Hundreds of thousands ‘must evacuate Donetsk’ to avoid falling into enemy hands, says Ukrainian president
Russia has said it has invited United Nations and Red Cross experts to investigate the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow-backed separatists, Reuters reports.
At least 50 prisoners of war were killed in an attack on a jail in Olenivka, in Russian-occupied Donetsk, on Friday. Both sides in the war have blamed the blast on each other.
Continue reading...Routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards as a result of warmer temperatures
Little snow cover and glaciers melting at an alarming rate in Europe’s heatwaves have put some classic Alpine hiking routes off-limits.
Usually at the height of summer tourists flock to the Alps and seek out well-trodden paths up to some of its peaks. But with warmer temperatures – which scientists say are driven by climate change – speeding up glacier melt and thawing permafrost, routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards such as falling rocks released from the ice.
Continue reading...Ukraine does not confirm involvement in Sevastopol attack, while Russia cancels Navy Day events
Russia has claimed that its Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol have been hit by a Ukrainian drone strike, wounding five people and prompting officials to cancel festivities planned for Navy Day.
The attack was reported by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the head of the local Russian administration in Sevastopol in Crimea, which was occupied and then annexed in 2014.
Continue reading...Looming battles will be crucial for course of war, warns intelligence chief
Russia is moving large numbers of troops to Ukraine’s south for battles against the country’s forces through the newly occupied territories and Crimea, according to Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence.
If Russia won, it would try to capture more territory, said Vadym Skibitsky. “They are increasing their troop numbers, preparing for our counteroffensive [in Ukraine’s south] and perhaps preparing to launch an offensive of their own. The south is key for them, above all because of Crimea,” he said.
Continue reading...Famous fans get behind England for a gripping contest against Germany that is expected to set records
An all-female RAF flypast will grace the skies above Wembley on Sunday in celebration of a women’s football team that this weekend received good-luck messages from the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the royal family before the Women’s Euro 2022 final against Germany.
“Your passion for the game, your tenacity in tricky spots and above all your astounding talent on the pitch have already created a summer of fantastic memories for millions of us,” Boris Johnson wrote in a letter to the England team.
Continue reading...Sian Green-Lord says use and alteration of her image without her knowledge in government poster was ‘beyond wrong’
A British model has been left “literally shaking” with anger after Spain’s summer campaign encouraging women of all shapes and sizes to hit the beach used her image without permission and edited out her prosthetic leg.
Sian Green-Lord is the second model to complain that her picture was used without her knowledge in a body-positivity promotion called “Summer is ours too”, which was launched on Wednesday by the Women’s Institute – part of Spain’s equality ministry.
Continue reading...Beating in broad daylight of Alika Ogorchukwu in Civitanova Marche sparks outrage and protests
An Italian man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a Nigerian street seller, whose beating in broad daylight was reportedly filmed by onlookers and which has sparked outrage and protests.
Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, was killed in the centre of Civitanova Marche on Friday afternoon.
Continue reading...Wives of prisoners unsure whether loved ones survived blast in Olenivka as Russia and Ukraine blame each other
The families of Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in a jail in Russian-occupied Donetsk that was bombed said they are desperate for news.
The prisoners include members of the Azov battalion who were trapped in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to earlier statements by Russia’s ministry of defence. The prison is located in the town of Olenivka, just 10 kilometres from Ukraine’s frontlines.
Continue reading...Announcement comes day after report of first such death in Europe as health ministry says 4,298 cases confirmed in country
Spain reported its second monkeypox-related death on Saturday, in what is thought to be Europe’s second death from the disease in the current outbreak.
Spain reported its first death on Friday, shortly after Brazil reported the first monkeypox-related death outside Africa in the current wave of the disease.
Continue reading...Sentiment is shifting among politicians and public as beloved region of forested mountains goes up in flames
As wake-up calls go, this one had the distinction of early morning pungency. If the Czech Republic is to complete the journey from deep climate change scepticism to full recognition of the global heating crisis, history may record that the common experience of awakening to a pervading burning smell marked a turning point.
This was the sensation that greeted inhabitants of Prague and other towns and cities last Monday morning as smoke from a blaze that had broken out the previous day in Bohemian Switzerland, a storied forested area close to the German border, wafted across the country and seeped into the popular consciousness.
Continue reading...Ukraine says comments from Russian embassy Twitter account shows Russia ‘is a state sponsor of terrorism’
These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
The official Twitter account of the Russian embassy in the UK has posted that members of Ukraine’s Azov battalion – which does retain some far-right affiliations – deserve death by “hanging”.
Continue reading...Ukraine president says more than 50 people died, as Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of being behind attack on prison in Russian-occupied Donetsk
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denounced as a war crime a prison attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-occupied Donetsk, as both sides traded blame for the deaths.
In a Friday night address, the Ukrainian president said more than 50 died in the assault on Olenivka, calling it “a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.
Continue reading...Russia and Ukraine both launch investigations into attack that killed at least 40 Ukrainian PoWs; Ukraine says it is ready to resume grain exports from ports
Russia and Ukraine have both launched criminal investigations into strikes that have reportedly killed at least 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were held at a pre-trial detention centre in the village of Olenivka, after both countries blamed the other side for the attack.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has accused Russia of a “petrifying war crime” over the killings and called on world leaders to “recognise Russia as a terrorist state”.
Ukraine has said it is ready for grain exports to leave its ports again but is waiting for the go-ahead from the United Nations, which it hoped it would receive later on Friday.
Horrific video has emerged that appears to show a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian prisoner, who other reports suggest was subsequently murdered. The footage, reviewed by the Guardian, was originally posted on pro-Russian Telegram channels. Aric Toler at investigative outlet Bellingcat, suggested that the video – featuring a Russian soldier, wearing a distinctive black wide-brimmed hat, approaching another figure who has his hands bound and is lying face down with the back of his trousers cut away – appeared to be authentic .
At least five people have been killed and seven injured in a strike on a bus stop in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the regional governor, Vitaliy Kim. Graphic images from the scene show the street littered with bodies.
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday that Russia staunchly supported China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, after the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, warned the US president, Joe Biden, against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a phone call on Thursday.
Germany’s economy minister said on Friday that putting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation was not an option as this would only play into the hands of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. There is growing anger in Germany over soaring energy prices.
Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Russian operative who was subjected to US sanctions on Friday, has been charged with using political groups in the US to advance pro-Russia propaganda, including during the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
The US treasury department said on Friday it had imposed sanctions on another individual alongside Ionov, as well as on four entities that support the Kremlin’s global malign influence and election interference operations, including in the US and Ukraine.
Belarus recalled its UK ambassador on Friday in response to what it called “hostile and unfriendly” actions by London.
North Macedonia plans to donate an unspecified number of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine as it seeks to modernise its own military to meet Nato standards, its defence ministry said on Friday.
Germany would deliver 16 Biber bridge-layer tanks to Ukrainian forces, the German defence ministry said.
A Ukrainian court on Friday reduced to 15 years a life sentence handed to a Russian soldier in May for pre-meditated murder in the country’s first war crimes trial.
A Russian ammunition depot in the southern Kherson region had been destroyed, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
The UK defence minister, Ben Wallace, has said Russian forces in Ukraine are in “a very difficult spot”, and that Putin’s strategy was akin to putting his forces through a meat grinder. In his opinion, he said, Russia was “certainly not able to occupy the country. They may be able to carry on killing indiscriminately and destroying as they go, but that is not a victory.”
Continue reading...Unnamed man in his 30s with ‘a need for social recognition’ faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted
A firefighter from the south of France is responsible for a series of wildfires in the region which he started in a quest for adrenaline, French authorities have said.
The man, a volunteer firefighter from the Herault region, was arrested on Wednesday, regional prosecutors said.
Continue reading...Footage shows soldier with knife and surgical gloves mutilating prisoner as he lies down with hands bound
Horrific video has emerged that appears to show a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian prisoner who other reports suggest was subsequently murdered.
The footage, reviewed by the Guardian, was originally posted on pro-Russian Telegram channels.
Continue reading...Ukraine says Black Sea ports ready to export grain; Kyiv calls on world leaders to condemn Russia over attack that led to death of 40 PoWs. This blog is now closed
On Telegram, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, governor of Sumy in Ukraine’s north-east, has said that the night was quiet, with no air raid warnings. Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has said the same about his western region, posting “everything is calm”.
The same is not true for the Mykolaiv region, where in the last few minutes both the city’s mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych and regional governor Vitaliy Kim have posted to Telegram to warn that there is an air raid warning in progress.
At night, the enemy launched a rocket attack on the city of Kharkiv. An educational institution and a two-story residential building were partially destroyed, as well as nearby buildings were damaged. A fire broke out in a two-story residential building, which was promptly extinguished by rescuers.
In the Borivskyi community, rescuers put out a fire in a field with wheat on an area of 5 hectares. In addition, a man born in 1963 was injured in one of the cases of enemy hits on a residential high-rise building in the city of Chuhuiv.
Continue reading...Cost of living crisis comes as 19-member currency bloc beats growth forecasts in second quarter
Inflation in the eurozone reached a record high of 8.9% this month, closing the gap with the UK’s 9.4% rate.
Dearer energy was blamed for the lion’s share of the increase from 8.6% in June, as the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to hammer European economies.
Continue reading...Airline group says demand is strong despite ‘historic challenges’ at Heathrow and elsewhere
British Airways has returned to profit for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with its owner International Airlines Group saying demand was strong despite “historic challenges” still facing the industry.
IAG said that there was no sign of bookings tailing off in the autumn and beyond – in the face of pessimistic forecasts from its main airport base, Heathrow – and that demand for the most lucrative transatlantic routes was continuing to grow.
Continue reading...Ukraine steps up campaign to retake Russian-controlled regions in south; Kyiv accuses Russia of a war crime over the deaths of more than 40 prisoners of war
Continue reading...Native wildlife will be reintroduced across Europe in a bid to reduce atmospheric carbon and promote tourism
A European environmental organisation is looking to expand its number of rewilding landscapes – areas where endangered wildlife is reintroduced and protected – after being awarded a grant of £4.1m.
The grant has been pledged to Rewilding Europe in the hope of scaling up rewilding efforts throughout several parts of the European continent.
Continue reading...