Category Archives: Vladimir Putin

CIA director meets Russian counterpart as US denies secret peace talks

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Bill Burns says US is not ‘discussing settlement of war’ in Ukraine as Zelenskiy visits Kherson

The CIA director, Bill Burns, met his Russian counterpart in Ankara on Monday in a rare high-level meeting, but the US insists it is not engaged in secret peace talks with Moscow without Ukrainian officials being present.

The meeting in the Turkish capital with the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, followed speculation that some senior US figures would like Ukraine to enter negotiations with the Kremlin to end the war.

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Family ‘horrified’ by video of sledgehammer killing of Wagner Group defector

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Kremlin-linked private military group posted video on Telegram of apparent execution in Russia of Yevgeny Nuzhin

Family members of a former Russian prison inmate, who defected to Ukraine after being recruited by the Kremlin-linked private military group Wagner, have expressed “horror” over his apparent execution after a gruesome video emerged on Friday that showed him being repeatedly struck with a sledgehammer.

Footage of the summary killing of Yevgeny Nuzhin was posted over the weekend by the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone. In the video, Nuzhin was shown lying down with his head taped to a brick wall as an unidentified man in combat clothing hits him with a sledgehammer.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kherson mayor warns of ‘critical’ water shortages – as it happened

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Roman Holovnia said the humanitarian situation in the liberated city was ‘severe’ with a lack of medicine and bread

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of the UK’s armed forces, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that Russia’s retreat from Kherson is significant.

“Russia has failed on all of its strategic objectives. It wanted to subjugate Ukraine, the opposite has happened,” he said in an interview with security and defence editor, Deborah Haynes.

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Ukraine troops enter centre of Kherson as Russians retreat in chaos

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy hails ‘historic day’ as locals raise Ukrainian flags around Svoboda Square

In extraordinary scenes, crowds of jubilant residents greeted Ukraine’s armed forces as they reached the centre of Kherson, as Russia’s retreat from the key strategic city appeared to have descended into chaos.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, hailed a “historic day” as he confirmed on Friday evening that special units of armed forces were already in the city and others stationed on its approaches. “We are in the process of taking Kherson back,” he said in a video address.

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Speculation grows Anthony Albanese will meet Chinese leader during hectic summit season

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Prime minister to see Britain’s Rishi Sunak and leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand and is likely to catch up with Joe Biden

Speculation is mounting that Anthony Albanese will meet either the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, or the president, Xi Jinping, during the hectic November summit season, which kicks off in Cambodia this weekend.

Australia’s prime minister leaves on Friday for the East Asia and Australia-Asean summits in Phnom Penh before travelling to the G20 in Bali and completing his trip at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok towards the end of next week.

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Fresh effort to ban the bomb as new generation bids for nuclear-free world

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Today’s disarmament activists are applying a new set of tactics to respond to threats including those from Putin in Ukraine

As nuclear dangers gather momentum three decades after the cold war, a disarmament movement is rising to meet them, with a new generation of activists.

In the late 50s and early 60s, and then again in the early 80s, when the US and the Soviet Union were pointing their missiles at each other in Europe, there were mass street protests against governments making plans for global annihilation.

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Vladimir Putin will not attend G20 summit in Bali, officials confirm

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Russia will be represented by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov at next week’s gathering of G20 leaders

Vladimir Putin will not attend a gathering of leaders from the G20 nations in Bali next week, Indonesian and Russian officials confirmed on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation about a possible confrontation with the US president, Joe Biden.

Russia’s president will be represented by his veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, officials said. “President Putin’s programme is still being worked out; he could participate virtually,” said Yulia Tomskaya, the chief of protocol as the Russian embassy in Indonesia.Putin may have wanted to avoid potentially explosive showdowns with western leaders including Biden, events that Russian media might have been unable to present to his benefit.

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Orthodox church of Ukraine allows worshippers to celebrate Christmas on 25 December

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Move away from traditional date of 7 January directed against pro-Putin head of Russian Orthodox church

For centuries Ukrainians have celebrated Christmas on 7 January, the date on which Jesus was born, according to the Julian calendar.

But following Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February, the Orthodox church of Ukraine is allowing its congregations for the first time to celebrate Christmas on 25 December, in a move away from Russia and towards the west.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv mayor tells residents to prepare for the worst – as it happened

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Residents warned they must prepare for having no electricity, water or heating as temperatures drop below freezing

Russia appointed a new acting commander of the Central Military District on 3 November, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.

Major General Alexander Linkov replaces Colonel General Alexander Lapin who was purportedly removed from office at the end of October 2022.

If confirmed, this follows a series of dismissals of senior Russian military commanders since the onset of the invasion in February 2022. The Commanders of the Eastern, Southern, and Western Military Districts were replaced earlier this year.

Lapin has been widely criticised for poor performance on the battlefield in Ukraine by both Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Kherson looted ahead of expected battle for city; Russian conscripts receiving ‘little or no training’ – as it happened

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Russian troops taking vehicles, art and even religious artefacts from Kherson; UK says Russia struggling to train new recruits. This blog is now closed

About 500 power generators have been sent to Ukraine by 17 EU countries to help with the energy problems caused by Russian attacks.

Counties including Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, Germany and Spain sent the pieces of kit through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

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Russia’s Wagner Group opens defence tech centre in St Petersburg

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Opening is latest step by private militia’s owner Yevgeny Prigozhin in taking a more public role in shaping Russia’s defence policy

Russia’s Wagner Group – the once-secretive private militia controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin – has opened a military technology centre in St Petersburg, in the latest move by the Putin ally who has criticised the Kremlin’s defence top brass over the Ukraine conflict.

The opening of the “Wagner Centre” on Friday is seen as another step by Prigozhin to publicise his military credentials and take a more public role in shaping Russia’s defence policy.

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Vladimir Putin says civilians must be evacuated from Kherson war zone

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Russia digs in against expected attempt by Ukraine to take key southern city, setting scene for possible ferocious battle

Vladimir Putin has warned that civilians still living in the Ukrainian province of Kherson, which Russia declared in September it had annexed, must be “evacuated” from the conflict zone.

“Now, of course, those who live in Kherson should be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population should not suffer,” the Russian president said during a meeting with pro-Kremlin activists.

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Russian ambassador claims UK involved in drone attack on Black Sea fleet

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Andrei Kelin says Britain ‘too deep in this conflict’ as speculation grows over Russian withdrawal from Kherson region

The Russian ambassador to the UK has claimed UK special forces were involved in a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.

Andrei Kelin told Sky News: “We perfectly know about [the] participation of British specialists in [the] training, preparation and execution of violence against the Russian infrastructure and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. We know that it has been done.”

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Grain deal U-turn offers lesson in calling Vladimir Putin’s bluff

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Russian leader has backed down in face of defiance, and move also shows Turkey’s growing influence

In the end, Vladimir Putin backed down. Faced with blocking ships carrying grain from Ukraine or tacitly admitting that his threats to do so had been a bluff, the Kremlin leader opted not to rekindle a global food crisis.

Russia’s exit from the deal that allowed exports of grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea was weeks in the making. Russia had threatened to do so after an explosion rocked the Crimea Bridge in October, and again after the drone attack on its Black Sea fleet last week.

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Oligarch renounces Russian citizenship over Ukraine war

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Oleg Tinkov, who has previously spoken out against the conflict, says he ‘won’t be associated with a fascist country’

The billionaire banker and entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov has renounced his Russian citizenship because of the conflict in Ukraine, which he has previously criticised.

“I have taken the decision to exit my Russian citizenship. I can’t and won’t be associated with a fascist country that started a war with their peaceful neighbour and killing innocent people daily,” Tinkov said.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow claims it has identified drones used in Black Sea Fleet attack

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Russia blames Ukraine for attack on Saturday; calls grow for Moscow to rejoin grain deal as US accuses Kremlin of weaponising food

More on the reported Russia-Ukraine exchange of prisoners of war on Saturday: officials in Moscow and Kyiv said both sides had returned about 50 people each.

Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate reported the return of 52 detainees, among them soldiers, sailors, border guards, national guard members and doctors.

We remember all those who are held captive in Russia and on occupied territory and will do everything to ensure that each and every one is returned.

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Russia suspends participation in deal on Ukraine grain exports – as it happened

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Moscow plans expedited Kherson withdrawal, says MoD; Guterres calls for west to help remove blocks to Russian grain exports

Speaking during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said 82,000 conscripts had already been sent to Ukraine.

Shoigu added that Russia was no longer recruiting people for its armed forces, saying that “citizen notification has been discontinued”.

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Russia says 82,000 conscripts from emergency draft already in Ukraine

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Ministry of Defence says Russia relying on ‘poorly trained force’ as Kremlin seeks to consolidate gains

Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Russia’s defence minister said 82,000 conscripts had already been sent to Ukraine, reflecting what the west called a desperate effort to halt Kyiv’s counter offensive with poorly trained troops.

Sergei Shoigu told president, Vladimir Putin, that a further 218,000 were being trained in barracks, and that the controversial “partial mobilisation” had concluded, although it was not possible to verify the figures cited.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia has fired 4,500 missiles on Ukraine since invasion, says Zelenskiy; more than 300 drones ‘shot down’ – as it happened

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Ukraine president says there were 8,000 air strikes; air force spokesman says Ukraine has shot down hundreds of Iranian-made drones

Russia has probably bolstered its troops with “mobilised reservists” west of the Dnieper River, the UK’s ministry of defence has said.

The region encompasses most of Kherson, a strategically important Russian-held city braced for a counter-offensive from Ukrainian troops.

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Ukraine refugees told not to return yet as energy crisis looms

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Government tells citizens to wait until spring, amid warning damaged networks ‘will not cope’ as fighting continues

Ukraine’s government is advising refugees living abroad not to return until the spring amid mounting fears over whether the country’s damaged energy infrastructure can cope with demand this winter.

The energy crisis comes as officials in Kyiv warned that the coming winter may herald the heaviest fighting of the war, around the southern city of Kherson where Russian forces have been digging in.

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