Germany departed from longstanding policy again on Sunday with chancellor Olaf Scholz announcing the government would invest more than 2% of GDP in the military from its 2022 budget. He praised Russians who protested against the invasion for their bravery
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Russia-Ukraine war latest news: US condemns Putin’s nuclear deterrence order; rouble crashes as markets open – live updates
Vladimir Putin said nuclear move came after aggressive statements by Nato countries; satellite images show ground forces heading to capital; Ukrainian president says two sides to meet on Belarus border
- Moscow braces for market meltdown Monday as new sanctions hit
- Fighting on streets of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city
- Swift action at last brings meaningful sanctions against Putin
- Russia’s war in Ukraine: complete guide in maps, video and pictures
- Ukraine appeals for foreign volunteers to join fight against Russia
- How Ukrainian defiance has derailed Putin’s plans
Ukrainians are waking for the fourth day since Russia invaded and words of defiance are dominating social media this morning.
“It’s another morning in Ukraine and Russia still can’t advance in Kyiv,” Illia Ponomarenko, defence reporter at the Kyiv Independent writes.
Continue reading...‘I’m a dead man walking’: ex-Russian spy says defectors in UK are at risk
A Latvian double agent is getting death threats after British authorities inadvertently disclosed his alias
• Russia-Ukraine crisis: latest updates
In April 1997, Vechernyaya Moskva, one of the most popular newspapers in Moscow, published an article on a former Russian intelligence agent, Boris Karpichkov.
The article was illustrated with a picture of Karpichkov’s KGB identity papers, with the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle superimposed. It warned that the ex-KGB major was wanted by Interpol, faced interrogation by the Russian authorities and was being hunted by organised crime groups.
Continue reading...Ukraine: what will China do? There are signs it is uneasy about Putin’s methods
Analysis: Beijing has held off from backing Russia, raising questions about the extent of any partnership
China’s decision to abstain on Friday night at the end of the UN security council vote condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine may be a source of deep frustration in the west, but it will also send a nervous tremor through the Russian ministry of foreign affairs that China’s protection is not unconditional.
UK-based diplomats, looking at the stance adopted by China in the middle of the week, were expecting Beijing to join Russia in voting against the US-sponsored motion, but in common with the United Arab Emirates and India, it abstained, leaving Russia isolated in deploying its veto power as a permanent member of the security council.
Continue reading...Fighting on streets of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, as west bars Russian banks from Swift
Russian troops enter key city after attacks on oil facilities as western allies agree to block major Russian banks from international payment system
The war in Ukraine intensified on Sunday, as Russian troops entered the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and Vladimir Putin unleashed a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities.
Kharkiv residents were urged to stay indoors by governor Oleg Sinegubov, who said “there has been a breakthrough in light equipment including in the central part of the city”. A nine-storey building was reportedly hit, with one woman killed.
Continue reading...Swift to cut off Russian banks, Ukraine oil facilities hit: what we know so far
West agrees to bar major Russian banks from international payments system as Russia attacks oil facilities in Kharkiv and south-west of Kyiv
Russian troops have entered Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister and other officials have said. Governor Oleg Sinegubov said “there has been a breakthrough in light equipment including in the central part of the city”, and urged people to stay indoors.
Western allies have agreed to block Russia’s access to the Swift international banking payment system. The US, Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove “selected Russian banks” from the Swift payment system, the countries announced on Saturday.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected Russia claims that it is “ready for talks” with Ukraine in Belarus. In a national address on Sunday morning, Zelenskiy said he remained open to talks, but in other locations that are not showing aggression towards Ukraine. Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had told reporters the Russian delegation had arrived in Belarus for talks and were “now waiting for the Ukrainians”.
There are reports that a gas pipeline is on fire in Kharkiv after a Russian attack, while an oil terminal in Vasylkiv, south-west of the capital, Kyiv, has also been targeted. The government has warned that smoke from the explosion in Kharkiv could cause an “environmental catastrophe” and advised people to cover their windows.
The 13 Ukrainian soldiers who were reportedly killed while defending an island in the Black Sea from an air and sea bombardment – reportedly telling a Russian navy warship to “go fuck yourself” when asked to surrender – may still be alive, according to Ukrainian officials.
The United Nations security council is due to vote on Sunday to call for a rare emergency special session of the 193-member General Assembly on the invasion, diplomats said. The vote needs nine votes in favour and cannot be vetoed. Diploamts say it is likely to pass, diplomats said. Only 10 such emergency special sessions have been convened since 1950.
Britain is preparing a “hit list” of Russian oligarchs to be targeted by sanctions in the coming months, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said.
Truss said there would be “nowhere left to hide” for the super-rich allies of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. She told the Sunday Times that new names would be added to the list every few weeks as ministers seek to ratchet up the pressure on Putin.
Liquor stores and bars in the US and Canada are targeting Russia’s national drink in a show of unity with the people of Ukraine. Shelves in both countries are being stripped of Russian vodka, with the Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, announcing on Saturday the removal of “Russian-made and Russian-branded spirits from our liquor and wine outlets until further notice”.
Japanese billionaire Hiroshi ‘Mickey’ Mikitani has said he will donate $8.7m to the government of Ukraine, calling Russia’s invasion “a challenge to democracy”. The founder of e-commerce giant Rakuten said in a letter addressed to Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the donation of 1bn yen ($8.7m) will go toward “humanitarian activities to help people in Ukraine who are victims of the violence”, Agence France-Presse reported.
A Ukrainian company in charge of building and maintaining roads said it was removing all road signs that could be used by invading Russian forces to find their way around the country. The company, Ukravtodor, said in a Facebook post: “The enemy has poor communications, they cannot navigate the terrain. Let us help them get straight to hell.”
Continue reading...Ukrainian resistance: man tries to push back Russian tank – video
A video posted to social media shows a Ukrainian citizen attempting to stop a Russian tank with his body weight. The man first climbs on to the tank before hopping down and attempting to push it back with his arms. When that fails, he kneels in front of the tank in a desperate bid to stop its advance. The moment, captured in Bakhmach in northern Ukraine, is one of a string of defiant acts caught on video showing unarmed Ukrainians confronting Russian soldiers
- Video shows Ukrainian ‘tank man’ trying to block Russian military convoy – video
- 'Can I tow you back to Russia?': Ukrainian confronts soldiers by broken armoured vehicle – video
- Elderly resident reprimands Russian soldiers: 'You have your own country' - video
- Russia-Ukraine latest news
Ukraine island defenders who told Russian navy ‘go fuck yourself’ may still be alive
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the troops on Snake Island ‘died heroically’ but border guard service says it holds out hope they are alive
Ukrainian soldiers believed to have died while defending an island after telling a Russian warship to “go fuck yourself”, may still be alive, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard.
Initial reports said the 13 border guards had died after refusing to surrender Snake Island, which sits 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, from a Russian air and sea bombardment on Thursday.
Continue reading...Ukraine oil terminal near Kyiv and gas pipeline in Kharkiv on fire after attack – video
Videos posted to social media are believed to show an oil terminal outside of Kyiv on fire after a Russian attack. There are also reports that a gas pipeline in Kharkiv has been targeted after the city came under heavy fire. Residents have been advised to keep their windows shut against hazardous chemical fumes
Continue reading...Swift action at last brings meaningful sanctions against Putin regime
Selected Russian banks banned from global payments system, while Russian central bank will find it harder to spend $500bn war chest
It has taken a week to reach this point, but western governments have put down their peashooters and wheeled out the financial howitzers against Vladimir Putin.
Far-reaching new sanctions against Russia were announced on Saturday night in a joint statement from the EU, UK, US and Canada.
Continue reading...Zelenskiy and Johnson welcome move to cut off Russian banks from Swift – video
The US, Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove ‘selected Russian banks’ from the Swift international payments system. UK prime minister Boris Johnson welcomed the move, saying: 'More countries are joining the call of the UK to use Swift … to tighten the economic ligature around the Putin regime'. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that cutting off some Russian banks will 'effectively block Russian exports and imports’. The move was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. ‘This is billions and billions of losses for Russia, a tangible price for this vile invasion of our country,’ he said
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine latest news: gunfights continue in Kyiv as Germany sends anti-tank weapons and missiles – live
Ukrainians mount strong resistance to Putin’s troops, as Germany breaks with policy of not exporting arms to war zones
- Russian strikes pound Kyiv as Zelenskiy refuses US offer to evacuate
- Russia’s war in Ukraine: complete guide in maps, video and pictures
- How Ukrainian defiance has derailed Putin’s plans
- Profile: Volodymyr Zelenskiy stands defiant in face of Russian attack
Reuters reports that President Joe Biden has instructed the US state department to release $350m in military aid to Ukraine as it struggles to repulse a Russian invasion.
In a memorandum to the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Biden directed that $350m allocated through the Foreign Assistance Act be designated for Ukraine’s defence.
Fierce fighting has broken out in Kyiv as Russian forces tried to push their way towards the city centre and were met with resistance from the Ukrainian military.
Throughout Friday night, explosions rocked the capital. Artillery fire could be heard in the streets and as dawn broke, a post on the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Facebook page said “active combat” was taking place in the city.
Continue reading...Armed with hammers and pistols, Ukrainians wait at barricades for the Russians
At makeshift checkpoints, motley crews of citizens vow to do everything in their power to halt the Russian advance
The barricade started as a few men waiting nervously in the road on Friday, and grew gradually over the course of Saturday. By the afternoon, this modest attempt to stop a Russian advance on the capital of Ukraine was complete: sandbags, wooden crates and bricks piled high, with a blue-yellow national flag flying above them.
The motley crew had no illusions about the level of resistance they would be able to offer to one of the world’s most ruthless and technologically advanced armies, but like thousands in and around Kyiv they were determined to do what they could anyway. “I practised shooting yesterday and I came out here today for my first shift. I’ll be honest, I’m terrified,” said Alexander, 50. He was brandishing a US-made Remington shotgun he said a friend had acquired for him.
Continue reading...Putin shunned by world as his hopes of quick victory evaporate
Russian troops facing fierce resistance as Germany abandons its postwar military stance to supply arms to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin was facing growing international isolation and the prospect of pariah status on Saturday night as long-term allies dramatically turned against him following the invasion of Ukraine, and western nations planned further decisive military and financial action against Moscow.
As his hopes of a quick victory evaporated in the face of fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers and armies of citizen volunteers, Russia’s president was deserted by his key ally, China, and had his ultimatum demanding Kyiv’s surrender defiantly brushed aside by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Continue reading...From partygate to Putin’s war: Boris Johnson rides on a rare wave of unity
The prime minister’s stirring rhetoric on the crisis in Ukraine earns him a reprieve from his woes… for now at least
It was the silence in the House of Commons – more than the words spoken from the dispatch box – that captured the magnitude of the moment, and the dramatic shift of political mood, on Thursday evening.
Boris Johnson had been woken at 4.10am that morning to be told Vladimir Putin’s troops had crossed the border into Ukraine. It was what military intelligence had prepared him to expect.
Continue reading...‘Can I tow you back to Russia?’: Ukrainian confronts soldiers by broken armoured vehicle – video
A Ukrainian citizen confronted Russian soldiers after their armoured vehicle broke down on a country road in the Sumy region, close to the border with Russia.
After spotting the hapless soldiers, the driver pulled alongside them, and asked: 'Can I tow you back to Russia?'
Further along the road at another broken down vehicle, a Ukrainian told the Russians that the invading army was lost.
Read more in Luke Harding's latest report from Ukraine.
Continue reading...Ukrainian mother hugs her children brought to safety by a stranger – video
A Ukrainian mother embraced her child and then the person who brought him and his sister safely to her across the Hungarian border.
Nataliya Ableyeva was entrusted with the two children by their father who was forced to stay behind to fight for their country.
The children’s mother, Anna Semyuk, was on her way from Italy to meet them and take them to safety.
Ableyeva had left her own two grownup children behind in Ukraine. One a policeman, the other a nurse, neither could leave Ukraine under the mobilisation decree
Continue reading...How Ukrainian defiance has derailed Putin’s plans
It’s too early to describe the Kremlin operation as a failure, but it has not succeeded yet in its mission to seize and subjugate its neighbour
Three days after the invasion there are signs that Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is not quite going to plan. In the Sumy region, close to the border with Russia, a local resident came across an extraordinary sight. On a country road lined with birch trees, a Russian armoured vehicle had broken down.
He pulled up in his car and stopped. There was then a surreal conversation.
Continue reading...Fear, darkness and newborn babies: inside Ukraine’s underground shelters
As war rages above ground, Ukrainians have sought safety in metro stations and basements
In the bunkers and underground tunnels of Kyiv, life continues underground, even as explosions sound overhead.
Teens sit glued to iPhones, parents tuck quilts around their children to sleep. Some hold pets, while others sit in darkened, unmoving subway cars. And babies arrive. In one shelter in Kyiv, a woman gave birth to a girl, Mia.
Continue reading...At the Ukrainian border, a mother brings a stranger’s children to safety
The ban on men aged 18 to 60 leaving the country leads one father to take drastic action
Clutching a mobile phone number of a woman she had never met, Nataliya Ableyeva crossed the border from Ukraine into Hungary entrusted with a precious cargo: a stranger’s children.
Waiting at the border crossing on the Ukrainian side, Ableyeva had met a desperate 38-year-old man from her home town of Kamianets-Podilskyi, with his young son and daughter.
Continue reading...