Category Archives: Russia

Marina Ovsyannikova says she still fears for her life after ‘chaotic’ escape to France

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Former Russian TV editor, who was under house arrest, described her journey across Europe last October

Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV editor who famously interrupted a live news broadcast to protest against the start of the Ukraine war, has described her “chaotic” escape from house arrest in Moscow and how she fled across Europe to seek asylum in France.

“I didn’t want to emigrate until the very last moment,” Ovsyannikova said at a Paris press conference with the journalists’ organisation Reporters without Borders. “Russia is still my country, even if war criminals have power there. But I had no choice – it was either prison or exile. I’m very grateful to France, a free country, to have welcomed me.”

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Russia-Ukraine war: ‘no indication’ of direct military threat to Moldova or Romania, says US – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Russia-Ukraine war coverage here

The latest inteligence briefing on the situation in Ukraine from the UK’s Ministry of Defence suggests that “Russian forces have likely made tactical gains in two key sectors” since 7 February. It states:

On the northern outskirts of the Donbas town of Bakhmut, Wagner Group forces have pushed 2-3km further west, controlling countryside near the M-03 main route into the town. Russian forces increasingly dominate the northern approaches to Bakhmut.

To the south, Russian units have made advances around the western edge of the town of Vuhledar, where they re-launched offensive operations in late January 2023.

At 4am, the enemy launched rocket attacks on the city of Kharkiv and the region with S-300 missiles. Critical and infrastructure facilities were targeted. Fires broke out, which the rescuers managed to quickly put out. However, some areas of the city remain without electricity. Specialists are working to eliminate the consequences of the impact. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

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Trump-Russia: ‘investigation of investigators’ leaves little but questions over bias

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Durham inquiry into origins of FBI’s Trump-Russia scrutiny has sparked allegations of a weaponization of justice department

When the Trump justice department tapped a US attorney to examine the origins of the FBI inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, conservatives and many Republicans hoped it would end the idea Donald Trump’s campaign was boosted by Moscow and back his charges that some FBI officials and others had conspired against him.

But instead, as the multi-year investigation winds down, it is ending with accusations that unethical actions by that special counsel – John Durham – and ex-attorney general William Barr “weaponized” the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to help Trump.

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Russian cruise missiles crossed into Moldova and Romania, says Ukraine

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Apparent violation of countries’ airspace comes as Kremlin launches major missile and drone attack

Two Russian cruise missiles have entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, Ukraine has said, in the latest attack by Moscow on targets across the country.

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Kalibr rockets crossed into Moldova at 10.18am local time on Friday. They then flew into Romania at 10.33am at the intersection of the state border, before recrossing into western Ukraine, he said.

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Russia begins major offensive in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk governor claims

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Serhiy Haidai says Moscow’s forces are trying unsuccessfully to advance westwards in ‘maximum’ escalation

Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region said on Thursday.

Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said.

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Fury in Ukraine as Elon Musk’s SpaceX limits Starlink use for drones

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SpaceX says satellite communications service ‘never, never meant to be weaponised’

A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has reacted with anger after Elon Musk’s SpaceX said it had taken steps to prevent its Starlink satellite communications service from controlling drones, which are critical to Kyiv’s forces in fighting off the Russian invasion.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer, said at a conference in the US that the surprise decision had been taken because it had never been the company’s intention to allow Starlink to be used “for offensive purposes”.

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‘Wrong side of history’: Ukraine athletes accuse IOC of ‘kowtowing’ to Russia

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  • Letter says ‘IOC must choose a side in this war’
  • Ukraine would boycott 2024 Olympics if Russia take part

Ukraine’s athletes have accused the International Olympic Committee of rewarding Vladimir Putin’s aggression and being “on the wrong side of history” in an escalating war of words over whether Russians should compete at the Paris 2024 Games. The IOC recently moved away from having an outright ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and is investigating ways they can qualify for the Olympics under a neutral flag.

In a letter to Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, sent last week, the IOC president, Thomas Bach, criticised Ukraine’s threat to boycott the Games, saying it would violate the Olympic charter. That stance has angered Ukraine’s athletes, who have hit back by suggesting the IOC is “kowtowing” to Russia.

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Russia-Ukraine war: UK will not send fighter jets to Ukraine ‘if there is a risk to British safety’ – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more on the situation in Ukraine here

A leading military aviation analyst, Justin Bronk at the Rusi thinktank, says the UK could probably spare only a handful of its oldest, Tranche 1, Typhoons amounting to around 20 to 25. Ukraine has said it needs around 200 western fighters to create a war winning air force.

The fighters were, he tweeted, “not optimised for low altitude” – flying of the type needed to evade Russian air defences, and were not well designed to operate from the simple, dispersed airfields used by Ukraine to evade detection.

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Ukraine denounces Roger Waters as ‘another brick in the wall’ of Moscow propaganda

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Kyiv outraged as Pink Floyd star accepts Russian invitation to speak at UN security council and calls for immediate ceasefire

The veteran Pink Floyd rocker, Roger Waters, has addressed the UN security council at Russia’s invitation, and called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. But he was denounced by the Ukrainian ambassador as “just another brick in the wall” of Moscow’s propaganda.

Waters spoke via a video link, dressed in a light brown tweed jacket, appearing on a screen looming over representatives of the 15 nations on the council, convened on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

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EU urged to use frozen Russian assets to ‘cover costs of aggression’ in Ukraine

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Poland and Baltic states say bloc should seize funds to start rebuilding country, amid questions of legality

Poland and the Baltic states have urged the EU to work on seizing frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine “as soon as possible”, raising pressure to act on a legally fraught question.

In the run-up to a two-day EU summit that will discuss the Russian invasion, the leaders of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said that, “in order to be credible on this matter vis-a-vis Ukraine”, the bloc had to go beyond reiterating previous commitments and “accelerate our work in the council right now”.

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Scottish MP Stewart McDonald fears emails hacked by Russia-linked group

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SNP MP for Glasgow South says he is victim of ‘sophisticated and targeted spear phishing’ attack

An SNP MP whose emails were hacked has spoken out because he fears they were stolen by a group linked to Russia and will be published.

Stewart McDonald’s emails were compromised last month after he clicked on a message from a member of his staff on his private MP’s account.

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy to visit UK for first time since Russian invasion

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Ukraine president to meet King Charles and address parliament, as Sunak reveals training for Ukrainian jet pilots

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will make his first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion, with Rishi Sunak promising additional military support.

The UK prime minister announced plans to train Ukrainian pilots, paving the way for them to fly sophisticated Nato-standard jets, a request from Zelenskiy.

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Ukraine releases video appearing to show Russian troops beating own wounded officer

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Footage thought to show Wagner group fighters beating commander with what appear to be shovels

Warning: video contains footage that some viewers may find distressing

Ukraine has released extraordinary video footage that appears to show Russian fighters dragging their badly wounded commander away from the battlefield, and then beating him violently with what appear to be shovels.

A Ukrainian drone captured the incident near the eastern city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has been raging for months. Four soldiers from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group carry their colleague through a landscape of ruined houses, holding his arms and legs.

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UN chief fears world is heading towards ‘wider war’ over Russia-Ukraine conflict

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António Guterres warns in speech to general assembly that ‘chances of escalation and bloodshed are growing’

The head of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned that further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict could mean the world is heading towards a “wider war”.

The secretary general laid out his priorities for the year in a gloomy speech to the UN general assembly that focused on Russia’s invasion, the climate crisis and extreme poverty.

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Russia assembles troops for possible offensive in Luhansk, Ukraine says

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‘Battles for the region are heating up’ as Russian forces are located in Donetsk

Russian forces are attempting to tie down Ukrainian forces with fighting in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional troops there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, perhaps targeting the Luhansk region, Ukraine has said.

Weeks of intense fighting continued to rage around the city of Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vuhledar, Ukraine’s presidential office said.

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Russians ‘eradicating towns’ in eastern Donbas; UN chief warns world is walking into wider war – as it happened

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Donetsk governor says Russian forces throwing new troops at frontline; António Guterres says ‘prospects for peace keep diminishing’. This live blog is now closed

Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, has proposed his country should provide some 75bn Norwegian kroner (£6.1 bn) in aid to Ukraine over five years.

Speaking at a news conference after meeting opposition leaders, Støre said:

We aim to secure a unified agreement on this in parliament.

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Ukraine’s defence minister to be moved from post, says Zelenskiy ally

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Head of president’s parliamentary bloc seems to confirm reshuffle of Oleksii Reznikov as Russians close in on Bakhmut

Ukraine’s defence minister, under pressure from a corruption scandal, is to be reshuffled into another government job as Russian forces close in on Bakhmut amid heavy fighting, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced.

The position of Oleksii Reznikov, one of Ukraine’s better-known figures internationally, has been under threat after it emerged the defence ministry paid twice or three times the supermarket price of food to supply troops on the frontline.

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Putin promised me he would not kill Zelenskiy, says former Israeli PM

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Naftali Bennett says Putin also dropped vow to seek disarmament of Ukraine and Zelenskiy agreed to give up on joining Nato

The former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has said in an interview that Vladimir Putin told him he would not try to kill Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a promise made during a trip to Moscow shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Speaking on a podcast with the Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum, published on Sunday, Bennett said he received assurance from Putin that the Ukrainian president’s life was not at risk during a secretive visit to the Russian capital last March aimed at mediation during the war’s early days.

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