Putin announces partial mobilisation and threatens nuclear retaliation in escalation of Ukraine war

Russian president threatens west with nuclear retaliation, saying ‘we will use all the means at our disposal’

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has announced a partial mobilisation in Russia in a major escalation that places the country’s people and economy on a wartime footing.

Putin also threatened nuclear retaliation, saying that Russia had “lots of weapons to reply” to what he called western threats on Russian territory and said that he was not bluffing.

In a highly anticipated televised address, Putin said the “partial mobilisation” was a direct response to the dangers posed made by the west that “wants to destroy our country” and claimed the west had tried to “turn Ukraine’s people into cannon fodder”.

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Biden to rally world leaders against Russian attempts to annex Ukraine regions

Antony Blinken calls referendums plan a ‘sham’ and Moscow’s possible mobilisation of extra forces ‘a sign of Russian failure’ ahead of Biden speech

Joe Biden will use his speech at the United Nations on Wednesday to rally the world to stand firm in the face of Russian plans to hold referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine and possibly introduce widespread conscription, which the US described as signs of desperation unlikely to halt Ukrainian military gains.

Biden will seek the broadest possible support for Ukrainian resistance at the UN general assembly (UNGA) by depicting it as a direct violation of the UN’s founding charter, and will make new announcements about the US funding of measures to address global food insecurity, caused in part by the Russian invasion, which has threatened developing countries with famine.

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Ukraine war to take centre stage at UN as west and Russia vie for support

The general assembly is expected to see fresh tussles over future of Ukraine, as well as the threats of famine and the climate crisis in the global south

The UN general assembly summit this week will be dominated by a struggle – between the US and its allies on one side and Russia on the other – for global support over the fate of Ukraine, as the global south fights to stop the conflict from overshadowing the existential threats of famine and the climate crisis.

With a return to fully in-person general debate, presidents and prime ministers will be converging on New York, many of them direct from London, where the diplomacy got underway on the sidelines of the Queen’s funeral.

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Greens urge Labor to redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewables in budget – as it happened

Victorian government commits $1bn to emergency departments in Melbourne’s north

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has vowed to expand two of the state’s busiest emergency departments in Melbourne’s north, in a pre-election $1bn health pledge.

We know there is pressure in the system.

This means more emergency department space, more emergency department patients being treated and a stronger and better health system for millions more.

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Russian strike at Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant but reactors not damaged – as it happened

Reactors not damaged after Russian strikes at nuclear power plant in southern Mykolaiv region. This live blog is now closed.

Russia is highly likely to have lost at least four combat jets in Ukraine within the last 10 days, taking its attrition to about 55 since the beginning of its invasion, the British military said on Monday.

There is a realistic possibility that the increase in losses was partially a result of the Russian air force accepting greater risk in a move to provide close air support to Russian ground forces under pressure from Ukrainian advances, the defence ministry said in its daily intelligence on Twitter.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin – under a travel ban to the UK due to sanctions – had already said he would not attend.

But not inviting any Russian representative to the Queen’s funeral was “particularly blasphemous towards Elizabeth II’s memory” and “deeply immoral”, the foreign ministry spokeswoman in Moscow said on Thursday.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 207 of the invasion

Czech Republic calls for ‘special international tribunal’ after Izium mass grave found; Turkish and Indian leaders urge end to war at Asia summit

The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, have called for a “special international tribunal” after a mass grave was discovered in Izium, a town in north-eastern Ukraine. “In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent,” said Jan Lipavský, foreign minister of the Czech Republic. More than 440 bodies have been discovered by Ukrainian officials, with some found with their hands tied behind their backs.

Satellite imagery has emerged of the recently discovered mass grave site near Izium. The images, released by Maxar Technologies, show the “Forest Cemetery” entrance from March to August of this year.

One of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s four main power lines has been repaired and is supplying the plant with electricity from the Ukrainian grid two weeks after it went down, the UN nuclear watchdog has said. Even though the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, have been shut down, the plant needs electricity to keep them cool.

US president Joe Biden urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to not use tactical nuclear or chemical weapons in the wake of setbacks in Ukraine. Asked by CBS what he would say to Putin if he was considering using such weapons, Biden said: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. It would change the face of war unlike anything since world war two.” Biden said the US response would be “consequential,” but declined to give detail.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Putin on Saturday that “today’s time is not a time for war” when the pair met during a regional Asia summit in Uzbekistan. Putin told Modi he knew of India’s “concerns” about the conflict, echoing language he had used with Chinese president Xi Jinping the day before. “We will do our best to end this as soon as possible,” Putin said, while accusing Kyiv of rejecting negotiations.

Speaking to reporters later, Putin vowed to continue his attack on Ukraine despite Kyiv’s latest counteroffensive and warned that Moscow could ramp up its strikes on the country’s vital infrastructure if Ukrainian forces target facilities in Russia. Associated Press reported that the Russian president said the “liberation” of Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region remained Russia’s main military goal and that he saw no need to revise it. “We aren’t in a rush,” he said after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Samarkand.

Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told leaders at the summit that efforts were being made “to finalise the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy as soon as possible”. Putin told Erdogan, who has been a key broker in limited deals between Russia and Ukraine, that Moscow was keen to build closer ties with Turkey and was ready to “significantly increase” all exports to the country.

Activists from environmental group Greenpeace on Saturday blocked a shipment of Russian gas from unloading at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in northern Finland, the terminal owner and Greenpeace said. The activists demanded Helsinki stop importing Russian gas after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The security service of Ukraine said that Russia’s federal security service (FSU) officers tortured residents in Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The Kyiv Independent reports that when FSU officers were in then-occupied Kupiansk, they tortured residents and threatened to send them to minefields and kill their families.

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Izium: after Russian retreat, horrors of Russian occupation are revealed

As the Ukrainian city’s five-month ordeal ends, the evidence of dead bodies and survivors’ testimonies suggests Izium could be another Bucha

Standing in the gloom, Maksim Maksimov pointed to the spot where he was tortured with electric shocks. Russian soldiers took him from his cell in the basement of Izium’s police station. They sat him on an office chair and attached a zig-zag crocodile clip to his finger. It was connected by cable to an old-fashioned Soviet military field telephone.

And then it began. A soldier cranked the handle, turning it faster and faster. This sent an excruciating pulse through Maksimov’s body. “I collapsed. They pulled me upright. There was a hood on my head. I couldn’t see anything. My legs went numb. I was unable to hear in my left ear,” he recalled. “Then they did it again. I passed out. I came round 40 minutes later back in my cell.”

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Russia-Ukraine war: discovery of mass grave in Izium prompts call for war crimes tribunal – as it happened

Czech foreign minister says attacks by Russians on civilian population are ‘unthinkable and abhorrent’. This blog is now closed

President Zelenskiy’s senior adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, has urged European countries to provide Ukraine with “modern and effective” missile defence systems.

His tweet comes after Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could ramp up its strikes on the country’s vital infrastructure if Ukrainian forces target facilities in Russia.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 206 of the invasion

UN to permit Zelenskiy video address despite Moscow’s objections; 99% of bodies exhumed from Izium site had signs of violent death, says Ukraine

United Nations member states have voted to make an exception to allow Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address next week’s general assembly by video, despite Russian opposition. Of the 193 member states, 101 voted on Friday in favour of allowing the Ukrainian president to “present a pre-recorded statement” instead of in-person as usually required. Seven members voted against the proposal, including Russia. Nineteen states abstained.

Virtually all the exhumed bodies in Izium had signs of violent death, Ukraine’s regional administration chief said of the mass burial site discovered after Kyiv’s forces recaptured the east Ukrainian town. Exhumers had uncovered several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one “with a rope around his neck”, Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv regional administration, said on Friday. “Among the bodies that were exhumed today, 99% showed signs of violent death,” he said on social media.

The European Union was “deeply shocked” at the mass graves discovered by Ukrainian officials in Izium, said the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. “We condemn these atrocities in the strongest possible terms.” The French president, Emmanuel Macron, also condemned what he described as the “atrocities” committed in Izium, joining growing outrage in western countries over the burial site.

Ukrainian armed forces have hit four areas held by Russian troops, according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. The military also targeted an unloading station, it said, in turn preventing Russian forces from deploying additional reserves.

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out targeted strikes in the cities of Kherson and Luhansk against top local officials who have been collaborating with Moscow. At least five Himars missiles crashed into the central administration building in Kherson, which Russian troops have occupied since March after arriving from Crimea. Video from the scene showed smoke pouring out of the complex. In the eastern city of Luhansk, a pro-Russian prosecutor died with his deputy when their office was blown up. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s senior adviser, Mikhailo Podolyak, said Ukraine was not behind the blast.

Further south, the Russian-backed separatist authority in Berdiansk also blamed Kyiv for the “double murder” of a deputy head of the military civil administration and his wife, who headed the city’s territorial election commission for the referendum.

In the southern oblast of Zaporizhzhia there were also reports on Friday of a “powerful explosion” in the Russian-occupied Melitopol, said Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol. “I hope the Russian fascists have suffered losses, among their personnel and equipment,” he said. “Awaiting good news from the armed forces of Ukraine.”

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, made his first public comment since his troops were forced to withdraw from the territories they held in the north-east, a move that prompted unusually strong public criticism from Russian military commentators. Putin said he invaded Ukraine because the west wanted to break up Russia. He grinned when asked about Ukraine’s recent military success, saying: “Let’s see how it develops, how it ends up.” Putin said nothing had changed with the ultimate goal of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, which was to capture the Donbas.

The United States department of defence has announced it is providing an additional $600m in military assistance to Ukraine to meet the country’s “critical security and defence needs”. In total, the Biden administration has committed about $15.8bn in security aid to Ukraine – $15.1bn since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February.

Switzerland on Friday aligned itself with the European Union in suspending a 2009 agreement easing rules for Russian citizens to enter the country. “The suspension of the agreement does not mean a general visa freeze for Russians but rather they will need to use the ordinary visa procedure to enter Switzerland,” the country’s federal council said in a statement. The EU took a similar step earlier, suspending a visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopping short of a wider visa ban in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Putin tells Xi he understands China’s ‘questions and concerns’ over Ukraine

Russian leader seems keen to curry favour with Chinese president as battlefield setbacks and sanctions bite

Vladimir Putin has told Xi Jinping that he understands China’s “questions and concerns” about the war in Ukraine, in a rare nod to tensions between the two states caused by the Russian invasion.

The remarks came as Xi and Putin met on Thursday for the first time since the war began, at a summit in Uzbekistan where the Russian president was expected to court the Chinese leader personally as an ally in his conflict with the west.

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Moscow fireworks contrast with worsening news from Ukraine frontlines

All eyes on Vladimir Putin’s response to Kharkiv retreat as narrative frays on Russian talkshows

It was not the ideal moment for a party. On Saturday evening, as Russian troops speedily retreated from numerous towns in the Kharkiv region, and the Ukrainian army triumphantly raised its yellow and blue flag, spectacular fireworks crackled across Moscow.

City authorities claimed there were more than 30,000 fireworks in total, at 23 coordinated displays in different parts of the city, all to mark the city’s 875th anniversary.

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Ukraine-Russia war: Ukrainian forces claim capture of key city as counter-offensive ‘takes Russian military by surprise’ – live

Ukraine officials claim Kupiansk now under their control; UK says counter-offensive has caught Russian military off guard

Residents of areas occupied by Russia in the early stages of the invasion have told the Guardian about what life is like now and the rebuilding that will have to be done.

Vadim, a 65-year-old resident of Borodianka, outside Kyiv, used to live in a third-floor apartment on the town’s central street, but it was destroyed in March by Russian grad missiles.

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Russia sends reinforcements to Kharkiv to repel Ukraine counterattack

Ukrainian forces appear to be continuing speedy advance in Kharkiv region as ‘fierce battles’ rage

Moscow is sending columns of military reinforcements to Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to reports in Russian media, after the first major Ukrainian counterattack since spring made big territorial gains this week.

Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian forces out of a number of settlements in the region that Moscow occupied since the first days of its invasion, and on Friday Ukraine’s army appeared to be continuing its speedy advance.

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‘Nothing is decided’: EU energy ministers clash over price cap on Russian gas

Countries that import large volumes fear Kremlin would respond by halting all gas flows, plunging them into recession

EU energy ministers have clashed over a plan to put a price cap on Russian gas, casting doubt on whether the measure will go ahead.

Speaking after emergency talks in Brussels in response to surging gas and electricity prices, the EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, said “nothing is decided” on proposals to curb Russia’s income.

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Russia-Ukraine war: US secretary of state Blinken tells Zelenskiy war is at ‘pivotal moment’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest story below:

The Ukrainian letter ‘Ї’, which has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian occupation throughout Ukraine has been painted on a number of public monuments and statues in Mariupol, according to reporters in the southern city.

A senior Ukrainian presidential advisor has reiterated Ukraine’s desire for long-range weapons in order to equalise the battlefield.

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Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’

Russian president alludes to fact prime minister was chosen by party members, not by whole country

Vladimir Putin has said the way Britain chooses its leaders is “far from democratic”, a day after Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.

In his first public comments on Truss’s appointment, the Russian president alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of the Conservative party, not by the whole country.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia plant again loses last main power line; public bids farewell to Gorbachev at funeral – as it happened

Nuclear energy facility now linked to grid with a reserve line; former leader buried without state honours. This blog is now closed.

The Russian energy major Gazprom has said Siemens Energy is ready to help repair broken equipment for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, but claimed there was nowhere available for them to carry out the work.

Gazprom, the state-owned oil and gas firm, extended the shutdown of gas flows through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany on Friday evening, citing “malfunctions” on a key turbine along the pipeline.

In Kramatorsk, a rocket hit a food enterprise, injuring a person. Another one hit a light industry enterprise. A fire broke out there.

The city was shelled again. There were loud explosions on the outskirts. In Bylbasivka, private houses were damaged on Shkilna and Yaseneva Streets.

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Mikhail Gorbachev funeral held in Moscow as Putin too busy to attend

Hundreds of mourners pay tribute in Russian capital to former Soviet leader credited with helping to end cold war

Hundreds of mourners are lining up in central Moscow to bid farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, often credited with bringing an end to the cold war.

The farewell ceremony, which is being held in the Hall of Pillars in Moscow’s House of the Unions, will be followed by a closed funeral in the Novodevichy cemetery.

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Putin will not attend Gorbachev funeral, Kremlin says

Russian president lays wreath at hospital where Soviet leader died but will snub funeral

Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin has said, in what will be seen as an extraordinary snub by the Russian president.

Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at 91, will also not receive an official state funeral, a Kremlin spokesperson indicated, making him the first leader since Nikita Khrushchev not to be given that honour.

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Mikhail Gorbachev: a divisive figure loved abroad but loathed at home

Despite being celebrated across liberal democracies, the former Soviet leader was reviled and unpopular in Russia

Until his very last day, Mikhail Gorbachev lived in a dual reality – loved and celebrated in Washington, Paris and London, but reviled by large numbers of Russians who never forgave him for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed.

His policy of ‘glasnost’, or openness, gave Russians previously unthinkable levels of freedom, but for many, his rule will be remembered by the dramatic plunge in living standards that followed.

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