Category Archives: Ukraine

Canada memorial to Ukrainian soldiers in Nazi unit removed after protests

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Monument has long been a source of tension between Canada’s Ukrainian diaspora and Jewish and Polish communities

A controversial memorial to Ukrainian soldiers who served in a Nazi unit during the second world war has been removed from a Canadian cemetery following years of protests by community groups who described the shrine as “painful” and offensive.

The cenotaph, which had stood in the privately owned St Volodymyr Ukrainian cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, was removed on Saturday.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russian schools in Kursk close after claims of Ukrainian cross-border incursion – as it happened

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Schools in Kursk switch to online classes after Ukraine-based armed groups claim to have crossed Russian border

French President Emmanuel Macron’s Ukraine strategy will be put to a symbolic vote in parliament’s lower house on Tuesday as political tensions rage in the run-up to June’s European Parliament elections.

AFP reports:

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Red Cross urged to act over Russian branch’s links to Kremlin war machine

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International organisation under growing pressure as Russian group’s activities appear to defy neutrality principle

The international Red Cross movement is under pressure to take action against the Russian Red Cross (RRC) over close links between the group and the Kremlin’s war and propaganda machine.

The evidence includes the RRC president’s central role in a pro-Putin “patriotic” organisation, senior RRC staff who speak of the impossibility of peace with “Ukrainian Nazis”, and RRC participation in military training for children.

A series of documents leaked from the Russian presidential administration, the most recent of which are dated December 2023, were obtained by Estonia’s Delfi. These documents were shared for joint investigation with the Guardian as well as VSquare and Frontstory.pl (Poland), Expressen (Sweden), Meduza and iStories (independent Russian outlets), Paper Trail Media, Der Spiegel and ZDF (Germany), Der Standard (Austria), and Tamedia publications (Switzerland).

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Russia-Ukraine war: Nato chief confirms there are no plans to send alliance troops to Ukraine – as it happened

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Jens Stoltenberg distanced himself from Macron’s suggestion that western allies should not rule out deploying troops in Ukraine

Kyiv said an Oscar awarded to 20 Days in Mariupol was an important success that showed the “truth about Russia’s crimes” to the world.

The film, directed by Ukrainian film-maker Mstyslav Chernov, won the Best Documentary Oscar at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

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Sweden’s veteran peace movement stung by ‘reckless’ entry to Nato

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Activists say public debate has been shut down by overhyped claims of imminent war since Ukraine invasion

The Swedish flag will be raised on Monday outside Nato’s HQ in Brussels. But while the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, basks in the glow of his country finally joining the western military alliance after months of delays, Sweden’s once thriving peace movement is smarting.

Once widely visible in debates and on the streets – particularly over nuclear weapons, disarmament and the Vietnam war – the movement had already been on the wane since the end of the cold war.

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Crypto firm moved $4.2m of assets to digital wallet linked to alleged Russian arms dealer

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Analysis shows link between Copper Technologies and Jonatan Zimenkov, who was later hit with US sanctions over Ukraine invasion

A cryptocurrency firm transferred digital assets worth more than $4.2m to a crypto wallet belonging to a member of an alleged Russian arms-dealing network who was later hit with US sanctions, it can be revealed.

Details of the transactions involving Copper Technologies raise questions about whether UK laws governing crypto have adapted quickly enough to keep pace with a rapidly evolving sector that has come under increasing scrutiny over the level of anonymity it can provide.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: British foreign minister says he opposes sending western troops to Ukraine

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David Cameron says placing foreign soldiers would provide targets for Russia, even if on training missions

Pope Francis has been criticised after saying Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Some politicians and commentators in Europe reacted with anger after the pontiff appeared to stay silent on Russia’s crimes as aggressor in the invasion, which has killed tens of thousands, and placed the onus on Ukraine to make peace.

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Pope criticised for saying Ukraine should ‘raise white flag’ and end war with Russia

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Francis’s failure to condemn Moscow as aggressor decried as ‘shameful’ and ‘incomprehensible’

Pope Francis has been criticised after saying Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Some politicians and commentators in Europe reacted with anger after the pontiff appeared to stay silent on Russia’s crimes as aggressor in the invasion, which has killed tens of thousands, and placed the onus on Ukraine to make peace.

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‘I considered him a decent person’: how Putin’s puppets help to dupe Russia’s voters

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As Russians prepare to give the president another six-year term this week, an ex-rival has gone from protest candidate to grotesque war hawk

Two election cycles ago, in 2012, Sergei Mironov was loudly playing the role of opposition to Russia’s ruling party, wearing the white ribbon of the protest movement in the State Duma and claiming his run against Vladimir Putin was “serious”.

If made president, he said, he would even appoint the now deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny as the head of Russia’s accounts chamber as an anti-corruption measure.

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Boris Johnson ‘held unofficial talks with president of Venezuela in February’

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Former PM apparently met autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro over concerns he may supply weapons to Russia

Boris Johnson flew to Venezuela in February for unofficial talks with its autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, according to reports.

The former prime minister spoke to the Venezuelan president about the war in Ukraine, amid concerns that the socialist republic could supply weapons or military support to Russia, according to the Sunday Times.

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Russia-Ukraine war: British defence secretary in Kyiv to ‘raise alarm’; three dead in Kharkiv region after Russian shelling – as it happened

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Grant Shapps visits Ukraine and urges ‘wake up call for the world’; overnight Russian artillery and mortar attacks kill two women and a man in Kharkiv region

Ukraine’s defence ministry said that “overnight, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 33 our of 37 Russian ‘Shahed’ UAVs.”

Here is footage of a woman pulled from the rubble after Russian missiles hit Kharkiv region.

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‘The Russians have more of everything’: Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back enemy in Mariinka

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Drone team has bombed tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and ammunition dumps but still Russians are on the move

At night, Sasha and his drone team go in search of the enemy. They set off in a dirt-covered vehicle towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariinka, occupied by Russia since December. They unload a large drone. And then they fly it in darkness across the frontline, above a ghostly landscape of fields and ruined houses, towards the twinkling city of Donetsk. The drone carries a deadly arsenal of six grenades.

Sasha, who uses the call sign “Tourist”, has bombed more than 100 pieces of Russian military equipment. The list includes tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns, as well as hidden ammunition dumps. Russian howitzers are another key target. Recently his special operations unit forestalled a large-scale attack. It spotted seven Russian tanks massed for a dawn raid and disabled two of them.

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Former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi to become Ukraine’s ambassador to UK

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Popular national figure given new role after being dismissed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy a month ago

Ukraine’s former commander in chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is to become the country’s next ambassador to the UK, a month after he was fired by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, from his job leading the military.

The decision makes good on Zelenskiy’s promise to keep the popular former general “as part of the team” but it also removes him from Ukraine, where he is seen as the only realistic challenger to the president if there were to be an election.

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Czech Republic to suspend talks with Slovakia over Russia ties

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Slovakian foreign minister criticises ‘double standards’ in the reaction to his meeting with Sergei Lavrov

Slovakia’s foreign minister has defended a controversial decision to meet his Russian counterpart, after the Czech Republic announced it was suspending intergovernmental consultations with Bratislava amid concerns it is shifting away from western policy on supporting Ukraine.

In a statement emailed to the Guardian on Thursday, Juraj Blanár, who recently met Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Turkey, hit out at “double standards”, noting that some other Nato foreign ministers had also engaged with the Russian minister.

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Russian missiles strike near Zelenskiy and visiting Greek prime minister

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Russian forces ‘don’t care’ whether targets are military or civilians, says Zelenskiy; Greek PM describes experience as ‘very intense’

A deadly Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa appeared to land near President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and visiting Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who described the moment of the bombardment as “intense”.

The attack on port infrastructure on Wednesday killed five people and left an unspecified number of wounded, according to Ukraine’s navy.

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Cameron describes talks with Israeli minister over Gaza as ‘tough but necessary’

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UK foreign secretary repeated request to Benny Gantz for Israel to allow delivery of more aid and refrain from a full-scale assault on Rafah

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said he had held a “tough but necessary” conversation with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, repeating calls for more humanitarian aid for Gaza and warning him against a fully fledged offensive in Rafah.

Cameron said ensuring the availability of aid in Gaza would be a factor when the UK assesses whether Israel is acting in line with international law.

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Ancient stone tools found in Ukraine offer oldest evidence of human presence in Europe

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Deliberately fashioned chipped stones date back more than 1m years and may have been used by homo erectus

Ancient stone tools found in western Ukraine may offer the oldest known evidence of the presence of humans in Europe, according to new research.

The chipped stones, deliberately fashioned from volcanic rock, were excavated from a quarry in Korolevo in the 1970s. Archaeologists used new methods to date the layers of sedimentary rock surrounding the tools to more than 1m years old.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Britain ‘prepared to loan Ukraine all frozen Russian central bank assets’ – as it happened

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UK prepared to loan money on basis Russia will be forced to pay reparations to Ukraine at end of war, says foreign secretary David Cameron

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said that he would discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, and that talks with other Russian authorities had been “tense”, Russian news agencies reported.

State news agency RIA cited Grossi has saying that he had been able to assess the situation around the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since March 2022, Reuters reports.

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Ukraine claims to have sunk Russian warship in occupied Crimea

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Sinking of warship near Kerch strait would deal further blow to Moscow’s naval power and its control over Black Sea

Ukraine has sunk a Russian warship near the Kerch strait in occupied Crimea in a further blow to Moscow’s naval power and its control over the Black Sea, as The Hague accused two senior Russian commanders of carrying out war crimes.

Kyiv’s military intelligence agency said it attacked the Sergei Kotov early on Tuesday using naval drones. The vessel, which was on patrol, suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides, then sank, claimed the agency, known as the HUR.

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UK urges Germany to give long-range missiles to Kyiv despite Luftwaffe leak

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Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will not give missiles that could strike at strategic Crimea bridge, as Russia seeks to exploit leak

Britain has urged a reluctant Berlin to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv despite an embarrassing leak to Russian television of a top-secret call involving German air force officers who said UK troops were “on the ground” in Ukraine.

The Kremlin sought to exploit what it saw as a propaganda coup and pressure the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who in turn insisted on Monday he would not donate missiles that could strike at the strategic Kerch bridge linking Russia and occupied Crimea.

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