Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, says Russian ‘pincers are getting tighter’ around contested city
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia “will not let the west blow up gas pipelines again” and said that Moscow would no longer rely on the west as an energy partner.
Reuters reports Lavrov was speaking at an event in India a day after attending a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.
Continue reading...Anti-Putin émigré group claims its fighters crossed into Russia after Kyiv dismisses reports as ‘false flag’ attack
The Kremlin has claimed Russia has been attacked by “terrorists” after conflicting reports of firefights emerged from the Bryansk and Kursk regions, which Russian media blamed on Ukrainian “sabotage groups” and Ukrainian sources called a “provocation”.
The reports of fighting in Russia near the Ukrainian border began on Thursday morning. The head of the Bryansk region claimed that a “sabotage group opened fire on a moving automobile. As a result, one resident was killed; a 10-year-old child was injured.”
Continue reading...Stormy meeting in Delhi breaks up without joint statement as west and Moscow spar over Ukraine
Russia has accused the west of blackmail and threats and claimed it had China’s support for its position at a stormy meeting of G20 foreign ministers in India, dominated by the war in Ukraine.
The event broke up with no joint communique, only a summary of the meeting prepared by the host, India, the group’s current chair.
Continue reading...US secretary of state speaks to Russian foreign minister in what is believed to be their first one-on-one conversation since invasion of Ukraine. This live blog is closed
Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, has tweeted about the overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, writing:
Zaporizhzhia bravely resists the Russian aggressor. In retaliation, it attacks civilians. A high-rise building was deliberately hit last night. Three floors are completely destroyed. People died. We continue to search under the rubble. My condolences to the victims. We will not forgive this.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Continue reading...Investigators say sites set up during occupation of Ukrainian city were part of ‘calculated plan to terrorise’ locals
Evidence collected from Kherson in southern Ukraine shows Russian torture centres were not “random” but instead planned and directly financed by the Russian state, according to a team of Ukrainian and international lawyers headed by a UK barrister.
The city was under Russian control for eight months, from 2 March last year until Ukrainian forces entered the city on 11 November.
Continue reading...Alexei Moskalyov charged with ‘discrediting Russian army’, while daughter taken into care
A Russian man has been detained for making anti-war statements and his 12-year-old daughter temporarily taken into state care after the family faced pressure from authorities for drawings the girl made at school depicting Russia bombing a family in Ukraine.
Alexei Moskalyov, a single parent from the town of Yefremov, 150 miles south of Moscow, has been arrested for making anti-war statements on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network.
Continue reading...Ukraine officials say ‘epic’ fight on plain near Vuhledar produced the biggest tank battle of the war. This live blog is now closed
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv region, has posted to Telegram to say two people were injured in Chuhuiv as a result of Russian shelling. He wrote:
According to the information of the regional centre of emergency medical assistance, a 52-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy were injured as a result of the morning shelling of Chuhuiv. The man was hospitalised with shrapnel wounds. The boy has minor injuries, was treated at the scene and did not require hospitalisation.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Continue reading...Construction begins on fence along part of 1,340km boundary amid fears Moscow could weaponise mass migration against Helsinki
Finland has started construction of a fence along parts of its 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia to boost security and tackle any attempt by Moscow to weaponise mass migration as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
Finland announced the start of construction on Tuesday. Terrain work would begin “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March”, the Finnish Border Guard said in a statement.
Continue reading...Beijing propaganda includes messaging aligned with Moscow on Ukraine war, says James Rubin
The west has been slow to respond to China spending billions globally to spread poisonous disinformation, including messaging that is completely aligned with Russia on Ukraine, a US special envoy has claimed.
James Rubin, a coordinator for the Global Engagement Center, a US state department body set up to “expose and counter” foreign propaganda and disinformation, made the remarks during a European tour this week.
Continue reading...Pentagon official says war now a ‘grinding slog’; Belarus president to meet Xi Jinping
The regional government in Sumy, in Ukraine’s north-east, recorded 36 strikes on its territory in overnight Russian shelling, according to reports from Ukraine’s state broadcaster, Suspilne.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Tuesday pledged support for Kazakhstan’s independence on a trip to boost influence in central Asia, which has been rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London from my colleague Samantha Lock in Sydney. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Budget airline links decision to airspace risks from war in neighbouring Ukraine and tensions with Russia
Wizz Air will suspend all its flights to and from Moldova next month due to security concerns linked to growing tensions with Russia.
It comes after a Russian missile was fired over Moldovan airspace earlier this month.
Continue reading...Moscow says details need to be analysed after western leaders say Beijing lacks credibility to act as mediator
Ukraine’s ministry of defence has claimed that overnight its forces shot down 11 Iranian-made Shahed drones. It also confirmed that an officer of Ukraine’s emergency services was killed in Khmelnytskyi.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Continue reading...Group says it used drones to hit early warning aircraft at Machulishchy airfield 12km from Minsk
Belarusian anti-war partisans claim to have severely damaged a Russian military aircraft in what an opposition leader has called the “most successful diversion” since the beginning of the war.
BYPOL, the Belarusian partisan organisation, said it had used drones to strike the Machulishchy airfield 12km from Minsk, severely damaging a Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft (Awacs).
Continue reading...Two killed as Ukraine claims to have shot down 11 of 14 drones in overnight attack; partisans claim to have destroyed Russian plane at Belarusian airstrip
Continue reading...Nancy Faeser says Ukraine war has exacerbated German cybersecurity concerns
Germany’s interior minister has warned of a “massive danger” facing Germany from Russian sabotage, disinformation and spying attacks.
Nancy Faeser said Vladimir Putin was putting huge resources into cyber-attacks as a key part of his war of aggression. “The cybersecurity concerns have been exacerbated by the war. The attacks of pro-Russia hackers have increased,” she said in an interview with the news network Funke Mediengruppe published on Sunday.
Continue reading...Russian leader’s comments on state TV channel follow first anniversary of invasion of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has accused the west of seeking to “dismember” Russia and and to turn the vast country into a series of weak mini-states.
In an interview with the state TV channel Rossiya on Sunday, Putin claimed the US and its Nato allies wanted to “inflict a strategic defeat on us”. The aim, he said, was to “make our people suffer”, adding: “How can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?”
Continue reading...Putin makes claim in TV address; mercenary boss and Ukraine make conflicting claims over control of Yahidne village
German defence minister Boris Pistorius on Sunday reacted with scepticism to a Chinese ceasefire proposal for the war in Ukraine.
“When I hear reports – and I don’t know whether they are true – according to which China may be planning to supply kamikaze drones to Russia while at the same time presenting a peace plan, then I suggest we judge China by its actions and not its words,” he told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in an interview.
Continue reading...Protests in Berlin against supplying of arms to Ukraine; Zelenskiy adviser dismisses ‘unrealistic’ China proposal; Beijing considering sending drones and ammunition, says US
Continue reading...Comments from French president come after Joe Biden said it was ‘not rational’ for Beijing to be negotiating a peace deal
Ukraine has issued a postage stamp with a reproduction of a Banksy mural, of a boy defeating a grown man in judo, to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
It was painted by the British street artist on a demolished wall in the town of Borodianka, north-west of Kyiv, where many buildings were reduced to rubble by Russian aircraft at the start of the invasion.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president shows steel and emotion in marathon press conference, as Joe Biden says having China as peacemaker is ‘just not rational’
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has cautiously welcomed China’s peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but said it would be acceptable only if it led to Vladimir Putin pulling his troops out from all occupied Ukrainian territory.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale attack, the Ukrainian president said he “wanted to believe” Beijing was interested in a “fair peace”. That meant not “supplying weapons to Russia”, he said, adding: “I’m doing my best to prevent that from happening. This is priority number one.”
Continue reading...