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Continue reading...Category Archives: Vladimir Putin
More than 100 Ukrainians released in prisoner-of-war swap with Russia
Exchange of military personnel took place as Ukraine called again on west to allow use of long-range weapons
More than 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war will be able to return to their families after an exchange of captured members of the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.
The prisoner swap on Saturday, mediated by the United Arab Emirates, involved 206 military personnel from both countries.
Continue reading...Joe Biden dismisses Russian threats during meeting with Keir Starmer
US and UK leaders’ talks dominated by row with Russia over use of Storm Shadow missiles
Joe Biden dismissed sabre-rattling threats made by Vladimir Putin as the US president met with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House on Friday.
Biden said he did not accept that Ukraine using western-made Storm Shadow missiles to bomb targets in Russia would amount to Nato going to war with Moscow.
Continue reading...‘Ukraine must defend itself’: Washington leaders dismiss Putin’s war talk
Russian leader’s warning of potential direct war with Nato regarded as sabre-rattling to weaken support for Ukraine
US officials and lawmakers shot back after Vladimir Putin said that Nato’s potential lifting of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes over the border into Russian territory would mean Nato countries were “at war” with Russia.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, met with the US president, Joe Biden, on Friday at the White House, where the two were expected to discuss – though not necessarily announce – a loosening of restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike targets as far as 155 miles inside Russia.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer meets with Joe Biden at White House as Putin warns Nato against letting Ukraine send long-range missiles – as it happened
Antony Blinken says new US sanctions against Russia are in response to Kremlin’s attempt to ‘subvert and polarize free and open societies’. This blog is now closed.
The head of Russia’s security council, Sergei Shoigu, visited North Korea on Friday and met with the country’s leader Kim Jong-un, Reuters reports, citing Interfax.
Reuters has a quick snap that France is to summon Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Paris over the country’s decision to supply further arms to Russia.
Continue reading...‘Usually just rhetoric’: European policy leaders downplay Putin’s war threats
International reaction muted over Russia’s warning about allowing Kyiv to strike it with western-made missiles
European leaders have dismissed Vladimir Putin’s warning that the west would be directly fighting Russia if it allowed Kyiv to strike Russian territory with western-made long-range missiles.
The US and UK are discussing, in conjunction with other allies, allowing Kyiv to strike military targets inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles, which can hit targets up to 155 miles (250km) from their launch site.
Continue reading...Starmer tells Putin he started Ukraine war and can end it any time
UK PM responds to Putin’s threat that use of long-range British missiles inside Russia would put it at war with Nato
Keir Starmer has told Vladimir Putin that he started the war in Ukraine and could end it at any time after the Russian leader warned that any use of long-range British missiles into Russian territory would put Nato at war with his country.
The prime minister spoke en route to Washington to see US president Joe Biden as he sought to justify a western decision made behind closed doors that would allow Ukraine to attack inside Russia with partly British-made Storm Shadow missiles.
Continue reading...Putin: lifting Ukraine missile restrictions would put Nato ‘at war’ with Russia
Comments come after Antony Blinken hints US will lift restrictions on Kyiv’s use of weapons inside Russia
Vladimir Putin has said that a western move to let Kyiv use longer-range weapons against targets inside Russia would mean Nato would be “at war” with Moscow.
Putin spoke as US and UK top diplomats discussed easing rules on firing western weapons into Russia, which Kyiv has been pressing for, more than two and a half years into Moscow’s offensive.
Continue reading...Donald Trump a de facto Russian asset, FBI official he fired suggests
Andrew McCabe says Trump-Putin interactions ‘raise questions’, as Harris says Putin would eat Trump ‘for lunch’
Donald Trump can be seen as a Russian asset, though not in the traditional sense of an active agent or a recruited resource, an ex-FBI deputy director who worked under the former US president said.
Asked on a podcast if he thought it possible Trump was a Russian asset, Andrew McCabe, who Trump fired as FBI deputy director in 2018, said: “I do, I do.”
Continue reading...CIA boss says west should not be intimidated by Russia’s nuclear threats
Bill Burns calls Vladimir Putin a ‘bully’ whose ‘sabre-rattling’ should not always be taken literally
Western leaders should not be intimidated by Kremlin threats of nuclear escalation, the head of the CIA said on Saturday, amid a debate over whether Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles should be used inside Russia.
Bill Burns, on a visit to London alongside the head of MI6, said the US had brushed off a previous Russian nuclear scare in autumn 2022, demonstrating that threats from Moscow should not always be taken literally.
Continue reading...Ukrainian government needs ‘new energy’, says Zelenskiy after reshuffle – as it happened
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says reshuffle linked to ‘strengthening our state’ after foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and others step down. This live blog is closed
The mayor of Lviv shared a photo of a mother and her three daughters who were killed in Russia’s attack today.
Norway has contributed funding for buying drones and strengthening Ukrainian air defence.
Continue reading...Modi tells Zelenskiy he is ready to work ‘as a friend’ to bring about peace deal
Indian PM says he respects and supports ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Ukraine during historic visit
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a historic visit to Kyiv on Friday and told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he was ready to work “as a friend” to bring about a peace deal that would end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Modi said he respected and supported Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “It is our highest priority,” he said, adding that he had told Vladimir Putin during their meeting in July that “problems cannot be resolved on the battlefield”. The war could only end through “dialogue and diplomacy”, he stressed.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says India supports Ukraine’s sovereignty with ‘history made’ in meeting with Modi – as it happened
Indian PM calls on Ukraine and Russia to open dialogue as soon as possible to find way out of conflict
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, has told Reuters that Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv is significant because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests,” he said.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: large drone attack on Moscow as Kursk incursion continues – as it happened
Mayor says no damage or casualties reported as 11 drones are downed
Ukraine’s parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify the Rome Statute, a senior lawmaker said, paving the way for Kyiv to join the International Criminal Court.
In a Telegram post, Yaroslav Zhelezniak said 281 deputies had voted for the measure, a key requirement for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: civilians flee Pokrovsk as Russia’s army bears down on key eastern Ukraine city
Russian forces advancing so fast families are under orders to leave nearby towns and villages
Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lawmakers said.
The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations “affiliated” with it.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says Ukraine ‘achieving our goals’ in Kursk as third bridge is hit – as it happened
Ukrainian president says troops meeting their objectives and have taken more prisoners
An update to that earlier map, showing the three bridges hit by the Ukrainian air force:
Ukrainian forces have struck and damaged a third bridge over the River Seym, near the village of Karyzh in the Kursk region of Russia, according to a member of Russia’s Investigative Committee. The hit could seriously complicate Russian military logistics as Moscow attempts to fend off Ukraine’s incursion into the region.
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has said that Ukraine’s attack on Kursk means Moscow is not ready to hold peace talks for now. Proposed discussions aimed at negotiating a halt to strikes on energy and power infrastructure between the two sides had been planned to be held in Qatar.
RIA News, a state-owned news agency, says Russian forces have captured 19 Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region. The report has not been independently verified.
Ukraine’s air force said on Monday morning that the country’s air defence units had repelled an overnight Russian drone attack on multiple cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine repels missile attack on Kyiv and targets another Kursk bridge – as it happened
North Korean weaponry believed to have been used in Kyiv attack as Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk continues
Russia has denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks with Kyiv about civilian infrastructure facilities.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both sides
The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory
“No one broke anything off because there was nothing to break off,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the Post report.
Russia-Ukraine war: key bridges destroyed in Kursk as Ukraine ‘leaves trail of destruction’ – as it happened
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Russia has lost 598,180 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
This number includes 1,230 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.
8,501 tanks
16,473 armoured fighting vehicles
22,913 vehicles and fuel tanks
16,985 artillery systems
1,160 multiple-launch rocket systems
923 air defence systems
367 aircraft
328 helicopters
13,714 drones
28 warships and boats
1 submarine
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Russian army ‘deployed in greater force’ in Kursk after Ukrainian offensive – as it happened
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were initially disorganised following Ukraine’s lightning offensive
Russian forces took control of Serhiivka, a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Reuters reported citing the TASS state news agency.
Joe Biden has met with Vladimir Kara-Murza and his family in the White House.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says Ukraine’s troops have full control of Sudzha in Kursk – as it happened
President says military commandant’s office being established in city. This live blog is closed
Russia’s defence ministry said today that its forces had regained control of the settlement of Krupets in the Kursk region, Reuters reported.
Here are some of the latest images from eastern Ukraine.
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