Category Archives: Ukraine

‘We have ambitious plans’: Anti-Putin forces plan fresh attacks inside Russia

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Leader of cross-border raids from Ukraine says weapons, not words, are needed to overthrow the regime in Moscow

The commander of the Freedom of Russia Legion says his fighters are planning another cross-border raid into Russia and are seeking to capitalise on disarray inside the Kremlin following the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“There will be a further surprise in the next month or so,” Caesar, a spokesperson for the anti-Putin paramilitary group, said in an interview with the Observer in Kyiv. “It will be our third operation. After that there will be a fourth, and fifth. We have ambitious plans. We want to free all our territory.”

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End justifies means for Biden in sending cluster bombs to Ukraine

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Decision to approve cluster munitions, lambasted by rights groups, exposes feeling in Washington that war is reaching crunch time

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, America’s voice at the United Nations, usually chooses her words carefully. “We have seen videos of Russian forces moving exceptionally lethal weaponry into Ukraine, which has no place on the battlefield,” she told the general assembly last year. “That includes cluster munitions and vacuum bombs – which are banned under the Geneva conventions.”

The speech can be read on the official website of the US mission to the UN. But it comes with a neat metaphor for how messy diplomacy can be. The transcript of Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks now has the words “which has no place on the battlefield” crossed out, and the word “banned” comes with an asterisk: she should have said “the use of which directed against civilians is banned under the Geneva conventions”.

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Biden says sending cluster bombs to Ukraine was ‘difficult decision’ – as it happened

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President tells CNN he took the recommendation for controversial weapons because Ukraine is ‘running out of ammunition’

The US added 209,000 new jobs in June as hiring slowed amid signs that the economy is cooling.

The rise was the weakest gain since December 2020, lower than the 240,000 jobs economists had expected and lower than the 309,000 jobs added in May. But the increase was also the 30th consecutive month of jobs gains, and the unemployment rate ticked down to the historically low rate of 3.6%.

This alarming development requires the Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance.

The presence of illegal drugs in the White House is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the White House’s history.

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Joe Biden defends ‘difficult decision’ to send cluster munitions to Ukraine

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Rights groups condemn supply of widely banned weapons and fellow Democrat calls it a ‘terrible mistake’

Joe Biden has defended the “difficult decision” to send widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine, after he was condemned by human rights groups and a fellow Democrat said it was “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”.

Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. They typically scatter numerous smaller bomblets over a wide area, sometimes as big as a football pitch, and can kill indiscriminately. Those that fail to explode threaten civilians, especially children, for decades after a conflict ends.

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Prigozhin wig pictures appear to be genuine, analysis shows

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Images leaked by Russian security services are consistent with one another and appear distorted due to being pictures of a digital screen

A raid on Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mansion in St Petersburg by security services has revealed his possession of some interesting items.

Among them was a wardrobe full of wigs, and photos of Prigozhin in various disguises wearing those wigs, which were allegedly taken from his personal album.

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Secret US-Russia talks over Ukraine ‘not sanctioned by Biden administration’

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Washington denies authorising former officials’ meeting with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov

Joe Biden’s administration did not sanction or support secret meetings that former top US national security officials held with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and other Russians on potential talks to end the Ukraine war, the White House and state department have said.

America’s NBC News network reported that the former officials met Lavrov in New York in April, joined by Richard Haass, a former US diplomat and outgoing president of the Council on Foreign Relations thinktank in Washington, and two former White House aides, Charles Kupchan and Thomas Graham.

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses peace plan, Nato and grain deal with Erdoğan in Turkey – as it happened

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Ukraine president meets with Turkish leader after summits across Europe

In his daily operational briefing, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, has said that one man was killed by Ukrainian shelling in the last 24 hours. He also recorded damage in a number of settlements caused by falling debris after air defence had been in action.

Belgorod borders Sumy, Kharkiv and the occupied Luhansk region in Ukraine’s north-east. The claims have not been independently verified.

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US expected to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine

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Human Rights Watch calls for immediate halt and urges US not to supply bombs amid reports Biden is to include them in aid package

Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster bombs, and urged the US not to supply the munitions to Kyiv, amid reports the Biden administration is poised to include the controversial weapons in a new military aid package.

Russian and Ukraine forces have used cluster bombs, which break apart in the air and release large numbers of smaller bomblets across a wide area.

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Russian cruise missile attack on Ukraine city of Lviv kills five

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Night-time onslaught believed to be heaviest attack on civilian areas of city since start of invasion

Russia has fired cruise missiles at a western Ukraine city far from the frontline of the war, killing at least five people in a block of flats, in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded Ukraine last year.

The night-time attack destroyed the roof and top two floors of a residential building, injuring nine people as emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: six die in missile strike on Lviv; US to send cluster munitions to Kyiv

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Cluster munitions banned by most of world under treaty US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign

On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.

Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane.

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Wagner boss Prigozhin has returned to Russia, Lukashenko says

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Belarus president says head of mercenary group behind failed mutiny is in St Petersburg

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who last month brokered a deal to end Wagner’s armed mutiny, has said the head of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has returned to Russia.

“As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko told reporters. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.”

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Germany did not listen to warnings about Russia, says Annalena Baerbock

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Foreign minister says Ukraine war has changed country’s mindset about ‘chequebook diplomacy’

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed how Germany views security and made Berlin realise it failed to listen to eastern European allies who warned of threats from Moscow, Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, has written in the Guardian.

In a frank admission about the flaws in postwar German foreign policy, she said countries in eastern Europe had been right to warn Germany that hoping for the best in dealing with the threats from an autocratic Russia was not an adequate response. For too long, she said, Germany had resorted to “chequebook diplomacy”, or a belief that political and economic interaction would lead Russia to a democratic path.

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Boris Johnson claims he ‘reminded’ Trump about key role in Ukraine aid

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Former British prime minister says in interview that Trump ‘played an important role’ in arming Ukraine and set an example

On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.

Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane. The episode was released on Thursday.

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Kremlin denies China’s president urged Putin not to use nuclear arms in Ukraine

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Xi Jining reportedly warned Russian counterpart against using nuclear weapons on visit to Moscow in March

The Kremlin has denied a report that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, had personally warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

“No, I can’t confirm it,” Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday when asked about a Financial Times report that said Xi delivered the message when he visited Moscow in March.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia situation ‘tense’ as both sides accuse each other of planning attack on nuclear plant – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more about the war in Ukraine here

Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that overnight residential buildings and a medical facility were damaged by a rocket attack on Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region.

The claims have not been independently verified.

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Russia may be open to prisoner swap for jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich

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Kremlin spokesman says there have been ‘certain contacts on the subject’ with the US but says any discussion will be held in secret

The Kremlin has suggested it could be open to a possible prisoner exchange involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held away from the public eye.

Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow and Washington had touched on the issue.

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Russia has planted suspected explosives on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant roofs, says Zelenskiy

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President’s claims come after meeting with Emmanuel Macron, and Russia’s competing claim that Ukraine was planning its own attack on the plant

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again warned Russia may be planning to “simulate an attack” the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, claiming that Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of buildings at the site.

Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Zelenskiy said the objects had been positioned on the roof of several power units of the power plant that is currently held by Russia.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin thanks China and India for support during Wagner mutiny; Nato extends Stoltenberg’s mandate for year

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Vladimir Putin addresses virtual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; Jens Stoltenberg to stay in post until October 2024

Oleksiy Danilov has described recent days of battle as “fruitful” for Ukraine in terms of destroying the resources of the Russian forces. In a post to social media, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council described Ukraine as acting “calmly” and “wisely’ in its counteroffensive. He posted:

At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s defence forces are fulfilling the number one task – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army.

The last few days have been particularly fruitful. Now the war of destruction is equal to the war of kilometres. More destroyed means more liberated. The more effective the former, the more the latter. We are acting calmly, wisely, step by step.

This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.

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