft – as it happened

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Arrests made in 32 cities at rallies against mobilisation; border crossings from Russia to Finland have doubled and 10km queue reported at frontier with Georgia. This blog is now closed

Russian forces launched new strikes on Saturday, targeting infrastructure facilities, Zaporizhzhia city’s administrative head, Oleksandr Starukh, said via his Telegram channel.

One missile hit an apartment building causing a fire, killing one person and injuring seven others.

But if you get into the Russian army, sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operations, provide us with any important information about the occupiers – their bases, headquarters, warehouses with ammunition. And at the first opportunity, switch to our positions.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russians flee to avoid draft as west says Putin faces ‘major challenges’ to recruit 300,000 – as it happened

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Western officials say true target could be higher but significant hurdles remain to mobilise stated target of 300,000

The British Ministry of Defence has giving its latest intelligence update on how it sees the situation on the ground in the war. It says that “the battle situation remains complex” but that “Ukraine is now putting pressure on territory that Russia considers essential to its war aims”, with fighting along the Oskil River, and a Ukrainian assault on the town of Lyman, Donetsk, which Russia captured in May.

This is Martin Belam in London with the live blog now for the next few hours. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

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Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up

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Miles-long traffic jams form as Russia’s neighbours debate whether to welcome those trying to avoid military draft

Long lines of vehicles continue to form at Russia’s border crossings on the second day full day of Vladimir Putin’s military mobilisation, with some men waiting over 24 hours as western leaders disagree over whether Europe should welcome those fleeing the call-up to fight in Ukraine.

The Russian president’s decision to announce the first mobilisation since the second world war has led to a rush among men of military age to leave the country, likely sparking a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain in the coming days and weeks.

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‘Why bother voting?’: apathy in Ukraine amid so-called referendums

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Hastily arranged polls in Russia-controlled regions have seen little campaigning, but there are reports of door-to-door searches and repression

With minimal preparation, armed soldiers standing guard and the booms of war often audible in the distance, so-called referendums got under way on Friday in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.

Residents in Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were told to vote on proposals for the four areas to declare independence and then join Russia.

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Berlusconi claims Russians ‘pushed’ Putin into Ukraine war

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Italian former PM’s party is part of coalition expected to win Sunday’s general election

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s three-time former prime minister, whose party is forecast to return to government after the general election on Sunday, has sparked a row after defending the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over the war in Ukraine.

The 85-year-old billionaire told Italian TV that Putin, an old friend of his, was pushed to invade Ukraine by the Russian people and by ministers who wanted Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration replaced with “decent people”.

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Saudi foreign minister defends role in securing Ukraine prisoner swaps

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Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud decries as ‘cynical’ accusations his country was trying to improve its image after Khashoggi killing

It would be cynical to see Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure the release of international prisoners held by Russian proxies in Ukraine as an attempt to improve the country’s image after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, its foreign minister has said.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said on Friday that Riyadh had first approached the UK government in April, shortly after Aiden Aslin, a British citizen, and others were captured at Mariupol, and had acted for compassionate reasons, hoping to negotiate their release.

This story was amended on Friday 23 September 2022 to correct the name of the Saudi foreign minister.

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Patience with Putin may be ebbing among friendlier countries

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Turkey, India and China respond cooly to news of planned referendums in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia

Signs that some countries willing to tolerate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are losing patience have emerged as Turkey, India and China responded cooly to the announcement that four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia were planning referendums on joining the Russian Federation.

Turkey, which has been at the centre of mediation between the west and Russia, issued a sharp rebuke, saying in a statement that it was concerned by attempts to stage unilateral referendums.

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Ukraine celebrates release of over 200 captives in surprise swap with Russia

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Commanders who led defence of Azovstal steelworks among those freed in exchange for Putin ally and 55 Russian soldiers

Ukraine has celebrated the release of more than 200 of its citizens from Russian captivity, including the fighters who led the defence of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

It was the biggest prisoner swap since the start of Russia’s invasion in February, and came as a surprise during a week in which the Kremlin raised the stakes again in Ukraine, promising to hold sham “referendums” to annex Ukrainian territory and threatening nuclear strikes if thwarted.

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New bill vows to stop kleptocrats ‘treating UK as their safe deposit box’

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Proposed reforms previously delayed by Boris Johnson reannounced amid accusations Tories are soft on ‘dirty money’

Companies House will be given new powers to challenge incorrect or fraudulent claims made by kleptocrats and their agents in an economic crime bill that was previously delayed by Boris Johnson a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The new bill – the second of two that had to be hurriedly reannounced amid accusations the government had gone soft on dirty money – is backed by the new security minister, Tom Tugendhat.

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