Putin warns that Moscow will hit new targets if the west supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles – as it happened

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President Vladimir Putin said Russia would strike new targets if the United States started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday.

The TASS news agency reports:

Putin said that if such missiles are supplied, that Russia will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting”, in an Rossiya-1 state television channel

Putin did not name the targets Russia planned to pursue if western countries began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles.

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Russia claims to have targeted western-supplied tanks in Kyiv airstrikes

Putin warns of more strikes if deliveries continue, as Ukrainian railways chief says ‘no such tanks’ were at targeted plant

Russia launched airstrikes on Kyiv for the first time in five weeks on Sunday, claiming it had targeted western-supplied tanks – while the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, warned more targets would be struck if weapons deliveries continued.

Several explosions were heard around the eastern Kyiv suburbs of Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi early on Sunday morning, wounding one person. The strikes represented a change of tack on the part of the invading forces.

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Ukraine counterattack recaptures parts of Sievierodonetsk in Donbas

Russians ‘suffering huge losses’, region’s governor claims, amid heavy fighting

Ukraine has staged a counterattack on the frontline city of Sievierodonetsk and recaptured a fifth of the city it had previously lost to the Russian invaders, according to the head of the region.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, said Russian forces were giving up recent gains in the city, as reports also emerged of foreign fighters joining the battle for the easternmost city held by Kyiv in the fiercely contested Donbas.

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Alexander Litvinenko assassination suspect dies of Covid

Dmitry Kovtun was one of two Russian men accused over poisoning death of ex-spy in London in 2006

Dmitry Kovtun, one of the two Russian men accused of assassinating the former spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London, died of Covid in a Moscow hospital on Saturday.

Litvinenko died in 2006, weeks after drinking tea laced with the radioactive isotope polonium 210 at a London hotel, where he met Kovtun and the other suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. The case has since weighed on relations between Britain and Russia.

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EU imposes sanctions on Russian oil boss linked to seized superyachts

Eduard Khudainatov is blacklisted for ‘benefiting from the government of the Russian Federation’

The European Union has imposed sanctions on a Russian oil boss who is separately alleged by the US authorities to be acting as a “straw owner” of two yachts linked to Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.

Eduard Khudainatov served as chairman and chief executive of the state-controlled oil company Rosneft before setting up his own energy business, Independent Oil and Gas Company, which has grown rapidly to become one of Russia’s top oil producers with interests in extraction, refining and trading.

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Russian troops pound Donbas as Ukraine war enters 100th day

Moscow has seized about a fifth of Ukrainian territory since its invasion and vows to continue ‘until all goals are achieved’

Ukraine will fight off Russia’s invasion, its president has said, while the Kremlin pledged to persist until “all our goals have been achieved” as Moscow’s war entered its 100th day with Russian troops pounding the Donbas region.

“Victory shall be ours,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video featuring the same key ministers and advisers who appeared with him in a defiant broadcast on 24 February, the day his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, launched his unprovoked assault.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow warns US over rocket shipments to Kyiv; Ukraine losing up to 100 soldiers a day – live

US president claims supply of rockets move will enable Ukraine ‘to more precisely strike key targets’; Ukraine’s president says 500 wounded each day

Away from the war in their homeland, Ukraine’s men’s football team are competing for a place in this year’s Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Nick Ames writes for us:

When Ukraine face Scotland at Hampden Park tonight it will be less a rebirth than a reminder that, much as Russia might wish to erase the country’s cultural identity, its football heritage remains truly alive. The act of playing for a World Cup place on Wednesday night, and over the next five days if all goes well, is both one of defiance and of expectation that, despite everything, good things can lie ahead.

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Most of Sievierodonetsk has fallen to Russia, says governor of Luhansk

Mayor of besieged Ukrainian city tells residents to stay in cellars as Russian forces advance ‘block by block’

Russian forces have taken control of most of the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk but have not surrounded it, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk province has said as heavy fighting continued in and around the key city and civilians were told to stay underground.

Serhiy Gaidai said in an online post late on Tuesday that Russian shelling had made it impossible to deliver humanitarian supplies or evacuate people.

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Russia’s Alexei Navalny faces extra 15 years in jail over ‘extremism’ claims

Political foe of Russian president Vladimir Putin was already sentenced to nine-year term earlier this year

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is facing new criminal accusations that could extend his current prison term by 15 years.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Navalny said an investigator had visited him in prison to declare that the authorities had opened a new investigation against him on charges of “creating an extremist group to fan hatred against officials and oligarchs” and trying to stage unsanctioned rallies.

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Russian shelling of Sievierodonetsk has destroyed ‘entire critical infrastructure’ of city Zelenskiy says – as it happened

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Ridge asks Rudyk whether she feels safe. She says she does in the UK, where she is currently visiting and meeting with politicians. Rudyk talks about hearing air raid sirens and attacks on cities in Ukraine.

“The threat and the fear is still there ... I will go back home, because this is the fight we have to put up and we have to win. I dream of the day that all Ukrainians will feel safe. They will be able to sit with their hands on their lap and think ‘we are okay now.’

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Ukraine pleads for weapons as Russian onslaught threatens to turn the tide

As support among some European allies appears to waver, Kyiv calls for advanced rocket systems to hit Russia’s supply lines

Ukraine is in a race against time to save the eastern Donbas region as relentless Russian artillery and air strikes threaten to turn the tide of the war, and support for Kyiv’s continued defiance among some west European allies appears to be slipping.

Ukrainian officials say they urgently need advanced US-made mobile multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to halt Russian advances in Luhansk and Donetsk. The rockets would be capable of striking Russian firing positions, military bases, air strips and supply lines at a range of up to 300km (185 miles).

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‘We can’t live with people who support Putin’s war’: the TV chief who fled Russia

When journalists faced jail for reporting on Ukraine, Viktor Muchnik closed down his Siberian TV station and left for Armenia

On the ninth day of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, editor-in-chief Viktor Muchnik gathered the staff of TV2 for a meeting at their small newsroom in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

New wartime laws meant the whole newsroom risked jailtime for reporting on the conflict, Muchnik told them, and TV2 had just been officially blocked by Russia’s communications watchdog, along with many other independent media outlets.

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Russia claims capture of strategic town as fighting rages in east – as it happened

Russia’s defence ministry says town of Lyman is now under full control of its forces, after days of fighting

Russian forces are now in full control of the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has claimed.

Yesterday, Ukraine reported Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, a city a half-hour drive further southwest.

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Biden says Putin trying to ‘wipe out’ Ukrainian culture, as prospect of retreat looms in east

US president says Putin trying to eliminate people’s identity, as governor of Luhansk says retreat in Sievierodonetsk may be needed to avoid becoming surrounded.

Joe Biden has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out” Ukraine’s culture but suggested the plan had at least partially backfired by spurring the expansion of Nato in Europe.

The US president told 1,200 graduating cadets in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday: “Not only is he trying to take over Ukraine, he’s literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people. Attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums, with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture.”

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Kremlin mulls Nuremberg-style trials based on second world war tribunals

Russia to seek to justify invasion of Ukraine by staging show trials of war prisoners, conflict scholars fear

The gloating began just days after the missiles began falling on Ukraine. “Get ready for Nuremberg 2.0,” one former Russian diplomat wrote in a WhatsApp message. Vladimir Putin’s invasion to “denazify” the country has always pointed toward a purge and show trials. Now Moscow may seize on that chance.

As Russia holds hundreds of prisoners from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, its proxies in east Ukraine have floated the idea of holding a “military tribunal” inspired by Nuremberg that observers say would reflect a mass show trial meant to justify Russia’s invasion to the world.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 94 of the invasion

Moscow planning ‘full-scale victory in Ukraine by autumn’ and besieged Sievierodonetsk almost completely surrounded by Russian forces

Russia is planning a “full-scale victory in Ukraine by autumn” and may again try to take the capital city of Kyiv, according to independent news source Meduza. Officials close to the Kremlin have said confidence has spread to the leadership of United Russia, the country’s ruling party, that a full-scale victory in Ukraine is possible before the end of the year.

The besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk appears to be almost completely surrounded by attacking Russian forces. “The Russians are pounding residential neighbourhoods relentlessly,” the governor of Ukraine’s eastern region of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, wrote in a Telegram post on Friday. The Kremlin continued to make incremental gains in its offensive in the Donbas region, backed by withering shell fire.

The Luhansk governor has said Ukrainian forces may be forced to retreat from the zone to avoid being captured. “The Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted,” Haidai posted on Telegram, adding: “However it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat.”

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the situation in Donbas is “very difficult”. In a short video address, he said Russian forces are concentrated in the coastal region of Ukraine and using “maximum artillery” reserves.

The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, has stated that Vladimir Putin is “prepared to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine”, after holding talks with the Russian president. Nehammer also said Putin had “given signals that he is quite willing to allow exports via the seaports”, adding: “The real willingness will only become apparent when it ... is actually implemented.”

Russia expects to receive 1tn rubles ($14bn) in additional oil and gas revenues this year, the country’s finance minister announced, noting that the additional income will be spent on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The US president, Joe Biden, accused Putin of attempting to “wipe out” Ukrainian culture and identity during a speech. Biden also said that Putin inadvertently “Nato-ized all of Europe” after Sweden and Finland sought out membership in the alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US is expected to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine that could be announced as early as next week, reports CNN. The rocket systems, multiple launch rocket system or MLRS, have been a top request of Ukraine officials who say it is necessary to ward off Russia’s advancements.

More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show. The cases of the 115 national guardsmen, a force also known as Rosgvardia, appear to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of Russia’s security forces over the invasion of

New UN figures have revealed that 4,031 civilians have died since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February, including 261 children.

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115 Russian national guard soldiers sacked for refusing to fight in Ukraine

Cases involving Rosgvardia, known as Vladimir Putin’s private army, are clearest sign yet of dissent in Russian ranks

More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show, in what looks to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of security forces over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The cases of the 115 national guardsmen, a force also known as Rosgvardia, came to light on Wednesday, after a local Russian court rejected their collective lawsuit that challenged their earlier sacking.

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Zelenskiy complains about divisions inside the European Union over more sanctions against Russia – as it happened

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Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has posted a status update for the day. He said that there was one air alert overnight, but there were no strikes reported. He also said that for the first time since Lviv started accepting displaced people from elsewhere in Ukraine, there was not a single person who registered for temporary accommodation yesterday.

The impact of the war in Ukraine has been a strong theme running through the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this week. Today, in about half-an-hour, Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, will be speaking about how to rebuild the Ukrainian capital after the war, and what aid will be needed. My colleague Graeme Wearden is there, and he will be covering that live on our business blog. I’ll bring you the top lines here.

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Kyiv denounces Putin’s ‘illegal’ plan for issuing Russian passports in Ukraine

Putin signs decree to make it easier for residents of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to get passports

Moscow’s plan to make it easier for Ukrainians living in Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine to receive Russian citizenship violates international law, Kyiv has said, accusing the Kremlin of “criminal” behaviour.

“The illegal issuing of passports ... is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 88 of the invasion

Russian airstrikes hit Mykolaiv and Donbas regions; only Ukraine can decide its future, says Polish president

Russian airstrikes hit Ukrainian forces in the Mykolaiv and Donbas regions, targeting command centres, troops and ammunition depots, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday. The ministry said air-launched missiles hit three command points and four ammunition depots in the Donbas. In Mykolaiv, in the south, Russian rockets reportedly struck a mobile anti-drone system near the settlement of Hannivka.

Severodonetsk is one of Russia’s “immediate tactical priorities”, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. Russia is deploying Terminator tanks to the area, the MoD has said.

Severodonetsk has been attacked from “four separate directions”, said the region’s governor. Serhiy Haidai said Russian forces had not succeeded in breaking into the city.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of blocking the export of 22m tonnes of food. The Ukrainian president also said an energy crisis would swiftly follow a food crisis if Ukraine was not given help to unlock its ports.

Only Ukraine has the right to decide its future, the Polish president told lawmakers in Kyiv on Sunday. Andrzej Duda said: “Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to Putin’s demands. Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future … nothing about you without you.” Duda became the first foreign leader to give a speech in person to the Ukrainian parliament since Russia’s invasion.

Russia’s state gas company, Gazprom, halted gas exports to Finland, which refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after western countries imposed sanctions. Gasum, Finland’s state-owned energy company, said it would use other sources, such as the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland to its fellow EU member Estonia.

Ukraine has suggested it is willing to resume talks with Russia. Speaking on Saturday, Zelenskiy said: “Discussions between Ukraine and Russia will undoubtedly take place … under what format I don’t know … but the war will be bloody, there will be fighting and [it] will only definitively end through diplomacy.” He added: “We want everything back. And the Russian Federation doesn’t want to return anything. That’s why the ending will be at the negotiating table.”

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